Anushka’s lips trembled as she tried to form words, but no sound came out at first. Her eyes were wide—too wide—filled not with guilt, but with shock and something else I couldn’t immediately understand.
Raju stood a few steps away from her, his hands raised instinctively, like someone caught in a crime he didn’t commit. His expression was a strange mixture of panic and helplessness.
For several long, suffocating seconds, none of us moved.
The bathroom was filled with the relentless sound of water crashing from the still-running shower. It echoed against the tiles, amplifying the chaos in my head. My heartbeat thundered in my ears so loudly it almost drowned everything else.
I stood frozen at the doorway.
My mind was racing—images, assumptions, conclusions forming faster than I could control them. Yet my body refused to respond. I couldn’t step forward. I couldn’t step back.
I just stared.
“Bhaiya… please… just listen first,” Raju said, his voice trembling. He swallowed hard, his eyes locked on mine, searching desperately for a chance to explain.
But I wasn’t looking at him.
My gaze remained fixed on Anushka.
She was leaning against the wall, her wet hair clinging to her face, her skin pale—unnaturally pale. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, as if even breathing had become a struggle.
There was no anger in her eyes.
Only exhaustion.
And that confused me even more.
“What is this?” I finally said, my voice low, almost unrecognizable. Each word came out slowly, forced through a storm of emotions I couldn’t yet control.
Anushka closed her eyes briefly, like she needed to gather what little strength she had left.
“I… slipped,” she whispered.
Her voice was so weak it barely rose above the sound of the water.
“I fell in the bathroom.”
Raju nodded immediately, stepping forward, then hesitating as he noticed the stiffness in my posture.
“I heard something crash from outside,” he rushed to explain. “I knocked, but bhabhi didn’t answer. I thought something was wrong, so I pushed the door open and—”
He gestured helplessly toward the floor.
“She was lying there.”
I said nothing.
Because just moments ago, my mind had painted a very different picture.
A darker one.
A betrayal I had almost believed without question.
The image refused to disappear so easily.
But now… cracks were beginning to form in it.
Anushka tried to push herself away from the wall.
Her knees buckled instantly.
She would have fallen again if Raju hadn’t caught her arm in time.
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