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  A Promise

  Togetherness forever

  Piyush and Sunaina’s Sanctum

  Book 2 of Verma Clan’s Sanctum Series

  By

  Reshma Ranjan

  Copyright © Reshma Ranjan 2017

  Self-published in 2017 under the banner NV. All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval tem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author-publisher. Reshma Ranjan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author & publisher of this book. This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Edited by: Dola Basu Singh

  Cover Illustration: Sachin Venkatesh

  A Promise

  Acknowledging and Thanking

  Note from the Author

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author:

  Other works by the author:

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  Between the pages…

  Acknowledging and Thanking

  I am thankful to Rubina Ramesh for just being there, guiding and pushing me in the right direction.

  I thank Dola Basu Singh for walking through the world I created, seeing the characters through my eyes and editing it to the best it can be.

  I can’t not mention Sachin Venkatesh for surprising me every time with the cover design.

  Note from the Author

  Dear Friends,

  A Promise, Togetherness Forever, Piyush and Suniana’s Sanctum, is the second book of the Verma Clan Sanctum Series. I started penning it in November 2015 for NaNoWriMo. The family constitutes of mostly adopted members from different parts of the world that hold on together, stronger than any blood relation. I realized I needed to give each character their space instead of cramming them up in two or three books. And the first person of the family whose story I had written was Piyush Mauli, though Dr Salim Verma’s story was published first.

  I hope ‘A Promise, Togetherness Forever - Piyush and Sunaina’s Sanctum’ will take you through the pains and turmoil of the character just as I did and make you fall in love with their love story.

  With Love,

  Reshma Ranjan

  Chapter 1

  Year 2000

  Piyush needed the blueprint of the project immediately so that he could go through the designs before he attended the meeting tomorrow. It was already 8:30 pm. Usually the staff left by 6:00 or maximum by 6:30 pm. Sunaina Ramachandran was a new recruit and she was a hard-working woman. She was known for her punctuality and had never missed a deadline before. Why was she late now? This morning she had said that she would go home only after submitting the plan for the new project that was starting in Bangalore. Piyush had already had an argument with one of the clients. He didn’t like being talked down to, and this client had been acting too snobbish. Piyush had lost his cool and told the client that unless he changed his attitude, he can look for another company for the project or let someone with better behaviour work with them. Despite that, he needed to keep his word and have the presentation ready for the meeting tomorrow morning. He was known for his timeliness and no-nonsense way of working, and he wasn’t about to change it for some new recruit unaware of her duty. His ire was feared by not just his employees but anyone who knew him.

  Piyush walked with purpose to Sunaina’s cubicle which was on the twelfth floor of the Brigade Tower, one of the tallest buildings in Bangalore with sixty floors to its credit. He had the eleventh to fifteenth and twenty-fourth to twenty-ninth floors booked for their office. The sixtieth floor had four penthouse apartments that were used by four men of the Verma Klan—Raj Verma, Milind Verma, Sujal Verma and Piyush himself.

  The Verma Architecture Firm founded by Raj Verma, his uncle, was one of the most successful architecture firms not just in India but in many other countries, especially Dubai which was full of architectural wonders.

  Apart from the ten floors they already occupied in Brigade Tower, Piyush was planning to lease the ten floors in between the already leased floors as his uncle wanted to shift the office in MG Road here as well. As Raj had put it, the office would be more efficient with no need to shuttle between the two offices.

  When Piyush reached the twelfth floor, he realised it was empty. He paused at the entrance. He saw Sunaina slumped on the table asleep, with the design under her instead of on the drawing board. He fumed. He had never expected such slack from Sunaina. The first thing that came to his mind was that the blueprint would be ruined with the heavy make-up Sunaina always wore to office. He hated heavily made-up faces.

  “Sunaina!” He shouted to wake her up from her slumber but his voice came out louder than he intended. He didn’t realise how loud he was until he saw her spring from the seat like a scared rabbit and stand plastered to the corner of her cubicle. There was pure terror in her eyes and her palms were pressed flat on the cubicle walls.

  Piyush was shocked to stillness. He had never seen such fear in anyone’s eyes like he witnessed in hers that moment. Then he noticed the slightly smudged make-up by the corner of her lips and left eye. Her glasses were askew as well. He felt a bout of anger course through him when he saw the bluish-green bruise on the corner of her lips and the black eye. How dare someone hurt such an innocent girl like her? When he moved towards her, Sunaina tried to shrink into the wall, her breathing laboured with fear. She didn’t make a sound but her terrorised eyes were taking in his every movement. He could see her shake. He raised his hands slowly to hold her by the shoulder, but she didn’t react by pushing him away. He would have preferred it if she had, instead of the way she flinched in pain when he touched her. When he lowered his hands a little, he noticed how her body slumped in surrender. He felt the anger bubbling deep within.

