Katha - A New Beginning

Disclaimer: This story is not intended to hurt anyone's feelings, but rather, it explores themes of self-respect and the importance of family. We are not disrespecting any rituals or relationships. However, this story contains mature content.

Content Warning: This narrative includes graphic depictions of domestic violence, emotional and physical abuse, marital rape, miscarriage, and psychological trauma, which may be distressing or triggering for some readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Nowadays, we all make a mistake, right? And that mistake is, if someone is silent, we mistake their silence for weakness. But does silence really mean weakness? No, sometimes we simply don't want to fight, or sometimes we are respecting the other person, or we love them, and that's why we accept their every word. But that doesn't mean we are weak or submissive. We just don't want to speak.

This story begins with a girl named Katha. She is a simple, educated, intelligent, and hopeful girl with her own values and thoughts. It's not that she doesn't know how to live in a family; in fact, she has a sweet, caring, and strict family. However, her life changes after her marriage. Before the wedding, she often heard things like, "When you get married, you'll have to do this and that." Yes, she had many dreams, but due to her strict, average family, she was never allowed to live on her own terms. And then, one day, she gets married, and her whole life changes from there.

Time Skip:

Katha gets married to a boy named Anurag, who belongs to a narrow-minded family. This marriage is an arranged marriage.

"The morning after the wedding, Katha wakes up early and does her morning routine. She thinks in her POV, 'Let me quickly go and make a nice breakfast for everyone, and then I'll do the pooja. But what should I make? I don't even know what everyone likes. Let's see what's in the kitchen.' End of POV. And thinking this, she goes to the kitchen and makes breakfast for everyone: aloo puri, halwa, snacks like sandwiches, juice, tea, fruits, etc. Then she goes to the pooja room, performs the pooja, and offers the food she made. By this time, everyone wakes up, finishes their morning routines, and comes to the breakfast table. Katha greets them and touches their feet according to their Hindu culture. Then they all have breakfast, and Katha is thinking to herself, 'I wonder if they'll like the food. I hope they like it.' So she stays there, waiting for their response. But nothing happens. They all finish breakfast and leave without saying anything. Katha becomes sad seeing this."

But still, she reassures herself and cleans the entire table. Then she goes to the kitchen and happily washes all the dishes. Just then, Katha's mother-in-law comes and says, "Listen, give me a cup of tea, and quickly make lunch. Your father and Anurag have to go to the office." Katha says, "Yes, okay. Just give me two minutes, I'll make the tea right now, and lunch is almost ready. There's not much to make." And Katha's mother-in-law leaves. Then, after some time, Katha takes the tea to her mother-in-law, and she suddenly overhears her mother-in-law talking on the phone. Her mother-in-law is saying, "Oh no, no, in our house, daughters-in-law stay at home, they don't work. And, you know, all our daughters-in-law only wear sarees, so we can't allow her to go outside or wear whatever she wants. She's married now, she has to take on some responsibilities, right? Anyway, tell me..." Katha becomes a little sad hearing this, but she tolerates it and goes to the room, making sure her mother-in-law doesn't know she overheard the conversation. Katha goes to the room and says, "Mom, tea is ready." And as soon as she says that, her mother-in-law says, "Yes, give me the tea. You took so long, I've been waiting for ages. Anyway, did you pack lunch?" Katha says, "Yes, it's packed." Her mother-in-law says, "Okay, then clean the house, and there are clothes on the rooftop, bring them down too." Katha says, "Okay," and then she finishes all the work and sits down for a while in the afternoon. Then she prepares to do the evening chores, like the pooja and the rest of the work.

