27-09-2026, 08:55 PM
(This post was last modified: 29-09-2026, 09:56 PM by sharath841. Edited 2 times in total. Edited 2 times in total.)
The apartment was quiet that night.
Padma had finally fallen asleep after crying for nearly an hour.
Mohan remained awake.
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor.
The words from the WhatsApp group kept returning to him.
He knew Padma’s tears weren’t only because of those men.
They were also because of him.
He had been part of that world once.
He had looked at her through the same distorted lens.
And now she had seen what that world looked like from the other side.
Across the city, Rajan was equally quiet.
He didn’t send another message.
He didn’t call Mohan.
Instead, the following morning, he went directly to the apartment security desk.
Vinay was there.
? Vinay: “Good morning, sir.”
Rajan looked toward him.
? Rajan: “That old WhatsApp group for the residents—who created it?”
Vinay hesitated.
? Vinay: “Some residents started it years ago. Why?”
Rajan’s expression was unusually serious.
? Rajan: “I want it shut down.”
Vinay looked surprised.
? Vinay: “The group?”
? Rajan: “Yes. And if another group is created for the same purpose, I want to know.”
Vinay didn’t immediately understand.
? Vinay: “Is there some problem?”
Rajan looked toward the lifts.
? Rajan: “There has been a problem for a long time.”
He paused.
? Rajan: “And it should have been stopped earlier.”
Vinay nodded slowly.
Rajan didn’t explain further.
He simply walked away.
Meanwhile, Mohan was dealing with a different problem.
He opened the laptop.
This time he wasn’t searching casually.
He went through the accounts connected to it, changed passwords, removed unfamiliar sessions, checked account recovery details and disconnected devices he didn’t recognize.
Then he looked at the phone.
The same process.
Email.
Cloud storage.
Messaging accounts.
Everything.
He wanted to make sure Rajan could no longer reach anything connected to their home.
He also made a list of every device in the apartment.
? Mohan: “Laptop first. Then the router. Then every account.”
Padma sat quietly across from him.
She watched him work.
? Padma: “Do you think he’ll still be able to see anything?”
Mohan stopped.
? Mohan: “I don’t know.”
He looked at her.
? Mohan: “But I’m going to make sure he can’t.”
Padma nodded.
For once, Mohan wasn’t asking her to trust him blindly.
He was trying to earn that trust back.
Later that afternoon, Padma went downstairs.
She noticed the security desk.
Vinay was speaking with another resident.
She didn’t know what they were discussing.
She simply walked past.
The old WhatsApp group was no longer active.
Messages had stopped.
No new photographs.
No new comments.
Nothing.
The next few days were unusually quiet.
Rajan had stopped messaging Padma.
He had stopped sending Mohan cryptic instructions.
Even the old apartment group had gone silent.
But Rajan himself wasn’t at peace.
For the first time, he wasn’t thinking about how to get closer to Padma.
He was thinking about what he had done to her.
He remembered her face when she had discovered the photographs.
He remembered the fear in her eyes.
And most of all, he remembered that she had once looked at him without fear.
That realization troubled him.
? Rajan: “What did I turn this into?”
He had wanted her attention for years.
But now that he had it, it had come mixed with fear and humiliation.
He didn’t like what he saw in himself.
A few days later, Padma was walking through the apartment lobby on her way outside.
She turned a corner—
—and suddenly came face-to-face with Rajan.
Both stopped.
For a second, neither spoke.
Padma expected him to say something.
A teasing remark.
A compliment.
Perhaps another cryptic sentence.
Instead, Rajan simply lowered his eyes.
He stepped aside.
He didn’t even try to stop her.
Padma walked past him.
After a few steps, she glanced back.
Rajan was still standing there.
His head remained lowered.
He didn’t call her name.
He didn’t follow.
Padma was surprised.
And strangely relieved.
She continued walking.
Behind her, Rajan finally looked up.
He watched her from a distance for a few seconds before turning away.
He knew even that was something he needed to control.
