"Guddi," Judhajit began, his voice barely a whisper. "I’ve never asked you for a sacrifice this big. And I know I have no right to."
Judhajit leaned forward, his hands clasped so tightly his knuckles were white. "It’s not about erasing you, Guddi. It’s about saving what’s left of this family. Anuj is spiraling. Shirin is on the brink. If you stay in this house, in this city, the fire will consume everyone. I am requesting you—not as a brother, but as a man watching his world collapse—let him go. Give him the chance to forget you." "Guddi," Judhajit began, his voice barely a whisper
"Judhajit-da, please don't," Guddi said, her voice trembling. "If you ask me to leave, to disappear so Anuj-da can find peace in his marriage... you’re asking me to erase myself." "It’s not about erasing you, Guddi
"Is that your request?" she asked, turning back. "That I become a ghost so others can live in a lie?" Shirin is on the brink
"I will go," she said, the words like lead. "But I’m not doing it for Shirin, or even for Anuj. I’m doing it because your request showed me that as long as I stay, I’m just a character in their story. It’s time I started my own."
The air in the living room was thick with a silence that Guddi found harder to navigate than any police training course. She sat on the edge of the mahogany chair, her eyes fixed on the flickering shadows of the evening lamp. Opposite her sat Judhajit, a man whose presence usually brought a sense of calm, but today, his face was etched with a desperation that made her heart sink.