And then, in the evening, Katha finishes all the work. After serving dinner to everyone and cleaning all the dishes, she's waiting for Anurag. And then Anurag arrives. Katha opens the door for him and welcomes him with a pretty smile. Even though he's tired, Anurag greets her with a smile, and then he goes to the room to freshen up. Meanwhile, Katha sets the food on the table for him. Anurag comes down to the table and starts eating without saying anything. Katha is happy to see him eating the food she made, but she's also a little sad because he hasn't asked if she's eaten. Katha's POV: 'Just once, ask if I've eaten. I've been hungry since then. I thought we'd eat together, but look at him, just eating like a glutton. He's not even asking. At least ask once.' End of POV. Then Anurag finishes eating and is about to leave when he says, "Come to the room quickly, I'm waiting. Listen, did everyone at home eat?" Katha says, "Yes, Anurag." Then Anurag asks, "So everyone's asleep?" Katha says, "Yes, everyone's asleep." Anurag says, "Okay, come after you finish your work." Katha says, "Okay, you go, I'll be right there." And then Anurag leaves, and Katha eats alone. At this moment, she feels bad. Katha's POV: 'I've been working since morning. We haven't talked all day, and now he didn't even ask if I ate, and now I have to eat alone. Oh well, maybe he has work and is busy. He must be tired, that's why. It's okay, I'll finish my work quickly and go to the room to sleep.' End of POV. And then Katha finishes her dinner, puts the dishes in the kitchen, and goes to the room.

"Katha comes into the room and sees that Anurag is already lying down. Seeing this, Katha also does her night routine and then goes to bed. As soon as Katha lies down on one side of the bed, she feels a tight hug from above and flinches a little. But then Anurag says, 'It's me, why are you scared? We're married.' Katha says, 'Yes, yes, I know we're married, but when you put your hand like that, I just got scared. Anyway, tell me how your day went.' Anurag says, 'The day was very bad.' Katha asks, 'Oh, why? What happened?' Anurag says, 'Because you weren't there.' Katha blushes hearing this and says, 'Okay, let me go, it's very late,' and tries to free herself from Anurag's hold. But then Anurag holds her even tighter and says, 'No, not like that. I've met you after a whole day, I won't let you go.' And they both spend a romantic night like that. Then, after some time, Anurag, completely exhausted, lies down next to Katha and falls asleep without saying anything. Katha feels a little bad that Anurag was very rough the whole time and didn't become gentle even after she asked him to, and now he's just fallen asleep after using her, without even checking if she's okay. Katha dismisses this thought and goes to sleep. The next morning…"

"The next morning, Katha wakes up early, does her morning routine, and comes into the room to see Anurag still sleeping. Katha's POV: 'Anurag is still sleeping. Idea! Let's wake up my husband.' End of POV. Then Katha quickly brings a nice cup of tea and a light breakfast from the kitchen for Anurag and goes to him. Sitting beside him, she gently strokes his hair and calls out lovingly, 'Mr. Husband, wakey wakey! Your Mrs. is calling you, please wake up.' Anurag's sleep breaks, but looking at Katha, he says, 'Please let me sleep a little longer. Anyway, you just have to stay at home, and I have to go out and work. We'll do all this later.'"

Katha is a little disappointed hearing this, wondering why Anurag said such things. Katha's POV: 'What does he mean, he has to work, and I just have to stay at home? And what's with the irritation? I just came to wake him up and spend a little happy time.' End of POV. 'Oh well, maybe he's still sleepy, and he must have a lot of work, that's why he said that. And it's true, I do stay at home. I can work whenever I want, or not if I don't feel like it. No problem, let's try again.' And then Katha wakes Anurag up again. This time, Anurag wakes up and smiles. Then he makes her lie down beside him and starts cuddling her, saying, 'You know, you're so stubborn, like, you didn't stop until you woke me up, did you?' And Katha replies shyly, 'Yes, I do have that right.' And, 'Come on, get up quickly, the tea and breakfast are getting cold.' And then they both get up and drink tea. Then Anurag says, 'You know, you're going to make me addicted to sleeping. I mean, have you ever thought what will happen if you're not here?' Katha says, 'Yes, I know. Now stop buttering me up so much. And I'm not going anywhere, okay?' And they spend some time like that. Then Katha goes back to the kitchen and starts packing the tiffin, and Anurag starts getting ready for the office. But then Katha's mother-in-law comes and says, 'You haven't packed lunch yet? And Anurag's father has been asking for his medicine for a while, you haven't given it to him either.' Katha says, 'Mom, the tiffin is almost packed, and I'll give him the medicine right away.' As soon as she says that, her mother-in-law says, 'Yes, yes, okay. And make something else for lunch, okay?' Katha asks, 'Why? Is this food not okay?' Then her mother-in-law says, 'No, the food is fine, but we're used to eating hot food.' Katha says, 'Okay.' And then Katha gets busy packing the tiffin when Anurag's voice comes; he's leaving. Hearing his voice, Katha goes after him and stops him, but in the next moment, she becomes sad again because Katha's mother-in-law says, 'You shouldn't call out from behind like that. Hasn't anyone told you?' Katha says, 'No, I just had to give him the tiffin, so that's why.' Her mother-in-law says, 'Yes, okay, but be careful next time, and don't give us a chance to complain. We have some customs here, do all your carelessness at your own home.' Katha feels a little sad hearing this, but she ignores it and looks at Anurag, who heard everything but didn't say anything; instead, he seemed irritated. So Katha felt even sadder, but she still ignored it and gave Anurag the tiffin with a smile. But Anurag said, 'Can't you even do this little work? What do you do all day? And what was the need to answer Mom like that? Don't make this mistake again.' And then Anurag takes the tiffin and leaves, leaving Katha feeling bad. Katha's heart felt broken. Katha's POV: 'First, he didn't say anything, and now he's getting angry at me for no reason.'

