[HIMACHAL PRADESH]
Inside the small cottage, a warm yellow glow flickered from a low-hanging lamp, casting soft shadows across the walls.
Aria sat on a creaking floor cushion, holding the baby girl gently in her arms, while Vidya, barely composed, cradled the boy.
Both women—one grown and calm, the other trembling but fierce—rocked the infants gently as they fed them warm milk from the thermos Aria had brought.
For a while, neither spoke. The tension was fragile, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was the kind that came when two people were too overwhelmed to pretend.
Once the twins finished their feed, their small mouths slackened, milk still glossing their lips. With practiced ease, Vidya adjusted the blanket around the boy and softly patted his back until he dozed off.
Aria watched her carefully.
The way the girl moved was too confident for someone her age—too alert, too calculated. But there was no denying the fatigue that clung to her like a second skin. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.
Aria's voice was soft, careful. "The letter didn't mention your name..."
Vidya looked up not meeting Aria's eyes, her own eyes weary but sharp.
"It's Vidya."
Aria waited a moment, then added, "...Surname?"
"I don't have one", Vidya replied, her voice steady despitethe weight of her words. "I'm an orphan."
Aria didn't press her, only nodded before looking down at the baby girl in her arms, she asked, "What about the babies?"
"The elder boy," Vidya said, nodding toward the now-sleeping infant in her lap, "is named Dev. And the girl... she's Navya."
Aria smiled faintly, brushing a thumb against Navya's cheek. "Their names suit them... When were they born?"
"27th December 2024, 7:43 pm. It was Homebirth."
"So... they are barely 2 weeks old."
Vidya nodded.
There was another pause.
Then, with a pointed look, she asked, "How did you come to know Ruhani?"
Vidya's gaze stayed on the flickering lamp. She had prepared this answer in her mind too many times to count.
"I was kidnapped by human traffickers when I was a child," she said.
Her voice was low, steady, the kind that made it hard to tell where the truth ended and the lie began.
"I was abused and passed around for years. But a year ago, I escaped. They came after me again... Seven months ago, I was almost caught when Ruhani di saw me..... and saved me."
Her lips trembled.
"She took me in. Let me live with her. She never asked questions. She just... helped me."
"And when did she disappeared?" Aria asked.
Vidya's fingers tightened around Dev protectively.
"She had gone out to meet someone and never came back. I waited. Then I found the letter and photo she left behind... and the instructions. I followed them."
"Do you have any idea who she could've gone to meet and where?" Aria questioned with deeply furrowed eyebrows.
"No, I am not sure... it could be the twins' father or someone else. But she did told me that she was going to her house where she used to live before." Vidya replied trying to recall as much as she could without having to lie much.
"I think it was on the outskirts of Delhi. I didn't know she had a separate house before then. The place where we lived was more like a safehouse."
Aria's narrowed her eyes slightly, studying her, "Was anyone else living with you two? What about the twins' father?"
Vidya shook her head, quick and firm.
"No one. When I met her, she was already pregnant. She never told me who the father was. I assumed he left her."
"I actually wanted to go and look for her myself, but I couldn't put the twins at risk too. That's why I came to look for you as soon as possible."
Silence again.
Aria leaned back, eyes scanning the candle's dance on the cracked wall.
She wanted to believe her.
She needed to believe her.
But a gnawing weight in her chest warned her that nothing about this situation was that simple.
Aria frowned.
Her gut said the girl wasn't lying entirely — but something was being held back.
Finally, she asked the last question.
"Who are you running from?"
"I don't know," Vidya said, almost too quickly.
"I just did what Ruhani di told me to. I kept the twins safe... until you came."
She looked up then.
And despite everything—the knife she had hidden, the readiness to kill, the lies buried beneath her words—Aria saw the same thing she had seen in the mirror once.
Fear. And fire.
Aria didn't press further.
Not now.
The girl was too exhausted, too guarded. And she had suffered far too much to be met with direct interrogation.
