The Oculesics- Ek Kahaani Junoon Ki

6.

I always keep my promises. You all completed the target within 24 hours-so as promised, here's the second update of the day! Plus this is the longest chapter till now. Yay!!!

Target- 40 votes and atleast 15 comments from 7 different people.

Trayambak's POV

Goddamn it... what the hell was I doing?
Why does it hurt so much... to hurt her?
Every time I break her, a part of me shatters too. I know-I know-she doesn't deserve any of this. Not my cruelty. Not my temper. Not this twisted game I'm playing. But I can't stop. I can't allow myself to fall. Vulnerability is a luxury I cannot afford. She can't be my weakness.

She's my pawn.

At least... that's what I tell myself. Over and over again. But deep down, I know the truth I'm trying to bury-I've already fallen for her.

I've fallen for my pawn. My Dhimahi.
It's shameful. Unforgivable. But it's the truth.

Yet I keep playing this game. Because there's something bigger. Something darker that drives me. I have a purpose. A promise I made-to avenge her. To avenge the one I couldn't protect. I swore I wouldn't rest until justice was served.
But why does it feel like I'm losing myself along the way?

Today... I burned her. With my own hands. The very hands that were meant to shield her from the world... scorched her instead. The heat, the flame-it didn't just touch her skin, it seared my soul.

And then... I called her names. Gandi galiyaan... jo uske liye bilkul bhi nahi thi. (Filthy names... that she never deserved.)

I looked her in the eyes and humiliated her, degraded her to the level of a whore. "Kal raat aur aaj subah ke paise hain." (For last night and this morning's service.)

I threw cash at her... like she was nothing. But she is everything.
I did it on purpose. Because I knew it would hurt her... and somehow still help her. Her family needs that money. Desperately. I know. And I can't close my eyes to that. I'm not blind to their suffering. In some twisted way, I'm grateful to them... because if not for them, I wouldn't have Dhimahi.

My Dimahi. My only light in this hell I've created.

I fired Dhanay-knowing full well they're barely surviving. I knew he was innocent. That girl-Sakshi-she lied. Framed him. Falsely accused him of assault. I saw the truth. I had the camera footage. I've kept it hidden.

I even fired that girl. I don't want bitches like her near my office.

But I didn't save him.

I'm not the man she thinks I am. I'm worse.

And yet, every night, I find her looking at me, hoping she'll again see the light in me, the light in us.

God help me... because I can't save myself anymore.

I couldn't help but to think about the time when I realised my feelings for her .

I remember that day so vividly... jaise kal ki hi baat ho. I had gone to her institute-not for recruiting interns, not even for scouting talent-but for selecting her.
Dhimahi.

It was all pre-planned, part of a larger game I was playing. She was never an exceptional student, not even close to the top of her class. She lacked what we looked for. But still I selected her. I had to.

I still remember the way she smiled when I handed her that offer letter. Uski muskaan... haan, who muskaan meri zindagi ki sabse khoobsurat muskaan thi. [Her smile... yes, that smile was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life.]