"And like this, months pass with Katha doing all the household chores and ignoring their petty remarks. Yet, Katha still can't make a place in their hearts, and she just struggles there. But today, what happened is making the situation even worse. As usual, Katha is making breakfast for Anurag and the rest of the family when Anurag's voice comes, and she goes after him upon hearing it. Katha's POV: 'Hearing the voice, I came into the room and saw Anurag holding a shirt angrily. I went to him and asked what happened.' End of POV. Anurag shouts loudly and throws the shirt in Katha's face, saying, 'What is all this? What do you do all day, staying at home, huh? Can't you do even one task?' Hearing this, Katha asks, 'What happened? Will you tell me why you're so angry?' And as soon as she says this, she feels a hard slap on her face. Katha's POV: 'I really didn't know why Anurag was angry, so I was asking him. That's when I felt a slap on my cheek, and I couldn't understand what just happened to me.' End of POV. After slapping her, Anurag grabs her face tightly and says, 'Bitch, you made a mistake, and instead of apologizing, you're running your mouth like a shameless person. Look, this is why I'm angry, you ruined my shirt! These are how clothes get washed?' And then Katha's mother-in-law and father-in-law also come and ask, 'What's this noise?' Anurag says, 'Come and see what she's done. She's ruined my shirt. What am I supposed to wear now?' Hearing this, his mother says, 'Oh, this is nothing. This girl can't do any work. She just keeps acting all day, here and there, but can't do one thing. Son, if I start telling you about her antics, you'll be late for the office, and I don't want that to happen. Just wear something else and go to the office, okay? Forget about her. I think her family didn't teach her anything.' And then Anurag goes to get ready. On the other side, Katha still can't understand what just happened to her and how Anurag could hit her. And after working all day, how can her mother-in-law call her lazy and bring her family into this? She's still thinking about this when Anurag comes back after changing and looks at Katha, saying, 'Come on, stop acting now. I'm getting late. Go get my tiffin.' Hearing this, Katha looks at him, and then Anurag says, 'Don't look at me like that, and don't say you didn't do anything wrong. Now go get the tiffin, I have to leave.' Katha gets up, composes herself at that moment, and goes to get the tiffin.

