A week had passed.
During that time, Riya came to meet Abha again. Somehow she managed to take her out of the hotel for lunch, wanting to talk somewhere their conversation wouldn't reach a third person's ears.
"Look, Abha," Riya said softly, placing her hand over Abha's, "I truly want to understand you. I've always felt that behind your silence and your tough attitude, there is something hidden. Something you don't want anyone to see."
There was no reaction on Abha's face—only a stone-like calm.
Riya sighed and decided it was better to stop the conversation there.
"Come on, let's finish eating first. You also have to go back later," she said with a smile.
Abha nodded slightly. The meal ended in silence.
Even after returning home, Riya's words kept circling in Abha's mind. Along with them came memories of the accidents—those that had happened despite Arjun and Raj's efforts to prevent them.
Days slowly turned into weeks, and Abha's nightmares grew darker.
Her father's terrifying image, his manic laughter, and an unseen fear chasing her—these had now become a permanent part of her reality. The cheerful girl she once was now trembled at the shadow of her own past. Instead of laughter, there was always an invisible layer of fear lingering around her.
Arjun, as always acting as her shield, knocked on every door he could for help—doctors, psychologists, and even a spiritual healer. But no one could give a clear answer.
When Abha was a child, her grandmother had taken her and her mother to a priest—the family's spiritual guide.
The moment he saw Abha's horoscope, he had said that destruction was tied to her birth.
After hearing that prophecy, Abha's mother left her father and married someone else. She believed the priest's words were true, because from the day she married Abha's father, strange shadows had begun appearing in her dreams. After Abha was born, those dreams seemed to manifest in real life.
Arjun was Abha's stepbrother.
One month after Abha's father died, Arjun's father—who was Abha's mother's second husband—was killed in an accident along with her mother. Only Arjun survived.
Since then, their grandmother had raised them both.
The two siblings became each other's support.
Abha had raised Arjun almost like a mother, and Arjun understood that well. After their grandmother passed away, the two of them had no one in the world except each other.
One evening, while searching through their grandmother's old trunk, Abha had found a faded photograph. In it, her parents were standing in front of a dilapidated mansion, smiling.
On the back of the photograph were her grandmother's words:
(Stay away from the shadows of the past.The day it touches you, it will realize that you exist.So never go to the place where you do not belong.)
That message led Abha, Arjun, and Raj to the same question:
What exactly was hidden inside their ancestral mansion?
The three of them decided to go there.
Once a magnificent structure, the mansion had now turned into ruins. Broken windows, locked doors, and a courtyard overgrown with weeds made it look even more frightening.
The moment they stepped inside, a strange feeling of familiarity washed over them—like an old memory breathing quietly within its walls.
Since their grandmother's death, this was the first time they had gathered the courage to come here.
After some time, a faint whisper echoed.
"Help… me…"
The voice seemed to be coming from the basement—the same place their grandmother had never allowed them to enter.
Descending into the darkness, they saw a large bookshelf filled with heavy books. In the center of the room, on a table covered in dust, lay an old diary.
The moment Abha opened it, a black shadow suddenly grabbed Arjun and dragged him backward.
Raj and Abha rushed forward and grabbed Arjun's hands. Blood began to spill from Arjun's mouth.
"If you're looking for someone, then it's me!" Abha roared.
"He is of no use to you. If you have the courage, try touching me."
She knew something—the shadow could see her… but it could not touch her.
The shadow released Arjun and turned toward her.
At Abha's signal, Raj whispered to Arjun, "Can you walk?"
Arjun shook his head.
His leg was badly injured.
Raj glanced at Abha. She was looking around in a strange way, as if fighting something invisible—yet failing every time.
Raj quickly helped Arjun stand.
As Arjun tried to move toward Abha, Raj stopped him.
"She can handle herself. Right now, you need help."
And he immediately took Arjun out of the mansion.
A few minutes later, Abha also came outside.
The same diary was in her hands.
Tears wouldn't stop flowing from Arjun's eyes.
"I'm sorry," Abha whispered. "This is all because of me."
Arjun hugged her tightly.
"This isn't your fault," he said. "We shouldn't have come here. This happened because of my stubbornness. None of it is your fault."
He tried to comfort her, though he himself had felt something strange inside that mansion.
He glanced back at the building, but all he saw was dense darkness.
After that day, none of them ever looked back toward that mansion again.
While leaving, Abha had seen countless shadows there—but none of them came near her.
She couldn't understand why.
When she was running out of the mansion, all those shadows had moved aside, giving her a path to escape.
Those shadows often followed her.
So why, this time, had they stayed away?
She didn't know the truth.
They already knew something she didn't—
That she belonged to someone else.
Touching her would not just be a mistake.
It would be a crime. ✨