Chapter 9: Starting From Zero

The bus finally arrived.

An old one, paint peeling, windows rattling—nothing special. Yet it carried the weight of their entire future. Veeresh helped Poornima inside, choosing the last seat. She sat by the window, silent, her face turned away, as if the road outside mattered more than anything beside her.

They were leaving everything behind.

No house.

No family.

No certainty.

Only each other—whether she wanted it or not.

A New City

By morning, they reached a city that didn’t know their names or their past. Crowded streets, honking autos, people rushing with their own problems. For the first time since the wedding, Poornima felt invisible.

And that, strangely, brought a little relief.

Veeresh found a small lodge—one room, narrow bed, cracked walls. He paid in advance with the little cash he had left. When they entered, Poornima stood near the door, arms wrapped around herself.

“This is temporary,” he said softly. “Just till I find something.”

She didn’t reply.

Her Silence

Days passed.

Poornima barely spoke. She ate only when hunger forced her to. She sat near the window for hours, staring at nothing. No tears. No anger. Just emptiness.

That scared Veeresh more than her hatred ever had.

He tried to talk to her.

She didn’t respond.

He asked if she needed anything.

She shook her head.

She stopped asking questions about the future—as if she no longer believed she had one.

His Struggle

Veeresh went out every morning looking for work.

He walked street to street, office to office. Rejections followed him like a shadow.

“No vacancy.”

“Come later.”

“Not enough experience.”

By evening, he returned exhausted, shoes dusty, shoulders heavy. Still, he brought back small things—a bun, a packet of juice, a flower he picked from the roadside.

He kept them near her silently.

Sometimes she didn’t even look.

At night, he slept on the floor, not daring to share the bed again. He watched her breathe, afraid she might disappear if he closed his eyes.

Her Breaking Point

One evening, the power went out.

The room fell into darkness.

Poornima sat on the bed, unmoving. Suddenly, her breath hitched. Then another.

And then—

She broke.

Her body folded in on itself as sobs tore out of her chest—loud, uncontrollable, painful. She cried like someone who had held too much inside for too long.

Veeresh rushed to her.

“I don’t know who I am anymore,” she cried.

“I don’t know where I belong.”

Her fists clutched his shirt as if she might fall apart without holding something.

“My parents… my home… my respect… everything is gone,” she sobbed.

“And I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Veeresh held her—this time without resistance from her, without anger—just two broken people clinging to survive.

“I know,” he whispered, his own eyes wet.

“And I swear on everything—I will spend my whole life making this right.”

She didn’t say she forgave him.

She didn’t say she accepted him.

But she didn’t push him away either.

That night, as the city slept outside, Poornima cried until exhaustion claimed her. Veeresh stayed awake, holding her, realizing the truth at last—

Leaving the village was easy.

But rebuilding the woman he had shattered

would be the hardest journey of his life.