And then Katha gives Anurag the tiffin, and he leaves without saying anything. And here, Katha, saddened by all this, does the household chores, constantly thinking if she was really at fault. Katha's POV: 'Don't think too much. Anurag was angry, and it was morning, he was getting late, and anyone would be upset in such a situation. And it was my fault too, I should have been careful while washing the clothes, but I wasn't. No problem, I'll be careful next time, and tonight I'll make a nice dinner and apologize to Anurag. After all, people say bad things when they're angry, so it's okay for Anurag to be angry like this. Why not? If he can love me, he can also be angry, right?' End of POV. Thinking this, Katha makes Anurag's favorite food for dinner, and after everyone has eaten, she washes the dishes and gets a little dressed up to surprise Anurag and apologize for the morning and normalize things. But then, in the next moment, Anurag comes, and Katha is disappointed seeing him in that state. Katha's POV: 'I was waiting, dressed up, when Anurag came, but this time he had drunk a lot, so much that he was out of his senses. But then he comes to the table and sees that I've made his favorite food, which makes him stop and look at me.' End of POV. But there was a strange feeling in his look, something different, and looking at her, he asks, 'Who is all this for? And why are you so dressed up? Is there something special today?' I say, 'No, I just wanted to apologize for what happened this morning, so I made a little effort. How did you like it?' As soon as Katha says this, Anurag says, 'Yes, you'll have to apologize for what you did this morning, but not like this. Well, you did well to dress up like this. So, you want to apologize, right?' Hearing this, Katha looks at him confused and says, 'What and how are you talking about?' Anurag ignores her question, goes to her, and throws her over his shoulder. Katha is suddenly scared by Anurag's behavior and tries to struggle a bit, but then Anurag gives her a spank and says, 'Shut up, everyone will wake up, and then how will you apologize?' Katha becomes quiet, and then Anurag takes her to the room like that. He throws her on the bed and starts undoing his clothes while looking at her. Katha doesn't understand anything and just looks at him confused, but she doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to escalate things, and also because everyone else will wake up. So she accepts everything Anurag does. Anurag has drunk a lot; he's out of his senses, he doesn't know what he's doing. At that moment, he's forcing himself on Katha, and it's very rough. Katha repeatedly asks him to slow down and let her go, but Anurag isn't ready to listen. Anurag tortures Katha like this for a long time, and Katha just silently endures everything. And then, when Anurag is completely satisfied and exhausted, he just falls asleep next to Katha. But on the other side, Katha is awake and in a lot of pain. She's feeling like a 'use and throw' object at that moment, and she spends the whole night like that. The next morning, Katha starts doing the household chores again, and after that night, everything changes. Katha takes care of the entire household, from the housework to looking after the whole family, but still, the family and Anurag are not happy with her. No matter how hard she tries, Anurag and the family find some mistake and humiliate her. In fact, now Anurag has started hitting her too. For every little mistake, Anurag starts hitting Katha, and the family encourages it. They always side with Anurag. A year has passed like this. Katha, as usual, dejected and disheartened, is going to give tea to Anurag. At this time, she is also pregnant, but still, the family makes her work. Katha comes to Anurag with the tea and is about to give it to him when, by mistake, the tea spills on Anurag's laptop. Seeing this, Anurag gets even angrier and looks at Katha angrily, shouting, 'You can't do any work, can you? If you can't do anything, then why are you doing it? And why are you here in my house? Just go back to your own home so I can get rid of you. Now what should I do? You've ruined my laptop, you'll be punished for this.' Katha gets scared and keeps saying sorry, 'No, please Anurag, sorry, I didn't do it on purpose, please let it go, don't do this, I'm not feeling well, please.' But Anurag doesn't listen to her and starts beating Katha mercilessly, and Katha keeps screaming and apologizing, saying, 'Please don't hit me.' But Anurag doesn't listen, and the family also doesn't intervene. But then, while Anurag is hitting her, he sees that Katha is bleeding, and suddenly she faints. Anurag gets scared seeing this and goes to Katha to check on her, but not understanding anything, he gets scared and calls everyone. The family comes and sees, and they also get a little scared. But then Anurag's mother says, 'Do one thing, lay her on the bed and call the doctor.' Anurag does exactly that. After some time, the doctor comes, and after checking Katha, he tells Anurag, 'I am sorry, but due to excessive pain and suffering, there has been a miscarriage. But luckily, Katha is fine.' Anurag relaxes a little, thinking, 'Okay, nothing much happened.' But then the doctor says, 'If possible, take some care of her, she needs it.' Anurag says, 'Okay, I'll take care of it,' and then the doctor leaves. Anurag's mother says, 'It's good that at least we're saved from the burden of raising a child and its expenses. Otherwise, who knows how much it would have cost, and what if it was a girl? Then there would have been even more expenses, first her education and then dowry for her wedding, it would have been a burden. It's good that it's gone.' And Anurag, hearing her, says, 'Yes, that's true, but this ill-omen will stay, we'll have to do something about her too. She's no less than a burden.' Then Anurag's mother says, 'Don't worry, son, she won't stay for long, we'll find a solution for her too. Anyway, look, she's regaining consciousness.' And then they both go inside the room and see that Katha is just sitting quietly; she doesn't say anything. Seeing this, Anurag and his parents feel a little strange, but they ignore her and come outside. The next morning, Anurag and his family are having breakfast when the police come and say, 'You all have to come with us, there's a case of domestic violence against you all, and many other sections and sub-sections. Come on.' Anurag angrily says, 'What do you mean? Are you crazy? What case and who filed it? There must be some misunderstanding.' He's saying this when he hears a voice, 'No, there's no misunderstanding.' Anurag recognizes the voice as Katha's. He sees Katha coming forward and says, 'I filed the complaint and the case of domestic violence. This whole family here is guilty. They not only beat me but also killed my unborn child. Take them away from here.' As soon as she says this, Anurag looks at her angrily and says, 'You're not doing the right thing, I won't spare you, you'll pay the price for this.' And then Katha says, 'The price will be paid by all of you for your mistakes, for what you did to me. And not just you, but me too, because I also made a mistake. Yes, I made a mistake by considering you all my family and ignoring every injustice and giving you all priority. But no, you people didn't deserve it. You think a woman is weak when she's silent, don't you? But you're very wrong. She's not silent because she's weak, but because she loves you, she listens to you, she tolerates everything, whether it's right or wrong. But how could I tolerate that you killed my child? I might forgive you for the atrocities you committed against me, but I won't forgive you for this unborn child.' And then the police arrest them all and take them away, and they get sentenced to 10 years in prison. And then Katha adopts a child and sells all of Anurag's property and moves to an unknown place, a new city. That place is such that no one knows her there, so Katha lives happily there with her adopted child forever."