But he wasn’t quite there yet.
The Apartment Festival
That weekend, the apartment association announced a festival celebration.
The entire lobby and courtyard were decorated.
String lights were hung across the entrance.
Flower garlands surrounded the lifts.
A small stage was arranged near the courtyard.
Families began gathering in the evening.
Children ran around with their parents.
Neighbours who usually only exchanged brief greetings were suddenly talking and laughing together.
Padma arrived with Mohan.
She wore a simple traditional outfit, her mangalsutra visible, her hair neatly arranged.
For the first time in several days, she seemed relaxed.
Mohan noticed.
? Mohan: “You look happier today.”
Padma smiled faintly.
? Padma: “Maybe I needed something normal.”
They walked into the crowd.
Across the courtyard, Rajan was already there.
The next few days were unusually quiet.
Rajan had stopped messaging Padma.
He had stopped sending Mohan cryptic instructions.
Even the old apartment group had gone silent.
But Rajan himself wasn’t at peace.
For the first time, he wasn’t thinking about how to get closer to Padma.
He was thinking about what he had done to her.
He remembered her face when she had discovered the photographs.
He remembered the fear in her eyes.
And most of all, he remembered that she had once looked at him without fear.
That realization troubled him.
? Rajan: “What did I turn this into?”
He had wanted her attention for years.
But now that he had it, it had come mixed with fear and humiliation.
He didn’t like what he saw in himself.
⸻
A few days later, Padma was walking through the apartment lobby on her way outside.
She turned a corner—
—and suddenly came face-to-face with Rajan.
Both stopped.
For a second, neither spoke.
Padma expected him to say something.
A teasing remark.
A compliment.
Perhaps another cryptic sentence.
Instead, Rajan simply lowered his eyes.
He stepped aside.
He didn’t even try to stop her.
Padma walked past him.
After a few steps, she glanced back.
Rajan was still standing there.
His head remained lowered.
He didn’t call her name.
He didn’t follow.
Padma was surprised.
And strangely relieved.
She continued walking.
Behind her, Rajan finally looked up.
He watched her from a distance for a few seconds before turning away.
He knew even that was something he needed to control.
But he wasn’t quite there yet.
Then comes a apartment function :
The festival grew livelier as the evening progressed.
The courtyard was filled with lights, music and the smell of freshly prepared food. Children ran between the families, older residents sat together chatting, and everyone seemed to have forgotten the tension that usually existed inside the apartment complex.
Padma came wearing Orange reddish skill saree with green blouse she was looking like a queen of the town even Mohan couldn’t be holding.. he was whispering her baby can’t hold back I want to hug you and kiss you .. this saree fits so nice to you … Even women can’t hold back they were feeling jealous of her.. Every men used to look at her stare at her… Vinay thought of taking her pic then he feared Rajan..
Padma stood beside Mohan, watching everything with a small smile.
For the first time in days, she didn’t feel the need to constantly look over her shoulder.
Then she noticed Rajan.
He was standing on the other side of the courtyard.
He saw her too.
Their eyes met briefly.
Padma expected him to come over.
https://ibb.co/bgHgxymB![[Image: bgHgxymB]](https://ibb.co/bgHgxymB)
![[Image: B1178505-C857-4-F27-AD62-12-A2141-EA667.png]](https://i.ibb.co/QvDWkkcY/B1178505-C857-4-F27-AD62-12-A2141-EA667.png)
He didn’t.
Instead, he gave her a faint nod and looked away.
A few minutes later, Rajan walked toward Mohan.
? Rajan: “Mohan! Finally, you’re looking less serious.”
Mohan smiled cautiously.
? Mohan: “Festival mood.”
Rajan laughed and placed a friendly hand briefly on Mohan’s shoulder.
? Rajan: “Exactly. Tonight no work, no problems. Just enjoy.”
Their conversation was surprisingly normal.
They spoke about the apartment, the decorations, the food and some ordinary things.
Padma watched from beside them.
