Perhaps because walking away meant tomorrow existed.
A tomorrow where Sanjay knew.
A tomorrow where Raja and Vivek knew.
A tomorrow where home still existed.
Where Aparna would call.
Where Arvind would ask about work.
Where everything ordinary would continue despite this impossible evening.
Puja turned back.
“Does Maa know you’re in Patna?”
Sanjay stared at her.
“What?”
“Does she know?”
“She knows we’re here.”
Puja closed her eyes.
That answer frightened her more than anything else had.
Sanjay understood immediately.
“No.”
She opened her eyes.
“I’m not calling Maa.”
Her expression changed.
“Or Papa.”
Puja looked at him suspiciously.
“Not tonight.”
“Sanjay—”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I’m shocked. I’m angry. I’m confused. I don’t understand anything.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“But I’m not calling them.”
Raja and Vivek remained completely silent.
Sanjay continued.
“You’re twenty-three.”
Puja swallowed.
“And whatever explanation exists…”
He struggled with the sentence.
“…you get to give it yourself.”
For the first time since she arrived, Puja looked directly at him rather than toward an escape route.
Sanjay pointed toward the chair near the door.
“You can sit there.”
She didn’t move.
“Door stays open.”
Still nothing.
“Raja and Vivek can leave.”
That finally produced a reaction.
Raja nodded immediately.
“Yes.”
Vivek grabbed his phone from the table.
“We’ll go downstairs.”
Puja looked between them.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone stopped.
She wiped her face again.
“If you leave, he’ll…”
She looked at Sanjay.
“…he’ll start asking questions.”
Despite everything, Raja nearly smiled.
Because that was unquestionably true.
Sanjay stared at his sister.
“I have approximately one thousand questions.”
“I know.”
“And you’re answering exactly zero tonight if you don’t want to.”
Puja looked surprised.
Sanjay dragged one of the dining chairs farther away and sat down.
Not close.
Not threatening.
Just sitting.
After nearly a minute, Puja entered.
One step.
Then another.
Raja quietly moved away from the entrance.
Vivek remained near the balcony.
Nobody approached her.
Puja sat at the far edge of the sofa.
The front door remained wide open.
Silence.
Sanjay looked at the young woman across from him.
His sister.
Puja.
The girl who used to steal his headphones.
Who once cried because he left for college.
Who sent him screenshots of shirts asking which one she should buy.
Who fought with him over absolutely meaningless things.
Who called him whenever their parents became too much.
And suddenly he realized something terrifying.
He didn’t actually know her life anymore.
He knew the version of Puja that reached him through phone calls.
Family WhatsApp groups.
Festivals.
Birthdays.
Short visits home.
That wasn’t the same thing as knowing someone.
Perhaps none of them knew one another anymore.
Puja stared at the floor.
Then said quietly:
“I needed money.”
Sanjay’s fingers tightened around the edge of the chair.
He said nothing.
Puja continued.
“It wasn’t supposed to become this.”
Still nobody interrupted.
“I thought I’d do it once.”
Her voice trembled.
“Then twice.”
