Mafia's Girl

Part 4

Shehnaaz's P.O.V. 

Everyone was crying and it hurt my ears but my pain was indescribable. I was loathing myself for the first time. I was angry and felt dishonourable. This was the dead end to my life. Last night was one night that is going to haunt every single person in my family and it will never erase from me. Taking my hand, Mom rested it on her head and said in between her hiccups, "Swear on me that you will never do anything wrong to yourself after today. You have my swear that you will never take the life I have given you. If you do, I too will take mine." She left me and I fell to the ground, hopeless. Suicide was the only option I had left to do and she took that away from me as well. I spent a long time there, thinking about how hard life will be from now on. I have to leave this house. I can't live here anymore. Everyday when my family sees me, their hearts will break and I didn't want to cause them anymore pain and suffering than I already had. I got up slowly and went back to my room. I took some of my clothes and essentials and left the room. Meeta, Sonu and Mom came to me. "Di, will you really leave us?" Sonu asked. "You haven't forgotten your swear, haven't you?" Mom asked. Tears finally began forming once more and I looked at her. There, I broke down and they all hugged me, crying. "Do us a favour now and get out. You have brought nothing but shame to us. We can't take care of you any longer. If you find a husband that can, then good for you. But consider us dead for you from today onwards because you are no more for us," Dad said. After all that happened, this was the worst thing anyone could have ever said to me. Not being able to listen anymore, I left the house with Mom's painful screams reaching me as I walked away. As I reached outside, the owner of the building stopped me and said, "We are trying our best to catch Ronit. I promise you that the day we get a hold of him or his friends, they will be punished in the worst manner." He rested his hand on my head and a tear left his eye. 

I left the building and walked along the road. I felt as is everyone's eyes were on me and they mocked me. Every man's eyes suddenly felt wrong and looked at me with lust as the ladies looked on with displeasure. I couldn't bring myself to go to work because I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything so I went to the nearby park and sat on the same bench. There, I sat and tried as much as possible to collect my thoughts and find a reason to live. The hours kept passing and the sun rose at it's highest point and began setting. I didn't speak a word to anyone and shame kept my eyes lowered. A newspaper, however, managed to blow my way and I took it and began looking for some new places to stay. I took out my phone and began calling the numbers but no one gave me a place. The date on the newspaper was for months ago. By now, all of the apartments were filled. I gave up on this, hopeless as well and continued just sitting on the bench. Later that evening, I was starving and all my energy was drained from crying. I looked around and saw no one selling any snacks so I left the park. Walking along the road, I began feeling extremely weak. My feet also stopped supporting me and my eyes started to get blurry. Just as I was about to fall unconscious, someone grabbed me and immediately fed me water. Opening my eyes, I saw the man once more. "You..." I said weakly. "Eat something," he said. He fed me some biscuits and gave me more water. After getting something inside me, I felt a bit better. "Are you alright?" He asked, holding me. I nodded but pushed him away. It only felt as if every man were making an attempt to get closer to me now. "Thank you. But don't touch me," I said. I got up and began running away from him. I ran back to the park and sat on the bench. Tired and still hungry, I laid there and spent the night. 

The next morning, I woke up and found myself on the park bench with surprisingly, someone's jacket over me. I looked at it, confused as it looked extremely expensive and wondered whose it was. I looked around but the only people there were the early ones that came to exercise. I took the handkerchief out of the pocket and noticed the embroidered initials on it, 'S.S.' It matched the earlier one and I was surprised. I silently prayed that whoever it was, let him be happy and all his wishes come true for helping me yet again. I left the park and managed to reach to work and sat at my desk, crying my heart out at where life brought me to. "Shehnaaz," Aditya said coming to me. As he rested his hand on my shoulder, I pushed it away feeling agitated. I hugged my own body for comfort and trembled. Suman ma'am came and seeing me, she carried me to her office. Consoling me, she asked, "What happened? Why are you crying so much?" "He...he...he... he raped me..." I said. Her body got stiff and she froze. Again, she began caressing my back and tried to hush me. "Shehnaaz, don't worry. Whoever he is, I promise you that he will be punished," she said. "I have nowhere to go anymore," I said. "I will arrange a place for you to stay. Don't worry at all," she said. Shaking my head, I parted from the hug and said, "I can't take any more favours from you. I have to go and look for a place to stay." "Shehnaaz, you are not just my employee. You are like my family now," she said cupping my face, "You are like Aditya to me. If you consider me your own, then let me do this for you." She wiped away my tears and instructed Aditya to handle the office for a little while. She took me to a small house a while away from the office. Getting out, she looked at it and smiled. "I don't know why I bought this house years ago. But, finally, I see a good reason why I did today. Come," she said and led me inside. 