"Starting this new life wasn't easy for her, but she still tried to live life again. And she was quite successful to a great extent. After so many bad moments, she cherished some new moments, their memories. She started her life anew, but she didn't give up. She is still soft, caring, and fragile, someone who still believes in love. She was among bad people, but she never let that evil affect herself."

Time Skip to 10 Years:

Today, ten years have passed. I'm Katha, and with me is my son, Pranav, whom I adopted ten years ago. He has become my life now. We are both very happy here. He believes he is my own son because I never let him know he was adopted. But to tell the truth, for me, he is my own son too, because he was born on the same day I had my miscarriage. Yes, I still remember that day, the worst day of my life, when I lost my unborn child. On that very day, Pranav was also born, but unfortunately, his parents were no more; they had passed away in an accident. I don't know if it was fate or if we had some connection from a past life that brought us together by chance that day. But whatever it may be, the truth is that Pranav is my child, and I am his mother. I know he's a child, innocent, but his desires are not unjustified. He is naive like her; he also wants his complete family. He often asks about his father, but how can I tell him where his father is and who he is? And even if I tell him, would he be able to bear the truth that he's adopted, and not only that, but that his stepmother, which is me, sent his family to jail? No, no, he won't understand, and instead, he'll start hating me. But what can I do? I'm the unlucky one. First, I couldn't save my family, then I lost my unborn child, and now I'm lying to my own child, fearing that if he finds out the truth, he might go away.

No matter what, this time I won't let anything be snatched away from me. I won't let the shadow of my bad luck fall on my Pranav. I will never tell him that he wasn't born from my womb. Whoever gave birth to him, he is only my child now, my Pranav. And that's why I've told him that his father has gone out of town for work and will come back very soon, and then we'll all live together. If only this lie could become the truth, if only it wasn't a lie but the truth... anyway... But yes, Anurag's sentence must be over by now. I wonder how he is now, whether he has changed or if he is still the same with his male ego. I never wanted any of that to happen, but the circumstances were such that I had to take such steps."

