Vijay: The reluctant woman

Chapter 16: The Weight of Blood

The lodge room was quiet and dim when Vijay finally returned late that night. The single bulb overhead cast a weak yellow glow over the simple furniture and the thin mattress on the floor. He pushed the door shut behind him with a soft click, still dressed in the rich emerald-green saree he had worn to the mansion. The fabric clung to his body like a second skin after the long, tense evening — the short blouse stretched tight across his heavy F-cup breasts, the deep cleavage rising and falling with every shaky breath, the gold chain disappearing into that warm valley. The saree was tied low on his wide hips, leaving a generous stretch of smooth, bare midriff exposed, the deep navel still catching the faint light. His long black hair, once neatly braided with jasmine, now had loose strands falling across his face. The red bindi and kajal around his eyes were slightly smudged. He looked every bit the sensual, exhausted woman returning from a dangerous encounter.

But inside, Vijay was breaking.

Suresh was already waiting, still dressed as Sandhya in the deep blue saree, sitting on the edge of the bed with a worried expression. The moment he saw Vijay’s face, he stood up.

“Priyanka… what happened?” Suresh asked, his voice soft but urgent.

Vijay’s legs gave way. He sank down onto the mattress, burying his face in his hands. The bangles on his wrists clinked loudly in the silence. Tears came fast and hot, soaking into his palms. “It’s him, Anna… the big shot… the man who wants to marry me… it’s Ramana. My own elder brother.”

2 hrs and a flashback later...

Suresh froze. His eyes widened in pure shock. He sat down slowly beside Vijay, the two of them — one in green, one in blue — looking like two women sharing a secret in the middle of the night. “Your… brother? The same Ramana you told me about? The one who left you behind fifteen years ago?”

Vijay nodded, his shoulders shaking. The words poured out in a raw, broken rush — the moment Ramana turned around, the lust in his eyes as they moved over his body, the sudden shift to genuine love when he looked at his face, the offer of marriage, the mention of their mother, the children who needed a mother, the promise of a peaceful life. Vijay told Suresh everything, his feminine voice cracking again and again as the emotions he had held back in the mansion finally exploded.

“I wanted to scream his name right there,” Vijay whispered, wiping his tears. “I wanted to rip this saree off and tell him it’s me — his own younger brother. But I couldn’t. I don’t even know who he is anymore. How did my brother become Jagannatha Rao’s right-hand man? How did he turn into this… this powerful criminal?”

Suresh listened in stunned silence, his own face pale under the makeup. The two of them sat close, their bare midriffs almost touching, the weight of the revelation hanging heavy between them. For a long time, neither spoke. The only sound was Vijay’s quiet, ragged breathing.

Finally, Suresh placed a gentle hand on Vijay’s shoulder. “We need to think very carefully, Vijay. This changes everything.”

They talked for hours — a long, raw, painful conversation that stretched deep into the night. Vijay was torn apart inside. One part of him wanted to reveal the truth immediately, to throw himself at Ramana’s feet and beg for help, to end the nightmare of living as Priyanka. Suresh acted as another part — screamed in confusion.

Suresh listened patiently, his voice steady but grave. “I understand how much you want to tell him, Vijay. He is your blood. But we know how a man becomes this influential in the criminal world. Ramana might still be your brother in some corner of his heart… but he is also a powerful player in Jagannatha Rao’s empire. If you reveal yourself and he even suspects — for one second — that you came here to destroy everything he has built, we will lose everything we have worked for. Worse… we will all be killed. You, me, Ravi, Raja sir — everyone connected to this operation.”

Suresh’s eyes were serious, filled with the hard truth of years spent undercover. “The only way you can get out of this disguise safely right now… is by agreeing to marry him. Play the role. Become the wife he wants. Stay close. Gather what we need. Then we find a way to extract you cleanly.”

Vijay stared at the floor, the green saree pooled around his legs. The words felt like chains tightening around him. Marry his own brother. Live as Priyanka in Ramana’s house. Pretend every single day. The thought made his stomach twist with shame and fear… but deep down, he knew Suresh was right.

Eventually, the conversation faded into exhausted silence. Suresh helped Vijay lie down on the mattress, still fully dressed in the green saree. The room grew quiet again.

Vijay lay awake long after Suresh had fallen into a restless sleep. He stared at the visiting card Ramana had given him, turning it slowly between his fingers. Ramana’s photo was printed on it — a formal, handsome face looking straight at the camera. The weight of every emotion pressed down on him at once: the love he still felt for his brother, the grief of fifteen lost years, the burning shame of Ramana’s lustful gaze on his feminine body, the fear of what Ramana had become, the desperate hope that this could somehow lead to freedom.

Suresh stirred beside him in the darkness. “Let me see the card,” he whispered, his voice thick with sleep.

Vijay tilted the visiting card toward him so the photo caught the faint moonlight.

Suresh’s eyes widened. His body went completely still. For several long seconds he simply stared, his breathing shallow.

Then his face drained of all color.

“That face…” Suresh whispered, his voice barely audible but filled with pure horror. “That is the man who killed my wife. That is the man who destroyed my life. Because of him… I am stuck in this body, seducing the same goons who once feared me as a police officer”

Suddenly, everything had become far more personal.

The room fell into a heavy, stunned silence once more.

To be continued...