Rajan glanced toward her.
? Rajan: “Hi, Padma.”
? Padma: “Hi.”
That was all.
No compliment.
No teasing.
No uncomfortable remark.
Rajan smiled politely.
? Rajan: “Enjoy the evening.”
Then he turned back to Mohan for another moment before eventually excusing himself.
? Rajan: “I’ll see you around.”
And he walked away.
Padma watched him disappear into the crowd.
Mohan noticed.
? Mohan: “What?”
Padma shook her head.
? Padma: “Nothing.”
But there was something different in her expression.
Later, everyone gathered around the food tables.
Sweets were passed around.
People laughed.
Someone started telling an old story about the apartment.
Padma laughed too.
A genuine laugh.
Mohan looked at her and smiled.
? Mohan: “I haven’t seen you laugh like that in a while.”
Padma looked around the courtyard.
The lights.
The music.
The families.
The children.
The ordinary happiness.
She took a sweet from the plate and smiled.
https://ibb.co/F4zHNvf2![[Image: F4zHNvf2]](https://ibb.co/F4zHNvf2)
https://ibb.co/bRd2fp2r![[Image: bRd2fp2r]](https://ibb.co/bRd2fp2r)
![[Image: 6-BAFF363-3336-4-FDB-AA39-FE4-A134-A4675.png]](https://i.ibb.co/b51LMhys/6-BAFF363-3336-4-FDB-AA39-FE4-A134-A4675.png)
![[Image: 2-CAC37-E3-03-E2-4-A6-E-9-B2-C-F6-BE9-F4648-DE.png]](https://i.ibb.co/BHqTbRg5/2-CAC37-E3-03-E2-4-A6-E-9-B2-C-F6-BE9-F4648-DE.png)
Padma: “I think I finally feel normal again.”
Mohan didn’t say anything.
She looked toward the apartment building.
Then back at the crowd.
For weeks, she had felt as though every corridor had eyes.
Every lift had felt uncomfortable.
Every unknown person had seemed suspicious.
But tonight she was simply Padma.
A wife.
A neighbour.
A woman enjoying an apartment festival with everyone else.
She took a slow breath.
And for the first time, she realized something:
She wasn’t trapped anymore.
Whatever Rajan wanted.
Whatever those men had said.
Whatever had happened in the past—
her life still belonged to her.
Across the courtyard, Rajan happened to glance in her direction.
He saw her laughing with Mohan.
And this time, he didn’t interrupt.
He simply smiled faintly and looked away.
Padma noticed.
And strangely, she didn’t feel watched.
She felt free.
Padma had finally fallen asleep after crying for nearly an hour.
Mohan remained awake.
He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the floor.
The words from the WhatsApp group kept returning to him.
He knew Padma’s tears weren’t only because of those men.
They were also because of him.
He had been part of that world once.
He had looked at her through the same distorted lens.
And now she had seen what that world looked like from the other side.
Across the city, Rajan was equally quiet.
He didn’t send another message.
He didn’t call Mohan.
Instead, the following morning, he went directly to the apartment security desk.
Vinay was there.
? Vinay: “Good morning, sir.”
Rajan looked toward him.
? Rajan: “That old WhatsApp group for the residents—who created it?”
Vinay hesitated.
? Vinay: “Some residents started it years ago. Why?”
Rajan’s expression was unusually serious.
? Rajan: “I want it shut down.”
Vinay looked surprised.
? Vinay: “The group?”
? Rajan: “Yes. And if another group is created for the same purpose, I want to know.”
Vinay didn’t immediately understand.
? Vinay: “Is there some problem?”
Rajan looked toward the lifts.
? Rajan: “There has been a problem for a long time.”
He paused.
? Rajan: “And it should have been stopped earlier.”
Vinay nodded slowly.
Rajan didn’t explain further.
He simply walked away.
Meanwhile, Mohan was dealing with a different problem.
He opened the laptop.
This time he wasn’t searching casually.
