Shaurya's POV
The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Everyone was asleep... except me.
I stood on the balcony outside my room, arms crossed, eyes locked onto the window below.
Hers.
The curtains weren't fully drawn. Just enough for me to see inside.
Maa sat on the bed beside her, gently brushing her fingers through Lotus's hair-slow, rhythmic, soft. The way she used to with Siya when she was a child. child
I could hear her voice even from up here. Low. Calm. Telling one of her old stories from Rajasthan-the kind that made everything sound magical, even pain.
And Lotus...
She leaned into the touch like she hadn't felt something so kind in years. Her eyes fluttered shut, lashes trembling like she wasn't sure she was allowed to sleep.
My chest tightened.
She looked peaceful. For a moment, at least.
Too fucking fragile for this world.
But I knew better.
Peace pretended to stay, but it never truly lived in the hearts of the broken.
"In the day, she'll keep it together," the doctor had warned. "Noise. People. Distractions. But at night, she'll be alone with her memories."
"That's when the nightmares come. The panic. She might wake up screaming, frozen, gasping for air. She'll look calm on the surface, but inside-she'll be drowning."
"We kept her under heavy medication back there, just to buy her a few hours of quiet. The sedation gave her rest-but it wasn't peace. And if we keep numbing her like that, the medicine will destroy what's left of her clarity."
I hadn't said a word back then.
Just listened.
Memorized every line.
Every warning.
And now... I couldn't stop thinking about it.
She was sleeping now. Or trying to.
Tucked under a blanket, small, curled in on herself like she was trying to disappear.
Maa kept patting her head until her breathing evened out.
Once she was asleep, Maa left quietly, leaving the door and window open. The lights stayed dim, a soft glow stretching across the floor.
I stood there for a while, not doing anything in particular-just watching. Just breathing.
Then I pulled out my phone and tried to focus on tomorrow's work.
Eventually, I dragged a chair over and placed it near the railing outside my room. From there, I could see everything. I could stay close-just in case.
Hours passed like that. I finished preparing for morning meetings. Responding to emails. Checked and rechecked my files. By the time I looked at the clock again, it was 3 a.m.
I glanced at her window.
She was still sleeping.
And for a brief second-just a breath-I felt something like relief settle in my chest.
I thought about making coffee. Something strong to keep me from overthinking. I walked quietly down to the kitchen, brewed it black, and started heading back to my room.
But halfway up the stairs, I paused.
Her door was open. Just a crack.
My feet moved on their own.
I stood outside, looking in.
She was still asleep... or so I thought.
But then-
Her hands clenched the bedsheet, knuckles white. Her chest rose faster, shallow. And then she sat up-suddenly-as if something grabbed her.
She pushed at the air, panicked, as if someone invisible was trying to pin her down.
Then she stumbled off the bed, backed into the wall, and started scratching it.
I froze.
My brain stalled, heart hammering.
What should I do?
Shake her?
Say something?
Call Maa?
"Go and calm her down.Say something. Shield her."
My subconscious yelled at me.
But another voice inside me snapped back-"No. You can't touch her. What if your touch makes it worse? What if you become another shadow in her nightmare?"
"Lotus," I said, my voice low but firm. "Listen to me... it's just a dream. You're safe. No one's here. See? You're safe, Lotus... come back."
She didn't hear me. Or couldn't.
Her nails were raking against the wall now, breath coming in sharp gasps.
My hands clenched at my sides.
"She's hurting herself. Do something.
Go there. You're not touching her to scare her. You're shielding her. Just shield her." My inner voice reminds me
"No..." I whispered to myself.
"Why don't you understand? I can't touch her."
I looked around, desperate for something-anything-that might help.
My eyes landed on the blanket crumpled at the edge of the bed.
And then it hit me.
I grabbed it and moved toward her, slow but steady.
She was shaking uncontrollably now, pressed against the wall like that wall is her sheild.
I didn't reach for her directly. Instead, I wrapped the blanket around her from behind-gently, cautiously-like building a barrier between her and whatever horror she was trapped in.
She flinched at first, scared even of the touch of fabric.
Still stuck in the nightmare.
Still lost.
"Lotus..." I said quietly, kneeling beside her. "Look around. This is your room. No one's here. It's just a dream... just a bad dream. You're safe."
But she wasn't listening.
She started thrashing at the comforter too, pushing it away like it was another threat.
I didn't know what came over me next.
I leaned forward and gently blew on her face, just enough to move the hair from her eyes. She looked at me then.
She blinked. Her wide, terrified eyes finally landed on mine.
"Calm down... bacha," I whispered.
"See? You're safe. No one's here. No shadows. No hands. Just me."
She kept staring.
Breathing hard.
Confused.
Frightened.
But no longer fighting.
"If you want to push me, you can. Fight me, curse me, troll me all you want-once you're calm. Just... for now, breathe, Lotus. Please."
Her nails stopped digging.
But her breathing... still uneven.
I gently took the edge of the blanket and led her to the bed.
She followed, her body limp, moving like a lifeless body still trapped in a storm.
I helped her sit and wrapped the blanket around her properly-carefully, like shielding something sacred. She was still shivering, her skin cold with fear.
"Lotus," I said softly, sitting beside her with safe distance . "Look at me."
It took a few seconds, but she did.
Her eyes, dazed and distant, finally met mine.
"Let's breathe together, okay? Just follow me...
Inhale-
1...
2...
3...
Now exhale..."
We did it again. And again.
Until her breaths weren't gasps anymore.
Until her shoulders stopped shaking quite so violently.
She looked drained-utterly exhausted-but she was here.
Then I stood and walked to the table, poured a glass of water, and returned to her.
She reached for it, hands trembling.
So I slipped mine under the glass, steadying the base of the glass until she finished.
Then I placed it back and turned to her again.
"Now lie down," I said gently. "Close your eyes. I'll be right here."
She obeyed, slowly lowering herself onto the mattress.
But her eyes didn't close.
Too afraid of what waited behind the lids.
Too haunted by what she'd already seen.
I walked to the armchair near the balcony and sank into it, keeping her in sight.
"Okay, Lotus," I whispered into the stillness, "let me tell you a story."
She turned to look at me, eyes heavy.
"The Lotus Who Forgot She Was Blooming."
My voice was low. Steady.
Wrapped in calm.
"There was once a lotus... not one that bloomed in sunlight or peace.
No, this one grew in still water, thick with silence and pain.
She didn't ask for the mud. Didn't choose it.
But every day, she rose through it anyway.
Not to be seen. Not to be praised.
Just to survive."
I paused.
She blinked slowly, her body curling slightly under the blanket.
"And then one day, the storm came.
The sky cracked open. The water trembled.
And the lotus... she forgot.
Forgot how far she'd come.
Forgot that she was made to rise."
I watched her, breathing gently with her.
"But even then... she didn't drown.
She waited.
Shaking, yes.
But still rooted.
Because lotus roots run deep.
Deeper than fear.
Deeper than memory."
Her breathing was soft now. Even.
Her eyes fluttered closed-finally, without resistance.
I leaned back, exhaling quietly.
"You hear me, Lotus?" I whispered into the dark.
"Even if you forget who you are for a moment... I won't.
So just breathe.
You don't have to bloom right now.
Just stay with us.
That's enough."
And in the silence that followed, she slept.
And I watched over her.
.
.
.
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