And after this, Katha goes to Pranav and lies down beside him. The next morning, Katha makes breakfast and calls out to Pranav, "Pranav, Pranav, what are you doing? Come downstairs, son, breakfast is getting cold, and you'll be late for school too. Come on." Just then, Pranav's voice comes, "Just a minute, I'd have come long ago, but this knot, it won't tie. Look, Mumma, it just won't tie." Seeing this, Katha says, "Oh, my silly boy, you just sit here and have breakfast, I'll tie it for you." And then they both have breakfast. Then Katha is tying Pranav's knot and says, "There, it's done, see? And you couldn't do such a simple thing, huh?" Pranav says, "Yes, Mumma, I know it's not a big deal, but what can I do? I just can't tie these knots." Hearing him, Katha laughs a little and turns Pranav towards her, holding him by his shoulders, and says, "Oh, so what? It's not something to sulk about. I'm here, I'll tie it, okay? Okay, let me tell you something. You know, I couldn't tie this knot either at first, but then after a long time, I learned. I used to get frustrated like this too, but look, I can tie it now, right? So you'll learn too, slowly, right? Now, stop this sulking and smile, we have to go to school, right? Come on, give Mumma a smile." And then Pranav slowly agrees and gives her a smile. Then they both go to school. Author's POV: Katha has been teaching in that school for many years, and then she got Pranav admitted to the same school. End of POV. Time Skip to Afternoon: Now Katha and Pranav both come home, but as soon as they get there, Katha is shocked. Katha's POV: 'Pranav and I came home, but as soon as we got there, I saw Anurag was there. Seeing this, I was stunned; I couldn't understand anything, but somehow I composed myself. But the question is, why has Anurag come here?' End of POV."

