On the road by the bus stand stood Neev, in her hospital dress, forehead bleeding with a dirty cloth wrapped around it. She looked so pretty even when she was on the verge of fainting from traumatic events.

She wasn't the 'fair pretty', but her wheatish complextion, long sculpted nose and plump lips with the dark eyes gave her a bold yet innocent look. Her shoulder length hair always made her stand out in any crowd.

She sat on a chair by the stand and saw two beggars — a mother and a son — asking for money when the cars stopped at the signal. She looked on in surprise, then looking at the young girls and boys going back home from work in the evening.

The beggar woman came up to her and asked, "Will you join our team ? You would get fifty percent of your daily earnings, plus food twice for free."

Neev scrunched her nose in disgust and rolled her eyes, though very weak, strong enough to refuse to do something that might take away her longing for a respectable future.

"You mean asking for money shamelessly from everyone around is a business?", she uttered in a low voice.

The woman was irritated by her reply and spoke spitefully. "Then die on the streets."

"Why would I?" Neev gave her a serious glare and her voice rose now and then continued giving a thoughtful look,"A big city like this, so fancy, won't have work for the poor? Not possible. But you go ahead, continue to live this disrespectful life and teach your son too."

She sat down on her chair of the bus stop.

Her lips were dry, her mouth craving water but she had no money to buy some. She looked in the distance and saw a Mahadev temple. Having the little energy in her body and movements, she rose and stumbled till she reached there.

It was a well-built temple with fancy statues, trees, and paintings. She tried going in when a priest shouted from the distance of the sanctum, "Hey you, move back."

She got startled and fell back against the door.

"You untidy girl, how dare you enter this holy temple?"

Neev hesitated first, her left palm was rubbing her head which was still bleeding and the distorted cloth did no favours, she finally breathed in and spoke in a low voice,"What do you mean? Is this temple not for worship but only for admiration? Shouldn't we go in to pray? How else will we ask for help?"

"This is not for beggars like you, in this hospital dress, bleeding and panting for life, god knoes when was the last time you even took a bath."

Neev was taken aback by the priest's behaviour, yet she had endured enough to not shed a single drop of tear at this, she chuckled darkly and spoke raising her voice now,"I used to curse my village, thinking that people in the city must have some logical understanding of worship and God. City people are bigger fools. People having blood on their sleeves can come here and make personal VIP visits, but an innocent with nothing but piety has to prove the cleanliness of the body. वाह महंत वाह, बहुत बिकाऊ है तुम्हारी आराधना।"

(Wow , your devotion is so much for sale)

This angered the priest. He held his dhoti angrily and called the guards, asking them to grab her by the hair and throw her out of the entrance.

Neev got worried and surprised and tried to move away when the two guards grabbed her arms harshly and threw her hard from the main gate. She shrieked in pain and was about to fall when someone caught her. She looked at him and immediately stepped away.

The priest ran to him respectfully. "Rishi babu, I didn't expect your visit today. Leave this girl. Come inside, we are just about to begin the aarti."

Rishi looked at her, then at the priest,was about to speak, and immediately turned back to her in amazement. "YOU?"

Neev got a bit frightened and started to leave on stumbling steps when he held her hand and asked in a concerned voice, "What are you doing here? Didn't I leave you at the hospital?"

The priest looked confused and tried to cover up his mistake,"Oh no, I am so sorry babu. I thought she was some poor girl. Had I known she was acquainted with you, I would have taken her in myself for the aarti."

Rishi was about to speak angrily when Neev exasperated, "No, you were right. I am a poor girl, but not a beggar. Also, I am not known to him in any way. Still, you have to allow me to worship inside. This temple is for the children of God, not for showing off your architectural skills. Move now."

Rishi looked at her, smiled, and signaled the priest to let her in. They went inside, performed the rituals and prayers, completed the aarti, and came out.

Rishi was near his car and about to leave, when Neev shouted from a distance, "Thank you."

Rishi looked back at her. She bowed her head for a second out of respect and walked back to the bus stop. Rishi looked at her in amazement, wanted to talk, but looking at her distance and discomfort,left reluctantly.

Neev decided to stay there for the night, and the next day she would look for work. She lay down on the bench. It was cold and she was shivering and her eyes were full, so she closed them so the tears wouldn't fall, as she always did. She closed her eyes and had a flashback.

At her home in the village, Neev was not eating but seated at a farther corner of the small kaccha house. In her shabby hut, her mother came in and pushed her to the floor.

"This girl will only be happy after killing us", she spoke in vengeance .

Her father came and added annoyingly, "Eat this food, or I will beat you today."

Neev was tearful yet she tried speaking defiantly, "Why do you even care if I eat or not? So that jerk can feel satisfied looking at the beauty of my face."

Her father ran after her while she scooted away and slapped her hard. Her nose bled badly and she cried in pain, holding her chest tightly.

Her brother, who was small, ran to her rescue, hugging her and crying, begging them not to beat her. She held him too, with tearful but fierce eyes that only offended them more.

The next morning she went to the field and did pull-ups on a tree, then lunges, squats, and some fighting with the soil mountain she had made for practice. She fell to her knees from exhaustion, and then she felt arms around her back, moving towards her abdomen and waist. She felt disgusted and tried stopping the sob that was about to leave her throat .

Her heart was aching and she knew who it was, but unlike her previous attempts, she did not fight him down, because the last time he had locked up her brother for a week for her reaction. Her eyes turned redder, tears welled up, and she closed her eyes. The dirty hands on her body felt like a hundred sword stabs to her soul.

She moved forward aggressively and Rajveer fell to the ground. She looked back and said calmly without looking him in the eye,"I lost my balance."

He grinned and put his left palm on his head to support him while lying on the muddy floor,"This imbalance of yours makes me want lose my balance. I can't wait to marry you, Neev. When you and your body will both be mine. Hahaha. Even though they are mine right now as well, I will do at least one thing the way you want, especially after those two beautiful nights. So don't worry, I won't do what you're thinking about."

The 'two beautiful nights' hit her very hard, she gulped in her pain, her horrors, fears and looked away instantly, trying to mask the agaony she faced in the moment. She could not bear the disgust she had to endure.

Suddenly, cars honked and Neev woke from her sleep. She realized it was morning.

Even though she was breathing uneven for her past reminders, she didn't waste a single minute and started looking for work. She wasn't fluent in fancy English, she had passed Class 12 and was literate enough to live in a city. She went to multiple shops — clothing, food, games — but couldn't get a job. After many attempts, she got work at a dhaba, washing utensils and sweeping the floor daily for one fifty rupees, enough to keep her alive.

We come to and end of the chapter. How was it ?Next chapter, Neev and Ivaan come face to face, be ready.