1. Seventeen Years Ago

RAAHI

I used to be a simple and happy to go girl. I had my fair share of dreams and ambitions and I wanted to accomplish something in my life and make my parents proud.

Well, this wasn't something unusual. This is a dream that every middle-class girl in India dreams of, to study and then get a job so that she can stand on her feet and make her parents proud before she is married off to someone. I dreamt the same. 

But then, something happened. Whatever happened was something that a girl can read in some dark romance novels or movies, something which sounds romantic till the time it's a story, on the texts. But when that happens in real life, it turns out to be the worst nightmare of a girl's life. 

And seventeen years ago, something happened that turned my entire life upside down. 

I still remember that day clearly, the memories, the incidents all of it is crystal clear in my mind. And I don't feel good about it, trust me, after seventeen long year's, those memories continue to haunt me in every way possible.

I was just a simple, small-town girl back then, who had moved to the capital city of Delhi, just for her higher studies. I got admission to one of the best colleges in Delhi that too with my merit. I was so happy, so optimistic about my future, my career and everything else. I thought that after graduating, I will be having a nice job that will pay me enough that I can be independent and act as the support system of my parents so that they can retire without any hassles or worries. And when everything will seem good, I will marry a man, the man of my dreams, who will love me, respect me and care for me. That will be my perfect life, what can a girl like me ask for more?

But that day... it changed everything, from my dreams and my ambitions, my choices and above all, my hope of having a good partner for me. And I don't know, what have I done that I had to bear through these seventeen years of my life?

FLASHBACK

"So Raahi, it's been a month since we shifted here," Mansi, my friend and my roommate spoke. 

She is a sweet girl, and I feel kinda lucky to have someone like her as my roommate in this unfamiliar place. 

"Yeah, it's been a good month," I replied to her as I  tried to figure out what she was thinking. 

Although she is a sweetheart, she does like to do some stupid stuff which is a bit risky.

"So why don't we go out somewhere? We just have been going to college, attending our classes and just spending time in this hostel room, I just want to do something else," Mansi spoke in a cute tone. 

Her tone was something that made me feel that she is fed up with her daily routine and now wants to do something else for a day.

"Where should we go?" I curiously asked her. 

To be honest, I wanted to go out as well, I wanted to go places, explore this city and do everything a girl in her college life dreams to do. I wanted to have fun. 

"We should go clubbing," her eyes lit up as she snapped her fingers and exclaimed.

"What?" I was shocked by her sudden desire.

"Yeah," she looked at me with hope and excitement filled eyes.

 "A club? Which means a night out, alcohol and getting drunk," I looked at her with a disapproving look. 

Well, to be honest, I wanted to go out, and yeah, I actually wanted to see how a club looks like and enjoy partying there. I have seen clubs and bars in movies and it has always fascinated me. To dance carefree, drink as much as I can, who wouldn't like that? I wanted to do that as well. 

But on the other side, I was just eighteen and clubbing in this huge unknown city didn't sound really good to me. I was scared to stay the entire night out of my room and bed.

"No, not a night out, we will be back by twelve or one," Mansi exclaimed, trying her best to convince me. "Yeah, trying to return our place, at 1:00 AM, that too drunk, is there any surety that we will be safe? Or is there anyone who will safely drop us here?" I replied to her as I looked away.

To be honest, as much as I wanted to go to the club, I was scared of unforeseen circumstances as well. Who knows what might happen? But Mansi's cute baby face, her puppy look, somehow overtook my fears as she kept on looking at me. 

"Please Raahi please, I promise you, nothing bad will happen. Trust me, we will enjoy it a lot," she pleaded like a kid who cried for some kind of toy. Her efforts finally made me give up. 

"Okay, we are going to the club," I finally agreed.

"Yaay!" she got so much excited that she hugged me tightly and then rushed towards her wardrobe to pick what she will wear tonight.

