The next morning, Sooraj took Sanjana home to freshen up.
After getting ready, Sanjana was packing her bag when her mother entered her room.
Mom: (stern voice) "Where were you last night?"
Sanjana: (without looking at her) "I was with my friend."
Mom: "Was it that boy?"
Sanjana looked at her.
Mom: (shouting) "Sanjana, don't you have a little bit of shame inside you? How can you spend the whole night with a boy and just come home like nothing happened?"
Sanjana sighed, trying to ignore her questions.
Then, her father and Pooja came into the room, hearing her mother's shout.
Dad: (worried) "What happened? Why are you shouting?"
Mom: (looking at Sanjana with a disgusted look) "Ask your daughter! She spent last night at a boy's place."
Dad: (shocked) "What?"
Pooja: "She is always with him. He is even standing outside waiting for her now."
Sanjana glared at Pooja, who smirked at her.
Dad: "Sanjana! Where were you last night?"
Sanjana: (frustrated) "Yes, I was at a boy's house! So what? Why are you all over-reacting so-"
She got a slap from her father.
Dad: (through gritted teeth) "Are you even hearing yourself? Aren't you embarrassed talking about all these?"
Mom: "Pooja, call that boy inside!"
Sanjana: (shouting) "Why are you dragging him into this? Pooja, you'll not call him! He doesn't have anything to do with this!"
Mom: "See, how she is protecting him! What relationship do you have with him?"
Sanjana: "We are just...g-good f-friends..."
'What happened to me? Why did I stutter?'
Pooja: (smirking) "Why are you stuttering, Sanjana?"
Mom: "Don't meet him again!"
Sanjana: "You don't have the right to decide that!"
Dad: "Sanjana, don't talk to your mother like that!"
Sanjana: (scoffing) "Mother? How can she be my mother?"
Pooja and her father looked confused.
Sanjana: "Isn't my mother someone else? Isn't she the woman, with whom you made a mistake, Dad?"
Her father was shocked to hear that.
Dad: "H-how d-did-"
Then he turned towards her wife, who was looking down.
Dad: "Did you tell her?"
Her mother turned away her face, not meeting his eyes.
Dad: (shouting) "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"
Pooja and her mother flinched, but Sanjana remained calm.
Dad: (grabbing her hand) "We need to talk right now!"
He dragged Sanjana's mother to their room.
Sanjana took her bag and went out of the room, leaving a shocked Pooja behind.
Sanjana came out of the house with a smile.
Sooraj: (looking at her face) "Why are you giving a fake smile? Did something happen inside?"
'How did he recognize my fake smile?'
Sanjana: (shaking her head) "Nothing. Let's go to school."
Later at school, after collecting their report cards, everyone was enjoying their last day. Seeing Sanjana enjoying herself with Sooraj, Pooja clenched her fists in anger.
When Sanjana was sitting alone at her desk, Pooja came to her.
Pooja: (sitting on Sooraj's desk) "Earlier, I saw you laughing with Sooraj. Don't you have shame? Your mother was a whore who took advantage of my father's drunk state."
Sanjana was looking down and clenched her fists under the desk.
Pooja: "Tell me, Sanjana, are you like your mother too? First Karan and now Sooraj. You are totally like your mother, aren't you? It's good that Karan dumped you. But what about Sooraj? Does he know about your characterless mother?"
??: "Yes, he knows everything!"
Sanjana and Pooja looked at the voice to find Sooraj. He came to his desk and pulled the chair. Pooja moved away from his desk after getting the death glare from him.
Pooja: (scoffing) "Even after hearing everything, how are you still with her?"
Sooraj: (sitting down) "Why do you think I should answer your question?"
Pooja glared at him.
Pooja: "She is just playing with you. Leave her for your own good."
Sanjana: (protesting) "That's not-"
Sooraj grabbed Sanjana's hand.
Sooraj: (glaring at Pooja) "I don't think I ever asked for your opinion. It's about me and Sanjana. No one asked you to meddle in OUR business."
Pooja: (sighing frustratedly) "Sooraj, I don't like your attitude. I was giving you advice."
Sooraj: (shrugging his shoulders) "But I never asked for that either. Didn't I already tell you to stay away from Sanjana?"
Pooja glared at Sanjana and walked away from there.
Sooraj: (placing his hand on her shoulder) "Don't take any of her words to heart. She is just-"
Sanjana: (looking down) "But she didn't say anything wrong. My mother was indeed like that."
Tears rolled down her eyes and she wiped them away immediately.
Sanjana: (sniffing) "Sooraj, please take me somewhere else?"
Sooraj glared at Pooja who was looking at them from her seat and grabbed Sanjana's hand. They stood up and exited the classroom.
That night, Sanjana was sitting in front of her laptop in her room. Someone knocked on her door and she turned around to find her father standing at the entrance.
Sanjana: (looking back at her laptop screen) "What do you want to talk about?"
His father went to the bed and sat down. He had a guilty expression on his face.
Dad: (low voice) "Sanjana, I know you are sad about finding out about your mother."
Sanjana: (not looking at him) "I'm not sad. I'm just...I don't know what I should be feeling right now. Should I be sad? Or angry? I just don't know."
Dad: "I don't think I ever planned to tell you about it."
Sanjana: (biting her lip and nodding) "Good! It would have been better that way."
Dad: "Sanjana, I've always considered you my daughter, just like Pooja."
Sanjana: (trying to hold back her tears) "Obviously, but she got more love and attention than me. I had always been alone, since childhood."
Dad: "Sanjana, what are you talking about?"
Sanjana: (turning to him) "But, it's okay now. I won't blame you or Mom for it. I've learned to live my life on my own now. And, I no longer feel alone."
Dad: (patting her shoulder) "Sanjana, you can always share your problems with me. Who said you're alone? I love you as much as I love Pooja."
Sanjana: (shaking her head) "No, Dad. I'm happy to hear all this from you. But, it's too late. You weren't there for me when I needed someone to understand me, to love me. Now, I've gotten used to living like that. And, as I said, I'm not alone. I'm happy now and I want to be happy with my life. And, I want you to respect whatever decision I would take from now."
Dad: (sighing) "Sanjana, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me."
Her father walked out of the room. Sanjana placed her head down on her desk and let her tears drop.