"And then I composed myself and told Pranav, 'Pranav, son, you go upstairs and quickly change, then go to Meena Aunty. She called you today, it was your class, I forgot to tell you, sorry.' Hearing her, Pranav says, 'But Mumma, Papa has come home, I want to talk to him, please, I'll go to Aunty later.' Katha, hearing him, says, 'No, I said go now, change and go to Aunty. I'll come to pick you up from there myself.' Katha says this a little angrily and strictly. Hearing her, Pranav says, 'Okay, Mumma, just two minutes,' and then Pranav leaves. On the other side, Katha angrily says to Anurag, 'Why have you come here? What's left for you here? And how did you find out where I am? Will you say something?' On the other side, Anurag silently listens to everything and then goes to Katha and suddenly hugs her tightly and starts crying. At first, Katha tries to push him away, but then she gives up and stands still. She also feels weak seeing Anurag's tears and just stands there silently. After some time, when they are both like that, Katha says, 'Anurag, will you tell me why you've come here? Please let me go.' Anurag says, 'No, no, I won't let you go. I've made a lot of mistakes before, not this time. Please, Katha, forgive me. I apologize for every mistake I made that hurt you, please forgive me.' Katha says, 'All these talks later, and anyway, they don't mean anything now. Just let me go, please get up.' Anurag doesn't get up; instead, he holds Katha even tighter, as if he'll lose her if he lets go, and says, 'No, I won't let you go. Please, just forgive me. I've lost everything in these ten years. Yes, Katha, after you left, you know, in jail, Papa had a heart attack and he left us. And after him, Mumma, she also went into shock, and then after some time, she also left us. But before leaving, she also apologized to you, but now she's not here among us. And since then, I've been alone. From that day till today, I've been regretting every injustice I did to you. That's why, after coming out of jail, I came straight to you. Tell me, will you forgive me? Tell me.' Anurag was asking for forgiveness like a child at that moment, and Katha, hearing him, says without any expression, 'Anurag, get up, I said get up,' and Anurag gets up. Then Katha says, 'Do you think all your mistakes will be forgiven just by apologizing? Huh? Will all those old days, those past moments, come back? Tell me.' Anurag says, 'No, I know nothing like that can happen, but give me a chance, I'll fix all my mistakes, please.' And then Katha smiles sadly and says, 'A chance? You want a chance today, but where were you yesterday, when I trusted you? Tell me, where were you ten years ago? If you wanted, none of this would have happened, neither our house would have broken, nor our relationship would have broken, nor our child... but anyway, what do you care? Just apologize and it's over. You know, since childhood, my family never let me have my own way, whether it was food, clothes, talking to someone, making friends, or anything else. They always said, "When you go to your own house, then have your own way." And then one day, I got married to you, then I thought, at least now I'll have some freedom, but no, I was wrong there too, in fact, it was even worse there. But still, I tried to make it work. Every day, I gave myself a new hope, and you all broke that new hope every day, telling me every day how wrong I was to consider that place my home, right?' And then Katha grabs Anurag's collar and says, 'Then why? Why do I still remember you today? Why do I still remember those moments? Why is there still love in this heart? Why is there still hope that maybe there's some magic, maybe something will happen so I can get my relationship back?' Then she lets go of Anurag's collar and says, 'You're asking for forgiveness, right? Okay, I'll forgive you, I'll trust you once again, but this time, if you lie or break my hope, then this time, I won't send you to jail, I'll kill you.' As soon as Katha says this, Anurag looks at her with happiness and says, 'No, no, just one chance, I won't make any mistakes this time, I promise.' And then Katha hugs him, and Anurag hugs her back. They both hold each other tightly, and all the pain and tears of so many years are clearly visible in that hug. After some time, Anurag breaks the hug and then kisses Katha. Katha's POV: 'We were hugging and crying, sharing the emotions of so many years, but then Anurag breaks the hug and suddenly kisses me. At first, I couldn't understand anything, then after some time, I also joined his kiss, and for the first time, Anurag's kiss didn't have any frustration, anger, or lust; if there was anything, it was just love, the pain of so many years, maybe. Yes, he has changed. We spent some time like this in this kiss, living our first loving kiss.' End of POV. And then they both break the kiss and wipe each other's tears. Then Katha says, 'Okay, now we have to go pick up Pranav, he must be waiting.' But then she sees that Anurag is thinking something, so Katha says, 'You're wondering who Pranav is, right?' Anurag says, 'Yes, I mean, no...' And Katha says, 'Oh, it's okay, confusion happens, okay, let me clear it then.' Katha tells him, 'That day, after you went to jail, I went back home, and there I found out about Pranav, that he was born on the same day as my miscarriage, but unfortunately, his parents both died, and Pranav was alone, he had no one, so I adopted Pranav from there so that I could also come out of my grief, and since then, Pranav is my child. But yes, Pranav should never find out that he's adopted, please.' Anurag holds her hand and says, 'Relax, darling, I won't let him find out, and from now on, he's not just yours, he's mine too; from now on, he's our child, okay?' Katha, hearing him, says, 'Yes, he's our child, you'll accept us both?' Anurag says, 'Darling, and this time, you're accepting me, not me accepting you, okay? So let's go pick up our child and go to our home, okay?' After that, they both take Pranav and come to their old home and start a new life."

"So, this was my story. My story perhaps, in many ways, resonates with your life, where some people are still trying to save their relationships. See, even if my story connects you to me, I won't say endure insults and misbehavior, or forget everything. But yes, I will definitely say that as much as it's right to retaliate, sometimes forgiving is equally important. We can't forget the old things, but yes, we can definitely create some new good memories, before which all those bitter memories will fade. And when forgiveness is rebuilding a home, re-establishing it, then why hesitate to forgive? So, once again, we walk those streets, those homes, where our little home once broke before the blows of fate. Once again, we set out to mend those broken relationships, to weave new friendships in the corners of those old walls. With some old relationships, a new journey once again, to create new memories.

Katha: A New Beginning

By Khushi"

(Poetic Section):

"Though memory may hold a somber hue,

And bitter echoes linger, it is true,

That gentle grace, a whispered, soft reprieve,

May mend the wounds where hearts were wont to grieve.

For walls may crumble, and the hearth grow cold,

Yet love's frail tendrils, stories yet untold,

May weave anew, where shadows used to creep,

And tender bonds from slumber gently leap.

So let us tread, where paths were overgrown,

And plant new seeds, where sorrow once had sown,

For in forgiveness, fragile, soft, and deep,

A new beginning, secrets we will keep."