He went through the accounts connected to it, changed passwords, removed unfamiliar sessions, checked account recovery details and disconnected devices he didn’t recognize.
Then he looked at the phone.
The same process.
Email.
Cloud storage.
Messaging accounts.
Everything.
He wanted to make sure Rajan could no longer reach anything connected to their home.
He also made a list of every device in the apartment.
? Mohan: “Laptop first. Then the router. Then every account.”
Padma sat quietly across from him.
She watched him work.
? Padma: “Do you think he’ll still be able to see anything?”
Mohan stopped.
? Mohan: “I don’t know.”
He looked at her.
? Mohan: “But I’m going to make sure he can’t.”
Padma nodded.
For once, Mohan wasn’t asking her to trust him blindly.
He was trying to earn that trust back.
Later that afternoon, Padma went downstairs.
She noticed the security desk.
Vinay was speaking with another resident.
She didn’t know what they were discussing.
She simply walked past.
The old WhatsApp group was no longer active.
Messages had stopped.
No new photographs.
No new comments.
Nothing.
The next few days were unusually quiet.
Rajan had stopped messaging Padma.
He had stopped sending Mohan cryptic instructions.
Even the old apartment group had gone silent.
But Rajan himself wasn’t at peace.
For the first time, he wasn’t thinking about how to get closer to Padma.
He was thinking about what he had done to her.
He remembered her face when she had discovered the photographs.
He remembered the fear in her eyes.
And most of all, he remembered that she had once looked at him without fear.
That realization troubled him.
? Rajan: “What did I turn this into?”
He had wanted her attention for years.
But now that he had it, it had come mixed with fear and humiliation.
He didn’t like what he saw in himself.
A few days later, Padma was walking through the apartment lobby on her way outside.
She turned a corner—
—and suddenly came face-to-face with Rajan.
Both stopped.
For a second, neither spoke.
Padma expected him to say something.
A teasing remark.
A compliment.
Perhaps another cryptic sentence.
Instead, Rajan simply lowered his eyes.
He stepped aside.
He didn’t even try to stop her.
Padma walked past him.
After a few steps, she glanced back.
Rajan was still standing there.
His head remained lowered.
He didn’t call her name.
He didn’t follow.
Padma was surprised.
And strangely relieved.
She continued walking.
Behind her, Rajan finally looked up.
He watched her from a distance for a few seconds before turning away.
He knew even that was something he needed to control.
But he wasn’t quite there yet.
The Apartment Festival
That weekend, the apartment association announced a festival celebration.
The entire lobby and courtyard were decorated.
String lights were hung across the entrance.
Flower garlands surrounded the lifts.
A small stage was arranged near the courtyard.
Families began gathering in the evening.
Children ran around with their parents.
Neighbours who usually only exchanged brief greetings were suddenly talking and laughing together.
Padma arrived with Mohan.
She wore a simple traditional outfit, her mangalsutra visible, her hair neatly arranged.
For the first time in several days, she seemed relaxed.
Mohan noticed.
? Mohan: “You look happier today.”
Padma smiled faintly.
? Padma: “Maybe I needed something normal.”
They walked into the crowd.
Across the courtyard, Rajan was already there.
The next few days were unusually quiet.
Rajan had stopped messaging Padma.
He had stopped sending Mohan cryptic instructions.
Even the old apartment group had gone silent.
But Rajan himself wasn’t at peace.
For the first time, he wasn’t thinking about how to get closer to Padma.
He was thinking about what he had done to her.
He remembered her face when she had discovered the photographs.
He remembered the fear in her eyes.
And most of all, he remembered that she had once looked at him without fear.
That realization troubled him.
? Rajan: “What did I turn this into?”
He had wanted her attention for years.
But now that he had it, it had come mixed with fear and humiliation.
He didn’t like what he saw in himself.
⸻
A few days later, Padma was walking through the apartment lobby on her way outside.
She turned a corner—
—and suddenly came face-to-face with Rajan.
Both stopped.
For a second, neither spoke.
