Kamali stood alone in an unfamiliar city.
Everything felt silent.
The old woman's words echoed relentlessly inside her mind.
"Your boyfriend sold you."
"No..."
Her trembling lips barely formed the word.
Tears blurred her vision as she took a step back.
"You're lying."
Her voice cracked.
"He... he would never do that."
The old woman's eyes narrowed with irritation.
Without warning, she drove her foot into Kamali's stomach.
Thud!
"Aah!"
The impact sent Kamali crashing onto the ground. She curled into herself, gasping for breath as pain spread through her abdomen.
The old woman looked down at her without the slightest hint of sympathy.
"You foolish girl."
"How dare you question me?"
Kamali clutched her stomach, tears spilling onto the dusty ground.
"My boyfriend..."
The old woman laughed—a harsh, mocking laugh.
"Your precious boyfriend sold you."
Her smile widened.
"He sold you to this place."
Kamali slowly lifted her head.
"...This place?"
The old woman spread her arms.
"A brothel."
The single word struck harder than the kick.
Kamali's face turned pale.
"No..."
She whispered.
"No... that's impossible."
The old woman folded her arms.
"This establishment belongs to me."
"And from today onward..."
"...you'll work here."
Kamali immediately shook her head.
"I won't!"
"You can't force me!"
The old woman simply smiled before walking to a nearby desk.
She pulled out a folded document and tossed it toward Kamali.
"Then explain this."
Kamali's trembling fingers unfolded the paper.
At first, the words refused to make sense.
Then...
Her breathing stopped.
It was a contract.
A legal agreement bearing her own signature.
"I..."
Her hands shook violently.
"I never signed this."
"You did."
The old woman answered calmly.
"You just didn't realize it."
Kamali stared blankly.
"When you signed the hotel register yesterday, your boyfriend placed this contract beneath it."
"You signed exactly where he told you."
Every memory from yesterday returned at once.
His warm smile.
His gentle voice.
The promises of a happy future.
She had trusted him completely.
Without reading.
Without questioning.
Without doubting him even once.
The paper slipped from her fingers.
"...He planned this..."
Her voice disappeared into a whisper.
"It was all... planned."
Everything she had sacrificed...
Everything she had believed...
Had been nothing more than a carefully crafted lie.
Her legs gave way.
She collapsed onto the floor.
Tears poured endlessly from her eyes.
The old woman sighed impatiently.
"What an annoying child."
She grabbed Kamali by her golden hair.
"Aah!"
Pain shot through her scalp as she was dragged across the wooden floor.
"Please!"
Kamali screamed.
"I want to go home!"
"My mother..."
"Please..."
The old woman's expression remained cold.
"Forget her."
"She will never come for you."
"You belong here now."
Those words shattered whatever hope Kamali still had.
She was dragged into a large hall where dozens of women quietly looked toward her.
Some quickly looked away.
Others watched in silence.
Not one of them smiled.
Not one of them looked free.
The old woman threw Kamali onto the floor.
"We have a newcomer."
She looked around the room.
"Teach her the rules."
Then she left.
Kamali remained curled into a ball, unable to stop crying.
A few moments later, gentle footsteps approached.
One of the women knelt beside her.
She softly brushed Kamali's hair away from her face.
"Don't cry."
Her voice was warm.
"No one will hurt you."
Kamali looked up.
For the first time since arriving...
Hope returned.
"Really?"
She whispered.
"You'll help me?"
The woman smiled.
"Yes."
"We'll help you."
Relief flooded Kamali's heart.
Then...
The woman's smile slowly changed.
"We'll help you accept your new life."
Those words froze Kamali where she sat.
The surrounding women slowly stepped closer.
One after another.
Until there was nowhere left to run.
For the first time in her life...
Kamali truly understood what despair felt like.
The women slowly closed in around Kamali.
One after another.
Until there was nowhere left to run.
For the first time in her life...
Kamali truly understood what despair felt like.
She instinctively crawled backward, her entire body trembling.
"P-Please..."
Her voice shook uncontrollably.
"I haven't done anything wrong."
"I just want to go home."
The woman who had spoken kindly only moments ago sighed.
"You still don't understand."
She crouched in front of Kamali.
"Everyone who came here cried the same words."
"Everyone begged to go home."
Her expression was calm, almost emotionless.
"But tears don't change reality."
Kamali stared at her in disbelief.
"No..."
"There must be some mistake."
"My mother..."
"She will come looking for me."
"She will find me."
For a brief moment, silence filled the room.
Then several women laughed bitterly.
One of them lowered her head.
"I used to believe that too."
Another looked toward the ceiling.
"I waited for three years."
A third woman smiled sadly.
"No one came."
Those words struck Kamali harder than any blow.
She refused to believe them.
"My mother..."
"She won't abandon me."
"She will come."
"She have to."
The first woman slowly stood.
"I hope you're right."
"But hope is a dangerous thing in this place."
She reached down and pulled Kamali to her feet.
Kamali immediately tried to pull away.
"I said let me go!"
She struggled with all the strength she had left.
The woman frowned.
"Hold her."
Several others stepped forward.
Kamali fought desperately.
She pushed one away.
Twisted free from another.
For a brief second, she thought she had found an opening.
She ran.
Only a few steps.
Before someone caught her arm.
"No!"
She screamed.
"Please!"
She continued struggling, but more hands restrained her.
Fear overwhelmed every thought in her mind.
"I don't belong here!"
"I don't!"
The room remained silent.
The women exchanged weary glances.
None of them looked angry.
None of them looked satisfied.
Only exhausted.
As though they were watching their own past repeat itself.
The first woman looked into Kamali's tear-filled eyes.
"The sooner you accept reality..."
"...the less you'll suffer."
"I'll never accept this!"
Kamali shouted.
"I'd rather die!"
The hall fell silent.
For several long seconds, nobody spoke.
Then an older woman quietly sighed.
"I said those exact words once."
Her voice was hollow.
"So did she."
She pointed toward another woman.
"And her."
One by one, several women lowered their heads.
Kamali looked at them.
For the first time...
She didn't see monsters.
She saw broken people.
People whose hopes had been crushed long before she arrived.
People who had forgotten what freedom felt like.
The realization only deepened her despair.
Her knees gave out beneath her.
She collapsed onto the cold floor.
"...Why?"
She whispered.
"What did I do wrong?"
Fresh tears rolled down her face.
"I only wanted to be happy."
"I only wanted to be with someone I loved."
No one answered.
There was no answer that could erase what had happened.
Outside, the city continued as if nothing had changed.
Merchants bargained.
Children laughed.
Life moved on.
Yet inside those walls...
Kamali's world had ended.
The innocent girl who had left Rajasthan dreaming of a future with the man she loved no longer existed.
In her place remained only a shattered heart, crushed beneath betrayal.
As tears silently soaked the floor beneath her, one thought echoed endlessly within her mind.
TO BE CONTINUED…