Chapter 10

Abandoned

A month of waiting ended in one decision.

Enough.

Veeresh didn’t send Ritwik.

He didn’t send Rayan.

He went himself.

Tumkur.

The railway station looked ordinary. Vendors shouting. Trains arriving. Life moving forward as if nothing tragic had ever happened there.

But for Veeresh, this was the last place she had existed.

He went straight to the station master’s office and demanded CCTV footage from that day.

Minutes later, the grainy screen flickered.

And there she was.

Poornima.

Stepping down from the train slowly.

White saree. Small bag in hand. One hand resting protectively on her stomach.

Alone.

Veeresh’s chest tightened.

“She came,” he muttered.

Without wasting time, he drove straight to her parents’ house.

The house was modest. Silent.

He knocked once.

Her father opened the door.

Recognition flickered in his eyes.

“Where is Poornima?” Veeresh asked directly.

Her mother appeared behind him. “She… she didn’t come here.”

Veeresh’s expression turned dangerously calm. “She got down at Tumkur station.”

“We told her not to come,” her father admitted weakly. “Our village… won’t accept her. A widow. Pregnant. There would be questions. We told her to go somewhere else.”

For a second, Veeresh just stared at them.

Processing.

Then something snapped.

He pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at her father.

“Don’t lie to me.”

Both of them froze in terror.

“We’re not lying!” her mother cried. “We told her not to step here. Society… people talk…”

“Are you fucking mad?” Veeresh’s voice exploded through the small house. “She is your daughter. Pregnant. She had no money. No protection. And you sent her away?”

Neither of them had an answer.

Just silence.

And guilt.

Veeresh lowered the gun slightly but his anger didn’t reduce.

“If I find out anything happened to her because of you…” his voice dropped to a deadly whisper, “I will shoot you.”

He turned and walked out before he did something irreversible.

Outside, the heat felt suffocating.

He got into his car and drove aimlessly through the roads of Tumkur.

After a few minutes, he stopped near an empty stretch.

He stepped out.

Lit a cigarette.

His hands were not shaking from fear.

They were shaking from rage.

He exhaled smoke slowly, staring at nothing.

She came here.

She was rejected.

Again.

“Where are you, Poornima…” he muttered into the silent air.

For the first time, a thought entered his mind that he refused to entertain before.

What if she had nowhere to go?

What if she had done something drastic?

His jaw tightened.

No.

She wouldn’t.

She couldn’t.

Because she wasn’t alone.

She was carrying life.

But life without support breaks even the strongest.

Veeresh crushed the cigarette under his shoe.

This was no longer about a promise.

This was personal.

One line:
The world had abandoned her twice — and Veeresh was running out of time to find her.