  Piyush made her sit on the table after moving the designs to a corner. He looked on the table for a tissue and found wet wipes in a small packet. He took one, removed the glasses from her nose, and started wiping her face. She didn’t move a muscle as he wiped the corner of her lips. When she flinched with pain and raised her hand to hold his, he saw another bruise at the back of her hand.

  “Damn!” he cursed aloud and she almost jumped. Then he started cleaning her eyes. She whimpered.

  “Please! Just do what you want to do to me and then let me go. Don’t humiliate me more.” Her voice was laced with so much pain that it pierced though his heart. He had never felt more ashamed of being a man than he did now. Piyush didn’t say a word and carried on. He noticed how she was in so much pain that she struggled to breath. He had been in enough fights, thanks to his furious temper, to know when breathing was painful. He cleaned her face and saw her once blemish-less skin blue and green with bruises.

  Who could do that to a woman, especially such a young and pretty woman as her? She must be only twenty-one or twenty-two. Just a fresher.

  She slowly opened her eyes when she felt him staring and looked into his. He noticed for the fir
st time that they were greenish-grey like a clear glass showing the pain and hurt clearly. How could he have missed all the signs and never noticed anything wrong till now? She had been working here for the last three months and was already an important part of the design team with her fresh ideas and designs. Then he remembered he had seen her blood-shot eyes once but thought it a result of either an infection or a bad case of hangover. He didn’t interfere in his employees’ personal lives until it interfered with office work. And once it did interfere, he gave them a warning or asked them to leave for good.

  Now looking at Sunaina’s bruises, Piyush became sure it was never an infection. He gently placed his hand on her left shoulder to inspect the damage. She closed her eyes, expecting the worst. He slowly slid the blouse slightly off her shoulder and saw discolouration and swelling. Then he sat down on his knees and moved the saree away from her midriff and saw what he had feared. The last two hooks of her blouse were unhooked, probably because she couldn’t bear the pain, and the swelling was a clear indication of a broken rib. He knew the reason for her laboured breathing now. He got up and adjusted her saree and blouse. Without a word, he collected her handbag, and placed the glasses back on her face. She still sat on the table, slumped, waiting for the oncoming onslaught she expected from a man. Piyush wanted to kill the guy who did this to her.

  “Sunaina…Who did this to you?”

  She opened her eyes, first confused, and when she realized what he was asking, she became distant, as if a virtual shutter had come down her eyes. He knew she was not married and yet she had bruises not only on her body but also her lips. She had used loads of make-up to hide the marks which he had removed with those wet wipes. When he saw that she was not ready to answer, he tightened his hold a little. She slid down from the table and moved back.

  “Please tell me.” he asked softly.

  A single tear slid down her cheeks. “Appa.” She said.

  He cursed when he heard her broken whisper and was almost violent in his outburst. She cowered at his reaction.

  “Come with me.” He didn’t wait for her response and took the designs along with her bag that was already in his hand and walked straight into his cabin.

  She walked slowly as it hurt badly. Everywhere. Just for a few minutes she had slipped into oblivion, where it was pure bliss. Now wide awake, she could feel the pain screaming at her. She didn’t want to think what Piyush, her boss, had planned for her. But she no longer thought or cared. All men wanted the same thing from a woman. Her experience told her that. Just as she was about to enter his cabin, he came out carrying his laptop bag and motioned to her to accompany him. He walked in front of her, his pace quick. She had trouble walking that fast because it hurt.

  Piyush noticed that she was walking slowly so he waited patiently by the elevator. He didn’t want to think what this young woman had gone through. He remembered that he had parked his car a little away from the elevator and wondered whether she could walk that far. He thought it odd that he didn’t want to leave her alone for even one more second. When they reached the parking space he asked her if she could walk. She nodded. He didn’t mind the time it was taking for them to reach his car, which, under normal circumstance would have taken only a few minutes.

  He helped her sit in the passenger seat and she flinched as she sat, any movement being painful. He clenched his teeth seeing her in pain. He started the car, took out his phone and placed a call. She closed her eyes and turned her face away from him.

  “You still on duty?” Piyush barked into the phone. After he heard the response he said, “I am coming.” and cut the call.

  She didn’t turn towards him but sat there, as if blocking everything. Slowly her breathing became relaxed and she drifted off to sleep. When she felt hands on her shoulder, she didn’t want to come out of the oblivion, but someone shook her. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Piyush leaning in, holding the door open for her. She glanced around and realised they had reached a hospital. She looked worried but Piyush motioned her to accompany him. She felt tears welling up. What did he want from her and why had he brought her to the hospital? She followed him as he took her to a doctors’ room. As she entered, she saw a big man in his late 30’s drinking coffee.

  Piyush didn’t greet him in a normal way. He just nodded and Prathyush, Piyush’s friend the doctor, immediately knew something was not right. He asked them both to sit. Prathyush saw the bruises on the girls face but didn’t react.

