Shattered

3| little one

"Varun, please listen," Shiva began to say. But Varun stopped him by showing his hand and said, "I won't even let you go near Raavi. I swear I'll make your life hell. I have seen the monstrous marks on my sister's body. You have broken her in the worst way possible. I promise you will suffer even worse than that." Varun held Shiva's collar, tears visible in his eyes as he remembered the marks on Raavi's body and became angrier.

Shiva's heart felt like it was being stabbed with a thousand knives as he heard those painful words. He felt like a loser as fresh tears escaped his eyes, noticing that Varun also had tears for his real sister.

With a heavy heart, Shiva spoke painfully, "I'll accept any punishment you give me. I will endure all the pain you inflict upon me. But please don't separate us. I want to help her heal. I know I don't deserve this, but please...I'll fix her broken self. I promise, after that, you can do whatever you want with me."

Upon hearing his words, Varun couldn't help but let out a sarcastic laugh while tears welled up in his eyes. He spoke with bitterness, "You are an abuser... A disgusting abuser who hurt my sister... I am ashamed to call you my friend... I feel like I want to end my life for ever befriending you... How foolish was I... but not anymore."

Varun pushed him away and glared at him with disgust before storming out of the cabin, leaving a shattered Shiva behind.

Later, Varun entered Raavi's room where he had arranged a separate ICU for her to rest peacefully. As he gazed at her pale face, tears brimmed in his eyes. He tried to hide them as nurses were present in the room.

"You can leave now," he instructed the nurse and she left.

Varun finally let his tears flow freely as he held Raavi's hand and cried his heart out, resting his head on her hand.

"I apologize, little one. I am truly sorry. Please don't punish me like that. Please come back... I regret everything, my dear doll. I know I haven't been a good brother, but you mean the world to me, my sister...I am sorry for joking that I am your brother *laughs* My sister doesn't even know she has a brother..."

He kissed her hand as tears streamed down his face. He couldn't bear to see his sister in pain, but he felt helpless. He blamed himself for her condition and gently brushed her cheek as he spoke.

"But please believe me, little one. Everything I did was to protect you. Our family had a lot of enemies and when you were born, I was only 7 years old. We were a happy family until one day when tragedy struck...You were just 2 years old when our parents were killed right in front of my eyes. I was powerless, unable to do anything...As I reached for our parents, our mother was already gone...But our father was still alive, suffering in pain. In his last moments, he told me to always protect you and myself...He warned us about our enemies and within minutes, he was gone too...I begged them to open their eyes but they couldn't."

"Do you remember, little one, how our extended family took us to an orphanage? You were adopted after just a month. When I found out, I was heartbroken. It turned out that you were adopted by the parents of one of my classmates. I never mentioned it to you, but I always kept an eye on you. A year later, I was also adopted by a wealthy family. I never forgot the promise I made to our father, but unfortunately, I failed and broke that promise. I couldn't protect you."

Varun wiped away his tears with the back of his hand and rose from his seat, filled with disappointment. Despite checking on her, there was still no improvement in her condition.

Shiva was outside the door.His heart ached as he couldn't find peace, knowing that he was the reason for his wife's current struggle for life. The guilt weighed heavily on him, making it difficult to find solace. Unable to face her and unable to bear the pain, shiva left the hospital and haphazardly drove away in his car.

___