It was six in the evening. We were finally ready to proceed towards the club. I looked at Mansi, her ivory coloured dress which reached to her thighs accompanied with heels of the same colour, dark smokey eyes with nude lips and curled hairs, she looked beautiful.

And then, I looked at myself in the mirror, I wore an off-shoulder fit and flare red dress which was of knee-length, black heels, light make up which consisted of eyeliner and a lipstick in a darker shade of red and my long and wavy hairs were left open. 

I could say, that I looked...

"Beautiful and sexy." 

Mansi completed the sentence I was thinking about and complimented me about how I looked.

We reached the club by 6:45 PM, surprisingly the traffic on the roads was much less than usual and the club wasn't too far from where we lived. So yeah, my fear of two girls roaming alone at 1:00 AM was reduced to some extent.

We entered the club and damn God, the club was filled with people. Loud music was roaring right in our ears as soon as we got in.

I looked around the club to witness the ambience. It was a beautiful yet confusing space. Few of the people settled themselves, on the tables provided at the corners, few were drinking near the bar while a lot of people were shaking their legs to the music. Such an exposure made me uncomfortable for a minute and at that time, I looked at Mansi. And Mansi contradicted me, she looked like she was excited to have a great time here. 

"Let's have a drink and then dance," she exclaimed in joy and pulled me towards the bar. 

As we reached the bar, the bartender was staring at us. His look made me feel a bit uncomfortable as I wasn't used to guys staring at me.

"Two shots of vodka," Mansi ordered him. I looked at Mansi as she ordered for me and then turned towards the bartender.

"One vodka for her, and I will have a soft drink," I politely placed my order to the bartender.

"Girl, learn to enjoy, we are here to drink and dance," she looked at me.

"Yeah, I am drinking... Soft drink," I rolled my eyes.

She nodded her head giving me a reaction that I am impossible, I smiled at her and the next moment, the bartender was there with our drinks. We had our drinks and the next moment I know, Mansi pulled me to the dance floor.

As soon as we were on the dance floor, she let her go as she dived into the music while my eyes scanned the people present on the dance floor. I noticed a few of the boys who were gawking at me. They looked wasted and that made me uncomfortable. I wasn't liking it and I kinda wanted to get out of here.

"Come On, Raahi, let's dance," she told me as she saw I wasn't dancing. I wanted to tell her that I wasn't feeling comfortable, but I didn't want to spoil her fun so I took a deep breath and started grooving to the music trying to ignore those guys.

As I was grooving to the music, I noticed two of the guys were approaching me. That scared me, but I tried to ignore it and be calm, and the next moment, I felt one of the guys' hands on my ass while the other one was coarsely touching my waist. 

I went numb as I felt both the touches. It disgusted me to the core, I understood their intentions but the crowd and the people weren't letting me react to anything. Even if I shout, no one would bother to look at me as they were so busy dancing to this loud music. But I felt disgusted and finding unable to fight them, tears started to pool up in my eyes.

But the next moment, something unusual happened. The guy who was groping my ass was punched so bad that he fell on the floor making a thud sound. As that happened, the music stopped and all the eyes on the club went towards a guy who was standing in front of me.

The guy was extremely attractive and he looked really handsome, he was tall and muscular. I just kept gazing at my saviour. I was about to thank him, but in the next moment, he did something so bad that it made me loathe him.

"From now onwards, you will just go to college and after college, you will go to your room. You won't be going anywhere else unnecessarily. I will be keeping my eye on you whenever you will be out of the place you are living, so don't you dare to think that you can roam anywhere you want. And if you really want to go somewhere, you will be going with me," he practically ordered me.

What the fuck? Yeah, he is my saviour as he saved me from that creep, but that doesn't give him any right to behave like that. And why would I follow his orders?

"Who the hell are you to say that to me? And why would I listen to you? Who are you to me?" I spat as I looked at him disgustingly.

And then, the next moment I knew, he placed his lips on mine. He kissed me.