  “Prathyush, I want you to look at her. She is bruised and is in pain.” Prathyush just nodded as if it was a normal occurrence. He called a nurse in and asked her to get Dr Savitri, and wrote something on a slip of paper, which he gave to the nurse. Prathyush wanted a female doctor to examine the patient. In few minutes Dr Savitri came in. She was a small woman in her late 40’s with a warm face.

  “Dr Savitri, this is Sunaina. You can use my room for her examination. We will go to the canteen and get some coffee.”

  Dr Savitri looked at the defeated girl with her bruises. She helped her from the chair and took her to the examination table.

  It was a couple of hours later that Savitri called Prathyush and Piyush back. She was waiting outside for both of them. Piyush looked at her grave face and his heart sank.

  “Piyush, is she your employee?”

  When Piyush nodded she continued, “She has a badly bruised shoulder and fractured ribs. I examined her X-Ray and I also saw her scanning results. She was brutally raped-” she paused for a moment before adding, “-by more than one person.”

  Piyush banged his fist on the wall, expletives flowing freely from his mouth, while Prathyush clenched his teeth. He sensed what was coming when he heard ‘more than one person’. “I am sorry, Doctor.” Piyush apologised to Savitri for using bad words when he came to his senses.

  “I had to perform a D and C.”

  “Was she pregnant? Did she miscarry?” He feared the worst. Piyush had heard about it from Salim, his cousin who was in a medical school.

  “No, No. They had put some foreign object in her. That’s why I had to clean up the clots in her uterus and stop the heavy bleeding. D and C, Dilation and Curettage, is used to control heavy vaginal bleeding. It is the quickest way to stop active bleeding in uterus.” Piyush grasped the new information. For a moment he was shocked and feared who ever had done harm to her had made her pregnant and also made her lose the child. “Do you have any idea who could have done this to her?” She asked Piyush.

  Piyush’s jaw tightened as he shook his head in the negative.

  “Did you ask her, doctor? She would speak to you,” Prathyush said.

  “She didn’t say a word throughout her examination. When I asked her if I can do the D and C and if she wanted me to call her family, she immediately said ‘NO’ vehemently. When will women ever realise that being raped is not their fault and they need to discuss these to their mother and father? Only they can help her come out of the trauma, if it all.”

  “It’s her dad.” Piyush said.

  Dr Savitri’s expression changed from shock to anger in a fraction of a second after hearing Piyush. It was Prathyush who swore this time. Sunaina slowly made her way out as a nurse helped her sit in one of the chairs. Dr Savitri looked at Sunaina and said,

  “I will inform the police.”

  “Wait!” Dr Savitri turned as Sunaina stopped her.

  “Please, no! Not now.”

  “But dear, you need to understand it’s a criminal offense and we need to inform the police. And time is a major player in such cases.” Piyush noted the fear and worry on Sunaina’s face.

  “Can we wait until she is on the mends?” Piyush asked.

  “Piyush, this is a criminal offense and you know it has to be reported.”

  “I know, but can’t you wait until she gains her strength? Or at least give her a day or two to be ready to face it?”

  “But why?”

  “Doctor, you know more than me, what it entails. There is no
law which stops the cross-examination of the victim or the insensitive way they are spoken to. In her present state such grilling and questioning will be like getting violated again.”

  Sunaina looked at Piyush with gratitude in her eyes.

  “But time is of importance.”

  “This didn’t happen now, Doctor, did it?”

  “No, not in the immediate present.”

  “So, a delay of a day or two wouldn’t matter much, I hope?”

  “But-”

  “Doctor, I’m not saying not to file a complaint. But I would like her to do it herself, without pressure. That way she will be ready to face the questions. And we all know how some people derive sadistic pleasure from questioning the victim.” Then Piyush realised his own words would seem insensitive.

  “I agree to what he says, Dr Savitri. Since time is no longer an important factor, we should give her time to take it at her pace.” Prathyush chipped in.

  Dr Savitri looked at Sunaina doubtfully.

  Sensing her doubts Sunaina said, “I will report it, Doctor. Just give me some time.”

  Savitri frowned and nodded.

  Chapter 2

  Dr Savitri finally allowed Piyush to take Sunaina with him as two hours had passed since the procedure and she had used just local anaesthesia. While going home he asked her if she wanted to take some clothes and important things from her house. She just nodded.

  Sunaina didn’t care where she went. All she wanted at this moment was to be alone when she could end it all. She had not said a word to Dr Savitri but she had felt the pain despite the local Anaesthesia when the doctor had performed the procedure. The kind doctor had given her a painkiller while leaving and now she felt a little numb but a slight nagging pain was still present in the background. Sunaina gave Piyush directions to her house. Getting out of the car took more energy than she expected.