I looked around at the house. It had all the needed amenities to live comfortably. "You can live here for as long as you want. And you don't have to pay rent," she said. I turned to her and clasped my palms before her. "Thank you," I said, grateful. She rested her hand on my head and I felt peace for a little while. "If you want, you can take a few days off from work," she said, "Don't worry, I won't cut your pay. Just, stay here and get settled. When you get into your right frame, you can come back." I nodded and looked at her as she left. Clasping my palms, I closed my eyes and took a breath of relief saying, "Thank you God. This is the only good thing that has happened so far. Please grant me the strength to live through this life without giving it up."

Sidharth's P.O.V. 

I went to Suman Mehta's office today, again at the exact time but she had no information on why the girl didn't come to work. She didn't even call. I spent the rest of the day, driving through that road in hopes of meeting her but I couldn't. I stopped at her housing complex but didn't see her. In fact, her window was shut. Finally, in the evening, I saw her staggering in the road and instructed the driver to stop. I looked at her walking with her eyes closing and got out of the car quickly. Just as she was about to collapse, I caught her and gave her some water. I fed her some biscuits but surprisingly, she thanked me and pushed me away. She frantically got up and ran away. I followed her and saw her in the park. She was sleeping on a bench, covering up her body with her hands. Without thinking twice, I took off my jacket and used it to cover her. "Please, let me stay..." she mumbled, "I have...nowhere to go..." Something wrong was going on with her and she needed a place to stay. Judging by how she reacted earlier with me, I didn't think that she will accept a place from me so I instructed one of my bodyguards to remain with her throughout the night and went back to her office. Suman Mehta was just leaving her office and turned back and smiled at me. "Sidharth? Which law book do you need to borrow now?" She asked, teasing me. I took out a small bunch of keys from my pocket and handed it to her. "Your secretary needs a place to stay. Give her this house and say that it is yours," I said. She looked at me confused. "Where is Shehnaaz?" She asked. "She's safe for now. But don't scold her for not coming to work without notice today. She seems to be in some problem. I'll message you the address of the house. Give it to her and say it's yours," I said. She smiled at me and I left. To all my bodyguards suits, I had a body camera attached to their blazer button. From that, I looked at the girl sleeping the entire night on the park bench while drinking.

The next morning, I told my driver to take me to the house. He followed my orders and took me to the house. I looked at it until she came out. Getting out the car, I walked at a distance behind her. She walked twenty minutes until she reached Suman Mehta's office. I frowned and looked at her entering. I got into my car which was driving behind me slowly and got inside. "Office," I said. He took me there and I went to the top floor. I went into my cabin and Daksh came in. "What did you find out?" I asked. "Nothing much, sir. No one is speaking," he said. I nodded and said, "Try again." I could clearly see and sense that something had happened to her. Once I found out, I will solve it. The spark in her eyes were diminishing and she was hurting.

Shehnaaz's P.O.V.

Reaching my work, I requested Suman ma'am to keep my tragedy a secret since I didn't want it circulate and potentially be a threat to her business. The less people that know about it, the better. For lunchtime, I was having lunch with Suman ma'am. Aditya came inside and frowned at me. He held a newspaper in his hand and stood silently. Coming to me, he handed it to me and I read the headlines, 'Shehnaaz Kaur Gill, RAPED!' I frowned and my eyes welled up. Suman ma'am took it from me and read it. "Do you want to take legal action against them?" She asked. I looked at her silently and thought that it would all be useless since it was true. I got up and went out to my desk. Aditya followed me and rested his hand on my shoulder. I looked at him and wiped my tears. "Shehnu, don't worry about it. Everything will work out. Soon, everyone will forget about it," he said. Shaking my head, I said, "No one will. And I won't either. You don't understand what I am going through. No one does." Suman ma'am came out and hugged me. "Dad must be heartbroken after reading this. He must be hating me even more," I said, sobbing. She caressed my back and stooped down in front me. "Tell me, do you want to go to court for this? I can and will get you justice," she said. "I don't want to be more defamed," I said wiping away my tears. The door opened and the same man entered. I wiped away all my tears as best as possible and fixed my face. He frowned and stared at me making me feel as if he knew already and was judging me.

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Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed that update! A bit of a sad track but don't worry, everything will get better. Vote, comment and share my story! Until next time! Bye!