The room was silent except for the faint sound of rain outside and the quiet peeling of an orange as Meenakshi sat beside Bhagavat’s bed.
Every few seconds, her eyes drifted back toward Bhagavat’s unconscious body.
Bandages covered his stomach and arms while faint traces of dried blood still remained near his injuries.
His breathing was slow and heavy.
Tears continuously rolling down her face as she slowly peeling the orange in silence.
Even now, she still could not believe he had survived in such a condition.
She tried to wipe her tears away before they could fall onto the slices of orange resting on the tray.
“You always make everyone worry about you…” she whispered softly while wiping her tears away.
The faint scent of oranges spread quietly through the room as she continued sitting beside him alone.
A few moments earlier—
The doctor placed a tray beside the bed before quietly speaking to Bhagavat’s mother.
“For now, he should only take light things.”
On the tray rested bananas, oranges, and a clay cup filled with cool coconut water.
Despite surviving wounds that should have killed him, Bhagavat’s shattered body was still too weak to tolerate anything more than simple fruits as his body slowly recovered from its near-death state.
His mother did not reply.
She only looked at Bhagavat’s unconscious face.
Shanti Lata quietly looked toward Urvashi.
“Urvi, safely escort the doctor back to the hospital.”
Urvashi gave a slight nod.
Before leaving, she glanced once toward Meenakshi but did not say anything.
Then she silently left the room alongside the doctor.
After they were gone, Shanti Lata gently took Bhagavat’s mother to her room so she could rest.
Back to the present—
Shanti Lata entered the room again and found Meenakshi quietly crying beside Bhagavat, the orange trembling in her hands.
“Meenakshi, are you still crying…?”
She gently rested a hand on Meenakshi’s shoulder.
“You aren’t a child anymore.”
Then she gently cupped Meenakshi’s face and turned it toward her.
“How much have you been crying?
Even your nose has turned red now.”
Meenakshi wiped her tears, gently placed the tray back on the table, then walked toward the window and looked outside.
“Meenakshi…” Shanti Lata said softly.
Meenakshi turned her gaze toward her.
“Can I ask you a simple question?” Shanti Lata asked Meenakshi.
The question sounded simple.
Absolutely simple.
Yet for Meenakshi, it was not.
“Aunty…
is something bothering you?
You never speak to me with this expression.
I know this is not going to be a normal question.
But still…
I will try my best to answer it.”
Shanti Lata remained silent for a moment.
“Do you love Bhagavat?”
Meenakshi didn’t answer immediately.
She simply looked toward Bhagavat’s unconscious face.
Then she spoke.
“Who am I to love someone like Bhagavat?”
A brief silence followed—
“I only want to stay beside him…
even if it is only as someone who serves him wholeheartedly.”
She slowly turned her head back toward Shanti Lata.
“I do not need gold, money, power, fame, attention, or even love in return.
I do not want anything from him.”
Her gaze lowered quietly.
“But at the same time…
I want enough money to fulfill what he needs.
I want enough strength to protect him from danger.
And that is all…
I want nothing in return…
yet I still want to give him everything I have.”
The moment those words left her lips, the room fell completely silent.
After a while, Shanti Lata finally spoke—
“But you can go with other men too.
There are plenty of men who are more handsome and gentle than Bhagavat.
And Bhagavat is younger than you.
You should choose someone closer to your age.”
Meenakshi slowly raised her eyes and looked directly at her.
“I am not saying you would ever do such a thing…
but someone as beautiful as you deserves a better life.” Shanti Lata tried to convince her.
Meenakshi replied softly,
“Who am I to decide whom I should love?
If love is something chosen logically, then…”
A brief pause followed.
If love only belongs between beauty and perfection, then why did Bheem love Hidimbi, the princess of the Rakshas tribe?
If love belongs only to gentle people, then why did Mata Tulsi devote herself completely to her husband, the mighty demon king Jalandhar?”
Her tone became soft again.
“Love is not just desire…
it is not merely physical attraction.
It is selflessness.
It is devotion.
It is the willingness to surrender your heart completely before someone.”
Her tone grew heavier again.
“It does not matter whether that love is for parents, friends, a life partner…
or even the Supreme.
Love is not a physical thing that can simply be handed to someone.
It is an emotion that can only be accepted, felt, and returned…
or rejected.”
Shanti Lata looked at her with slight confusion.
“A physical thing…?”
Meenakshi gently explained.
