💌 Episode 10: The Return Letter
It had been two days since Maya walked away.
Two days since the pendant felt heavier than it ever had.
Two days since Arjun opened the letter Aarthi had written before her death—
the one he had buried under files, medals, and fake smiles.
And now, sitting alone in his study, pen in hand,
he finally did what he should have done 18 years ago.
He wrote.
Not a legal document.
Not a hospital memo.
Not an apology.
A letter.
To his daughter.
✉️ Arjun’s Return Letter (Narrated in full)
“Dear Maya,
No.
I don’t deserve to start a letter with ‘dear’.
But I still will.
Because that’s what you’ve been…
Even in my absence.
You were dear to someone who gave you life and begged me to protect it.
And I didn’t.
You were three days old when I stood outside that orphanage, holding a bag filled with nothing but milk bottles and the pendant.
I told myself you’d be safer there.
That the world I had wasn’t ready for you.
That I’d come back when I was stronger.
But I lied to you.
I lied to Aarthi.
And worst of all, I lied to myself.
I watched you grow—
from distance.
Your school photos. Orphanage records.
Even the time you fell sick at 8 and they brought you to my hospital—
I stood behind the curtain.
I couldn’t speak.
I was a coward dressed as a man.
A surgeon who could fix a hundred brains but couldn’t face his own blood.
Maya, when you walked into my house…
You didn’t just bring truth.
You brought back someone I killed with my silence.
And I saw myself.
Not the doctor.
Not the father of Aarya.
But the man who erased a name and replaced it with shame.
You didn’t ask for forgiveness.
That’s what broke me.
Because forgiveness is for people who try.
And I never did.
I don’t know if this letter will reach you.
Or if you’ll even read it.
But I want you to know…
I kept the pendant.
I kept the photo.
I kept the ashes of the life I never built with you.
And now… I want to try.
Not as your father.
Not right away.
But as a man who remembers your name.
As someone who finally understands that silence can scream louder than words.
You are not a mistake.
You are not forgotten.
You are fire born from ash—
And I want to earn the right to stand near it.
If someday…
you feel like looking back—
I’ll be here.
With both hands open.
Arjun”
(Appa, if you'll allow me one day.)
🧣 Scene: Sending the Letter
Arjun placed the letter inside a small white envelope.
This time, he didn’t seal it with guilt.
He sealed it with truth.
He called the matron at the orphanage and asked for Maya’s hostel address.
No conditions. No demands. Just a quiet request.
And before mailing it, he slipped one thing inside the envelope—
Aarthi’s original letter.
The one Maya was supposed to read on her 18th birthday.
🎭 Cliffhanger
Maya returns to her hostel that night.
On her bed: a white envelope.
No name.
Only two things inside:
One letter in Arjun’s handwriting
And another, in a woman’s hand, faint but filled with love.
Maya sat down slowly. Her hands didn’t shake.
But her heart did.
And as she opened the letter…
A single tear fell.
But this time—not from pain.
He wrote not to be forgiven—
But to be remembered.
And for once,
His silence
Spoke her name.