She stood up.
"Come. We're leaving. This place isn't safe anymore."
___
The forest road was quiet under the golden evening sky. In the back seat of Aria's SUV, Vidya had curled up with Dev and Navya nestled protectively in her arms. Exhaustion had finally claimed her, pulling her into a deep, uneasy sleep. For the first time in what must've been days, her expression was no longer tense with fear.
Aria stole a glance at the rearview mirror. The girl's arms were still wrapped tight around the babies even in sleep. The sight tugged at something raw inside her.
The silence felt heavier now–no longer tense, just full. Aria's fingers tightened slightly on the steering wheel. Her mind kept circling the same questions:
'Who had done this to Ruhani and her babies?'
'Who was this girl really?'
'And what did she just step into?'
Aria's phone buzzed, its screen lighting up with Vijay Sharma.
"Yeah?" she answered quickly.
"All done," came his low, steady voice.
"Cradles, diapers, baby clothes, warm milk, clothes for the girl. I even added extra blankets. She's about eighteen, right?"
"Yes. Thank you," Aria exhaled, grateful. "We'll be home soon."
"Anything else?"
"Yes", she added after a beat.
"Make a fake ID for her."
"Name: Vidya Sharma. Age - 18. Let's say she's your younger sister who was living with your mother after your parent's divorce, and after her death lived with your maternal side of the family, in Shimla, maybe? and she's just moved back to live with you after years."
A short pause, then a faint chuckle.
"So you want me to use my personal information and family history to help you in kidnapping a girl and turning her into my sister? You really are something else, Aria Maheshwari."
"It's Aru to you," she corrected sharply, though her lips twitched.
"And it's not kidnapping. It's protecting."
He didn't argue.
"You better bring me a wedding gift if this blows up in my face."
Aria smiled faintly. "You'll get a bulletproof vest."
___
[ARIA'S VILLA - HIMACHAL PRADESH]
The house stood at the edge of a sleepy hill town—secluded, surrounded by trees, and far from the shadows that haunted Vidya.
When they arrived, the fog had begun to spread. Aria parked the SUV in front of her home and stepped out quietly.
She walked around and opened the back door. "Vidya," she said gently, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.
Vidya startled, then relaxed when she recognized Aria's face. Carefully, they lifted the sleeping twins and followed her inside.
The living room was warm and quiet. Two small cradles-one painted a gentle blue and the other a delicate pink-stood by the far wall. Diapers, baby bottles, and piles of folded baby clothes were stacked on the nearby table.
A familiar figure stood waiting—Vijay, her former partner and now bestfriend.
"Welcome to chaos," he said softly, nodding toward the bundles in their arms.
Vidya blinked at him, unsure of what to say.
He offered a smile.
"I'm Vijay. You'll be safe here. Just follow Aria's lead."
Aria glanced at him. "Did you...?"
Vijay handed over a warm food container.
"Rice, dal, sabzi. Also soup for the girl. She's dangerously thin."
Aria gave him a grateful nod and led Vidya toward the guest room beside hers.
The room had a soft bed, a rug near the window, and an old rocking chair Aria hadn't used in months.
"This will be your room. The twins can stay here with you."
Vidya nodded, still not fully trusting the quiet or the kindness.
But as she placed the babies in their cradles and watched them shift peacefully in sleep, some of the tension in her spine began to ease.
"Rest," Aria said gently. "I'll keep watch for now."
Vidya turned to her, eyes glassy. "Thank you..."
"No need for that," Aria murmured, her gaze shifting to the sleeping babies. "They're family now. Which means you are too."
She quietly stepped out, leaving the door ajar.
Vijay waited outside with a laptop already open.
"So," he said, glancing at her. "What the hell are we really dealing with?"
Aria's jaw tightened. "Something far bigger than what we imagined".
She had no idea what she had just brought into her life—but as she looked at the now quiet hallway filled with the faint smell of baby powder and food, she knew this was only the beginning.