“Love cannot be forced upon someone like a weapon or a gift.
It only exists when another heart accepts it.
Love does not see power, money, or beauty.
It only sees the purity of the heart.
And true love grows through understanding.
It exists between souls…
not merely between bodies.
“But why do you love him when you don’t want anything in return?” Shanti Lata asked.
Meenakshi looked toward the rain outside the window.
“Aunty, tell me one thing.
Why do raindrops keep falling…
even though they know they will disappear the moment they touch the ground?”
She smiled faintly.
“They do not fall because the ground promises them something in return.
They fall because it is their nature to fall.”
Her gaze slowly returned to Bhagavat.
“And…
it is my nature to love him.”
She closed her eyes for a brief moment.
“कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।”
“मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥”
A faint smile appeared on her face.
“We only have a right to our actions, not to their rewards.”
A brief pause followed.
“If I love him only because I expect something in return…
then it is not love.
It is a transaction.”
The room fell silent again.
Shanti Lata stared at Meenakshi for a long moment.
Then she smiled softly.
“You know…
there are billions of people who speak about love.
But very few understand what they are saying.”
Her gaze shifted toward the rain outside the window.
“And perhaps…
even fewer are capable of living by those words.”
A brief silence followed.
For some reason, she had nothing else to say.
Her eyes slowly shifted toward the unconscious Bhagavat.
Then back to Meenakshi.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
“You’re a strange girl.”
Meenakshi lowered her gaze.
Shanti Lata gently shook her head.
“No…
perhaps strange isn’t the right word.”
A brief silence followed.
“Maybe I’m the strange one.”
Meenakshi looked at her in confusion.
But Shanti Lata did not explain.
She simply stared out the window.
Countless raindrops continued falling from the sky.
Knowing their fate.
Yet falling anyway.
A faint sigh escaped her lips.
“Perhaps there are some things in this world that cannot be understood through logic.”
Her gaze returned to Meenakshi. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“And perhaps they shouldn’t be.”
Meanwhile, inside her mind—
“How strange…
you know that none of this is reality.
It’s merely a fantastical world within a Web Novel.”
A brief pause—
“I don’t know why the writer did this to Bhagavat.
But somewhere behind all of this…
I can feel a mystery smiling.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“I’m strong too.
Perhaps even stronger than Urvashi.
But for my big sister, I chose to live as an ordinary human.”
A faint sigh escaped from her.
“What I fear is not the present.
It’s the future.
If the writer hurts him again.
If he forces Bhagavat to suffer once more.
I’m afraid I may lose control of myself.”
The silence lingered.
Then a dangerous smile appeared on her lips.
“Be careful, Writer.
My eyes are on you.”
She returned her gaze to Meenakshi.
“Some readers would call you foolish.
Some would call you naive.
Some would even call you obsessed.”
Her smile deepened slightly.
“But the funny thing is…
they would understand Bhagavat.
They would understand me.
They would understand Urvashi.
Even they would spend hundreds of chapters trying to understand Asha.”
A pause—
“But they may never understand you.”
The rain continued tapping softly against the window.
Shanti Lata slowly closed her eyes.
“Because selfless love is easy to admire…
but difficult to accept.
And almost impossible to live.”
For the first time, her voice carried genuine respect.
“Perhaps that is why you frighten me more than monsters do, Meenakshi.”
Shanti Lata exhaled.
“Although…
we’re only in Chapter 8.”
“Meenakshi…” Shanti Lata said softly.
“Take care of him.”
She walked over to Meenakshi and gently patted her on the shoulder.
“And don’t cry anymore.”
With those words, Shanti Lata quietly turned and walked toward the door.
The door closed softly behind her.
Silence returned to the room.
Meenakshi stood motionless for a few moments.
Then her gaze slowly shifted toward Bhagavat.
He was still lying on the bed.
Unconscious, breathing quietly.
Meenakshi walked closer and sat beside him once again.
The orange was still in her hand.
For some reason, she couldn’t help but smile.
“Aunty is right.
You really make people worry.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
She carefully placed the orange on the nearby table.
Then lowered her gaze.
“I wonder…
what kind of dream you’re having right now.”
The room became quiet.
Only Bhagavat’s steady breathing and the soft sound of rain against the window remained.
And Meenakshi stayed there.
Waiting.
The strongest people are not always those who can destroy worlds.
Sometimes…
They are the ones who quietly remain beside someone else’s bed.