“What exactly are you asking?”
Puja took a breath.
“If the three of you genuinely want us out of this…”
She looked at Raja.
“…me…”
Then Vivek.
“…Akariti…”
Then back toward Raja.
“…and Sonam…”
She paused.
“…help us build something we don’t have to hide.”
Nobody spoke.
Sanjay frowned.
“Money?”
“Partly.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Raja immediately said:
“That’s a terrible opening to a financial proposal.”
Puja gave him a look.
“I’m not presenting to investors.”
“Technically—”
“Raja.”
“Sorry.”
Puja continued.
“Money isn’t the only reason.”
She tapped her fingers against the bottle.
“But money makes it easy to continue.”
Sanjay understood.
“Fast money.”
“Very.”
“And once you get used to it…”
“It’s difficult going back to asking somebody for fifteen thousand a month when you know you can make that much much faster.”
The three friends exchanged looks.
For the first time, they were confronting the practical trap rather than simply the moral shock.
Vivek asked:
“So what would stopping require?”
Puja thought about it.
“Different for all three of us.”
“Meaning?”
“I want financial independence.”
“From this?”
“From everyone.”
That included Sanjay.
He noticed.
Puja continued.
“Sonam has her own plans.”
Raja immediately asked:
“What plans?”
“I told you. Those are hers to explain.”
Raja leaned back reluctantly.
“And Akariti?”
“Same.”
Vivek nodded.
“Fair.”
Puja looked at all three.
“But if you’re serious…”
Her voice softened.
“…if you’re not just going to shout tonight and forget everything next week…”
She swallowed.
“…then yes.”
Sanjay waited.
Puja said it plainly.
“Support us while we get out.”
The room became completely still.
“No clients.”
She looked at Sanjay.
“No agents.”
At Raja.
“No bookings.”
At Vivek.
“No lying about where we’re going.”
Then:
“We leave it.”
Raja stared at her.
“Forever?”
Puja nodded.
“Forever.”
Sanjay didn’t immediately believe her.
Not because Puja was lying.
Because promises made during emotional nights were easy.
Tomorrow was harder.
“You can promise for yourself,” he said.
Puja understood immediately.
“But not for Sonam and Akariti.”
“Exactly.”
She nodded.
“They’ve already talked about leaving.”
Raja sat forward.
“They have?”
“Many times.”
“Then why haven’t they?”
Puja gave him a look that answered before words arrived.
“Because leaving something is easier when there’s somewhere else to go.”
That silenced everyone.
She continued.
“We’re educated.”
She pointed toward herself.
“We’re not helpless.”
Then toward the invisible places elsewhere in Patna where Sonam and Akariti were spending their evening.
“We can work.”
“Then work,” Raja said.
Puja looked directly at him.
“Help us get started.”
“How?”
“Jobs. Courses. Business. Whatever actually fits each of us.”
Vivek was listening differently now.
More practically.
“You mean transition.”
Puja nodded.
“Yes.”
That word seemed to satisfy her.
“Transition.”
Not rescue.
Not punishment.
Not three brothers becoming prison guards.
A way out.
Sanjay asked:
“And until then?”
Puja understood exactly what he meant.
“No bookings.”
“Can you afford that?”
She hesitated.
“That’s where the support comes in.”