Padma expected him to say something.
A teasing remark.
A compliment.
Perhaps another cryptic sentence.
Instead, Rajan simply lowered his eyes.
He stepped aside.
He didn’t even try to stop her.
Padma walked past him.
After a few steps, she glanced back.
Rajan was still standing there.
His head remained lowered.
He didn’t call her name.
He didn’t follow.
Padma was surprised.
And strangely relieved.
She continued walking.
Behind her, Rajan finally looked up.
He watched her from a distance for a few seconds before turning away.
He knew even that was something he needed to control.
But he wasn’t quite there yet.
Then comes a apartment function :
The festival grew livelier as the evening progressed.
The courtyard was filled with lights, music and the smell of freshly prepared food. Children ran between the families, older residents sat together chatting, and everyone seemed to have forgotten the tension that usually existed inside the apartment complex.
Padma came wearing Orange reddish skill saree with green blouse she was looking like a queen of the town even Mohan couldn’t be holding.. he was whispering her baby can’t hold back I want to hug you and kiss you .. this saree fits so nice to you … Even women can’t hold back they were feeling jealous of her.. Every men used to look at her stare at her… Vinay thought of taking her pic then he feared Rajan..
Padma stood beside Mohan, watching everything with a small smile.
For the first time in days, she didn’t feel the need to constantly look over her shoulder.
Then she noticed Rajan.
He was standing on the other side of the courtyard.
He saw her too.
Their eyes met briefly.
Padma expected him to come over.
https://ibb.co/bgHgxymB
He didn’t.
Instead, he gave her a faint nod and looked away.
A few minutes later, Rajan walked toward Mohan.
? Rajan: “Mohan! Finally, you’re looking less serious.”
Mohan smiled cautiously.
? Mohan: “Festival mood.”
Rajan laughed and placed a friendly hand briefly on Mohan’s shoulder.
? Rajan: “Exactly. Tonight no work, no problems. Just enjoy.”
Their conversation was surprisingly normal.
They spoke about the apartment, the decorations, the food and some ordinary things.
Padma watched from beside them.
Rajan glanced toward her.
? Rajan: “Hi, Padma.”
? Padma: “Hi.”
That was all.
No compliment.
No teasing.
No uncomfortable remark.
Rajan smiled politely.
? Rajan: “Enjoy the evening.”
Then he turned back to Mohan for another moment before eventually excusing himself.
? Rajan: “I’ll see you around.”
And he walked away.
Padma watched him disappear into the crowd.
Mohan noticed.
? Mohan: “What?”
Padma shook her head.
? Padma: “Nothing.”
But there was something different in her expression.
Later, everyone gathered around the food tables.
Sweets were passed around.
People laughed.
Someone started telling an old story about the apartment.
Padma laughed too.
A genuine laugh.
Mohan looked at her and smiled.
? Mohan: “I haven’t seen you laugh like that in a while.”
Padma looked around the courtyard.
The lights.
The music.
The families.
The children.
The ordinary happiness.
She took a sweet from the plate and smiled.
https://ibb.co/F4zHNvf2
Padma: “I think I finally feel normal again.”
Mohan didn’t say anything.
She looked toward the apartment building.
Then back at the crowd.
For weeks, she had felt as though every corridor had eyes.
Every lift had felt uncomfortable.
Every unknown person had seemed suspicious.
But tonight she was simply Padma.
A wife.
A neighbour.
A woman enjoying an apartment festival with everyone else.
She took a slow breath.
And for the first time, she realized something:
She wasn’t trapped anymore.
Whatever Rajan wanted.
Whatever those men had said.
Whatever had happened in the past—
her life still belonged to her.
Across the courtyard, Rajan happened to glance in her direction.
He saw her laughing with Mohan.
And this time, he didn’t interrupt.
He simply smiled faintly and looked away.
Padma noticed.
And strangely, she didn’t feel watched.
She felt free.
![[+]](https://xossipy.com/themes/sharepoint/collapse_collapsed.png)