Chapter 8: A Night Without Sleep
Tanoy didn't eat that night.
Didn't speak.
Didn't even look at anyone.
"Are you okay?" Nipa asked softly.
Tanoy forced a small smile.
"I'm fine."
But he wasn't.
Not even close.
That night—
Sleep never came.
He lay on his bed, staring into the darkness.
The cheque was still in his pocket.
He could feel it.
As if it was burning through the fabric.
His mind wouldn't stop.
Fifty lakh…
Blank cheque…
Your parents…
Your daughters…
Then another voice—
Kill her.
Tanoy sat up suddenly.
His chest rising and falling rapidly.
"No," he whispered.
He ran his hands through his hair.
"This is wrong."
But then—
Another thought crept in.
She's going to die anyway.
Tanoy froze.
That thought…
It wasn't his.
Or was it?
He closed his eyes.
And suddenly—
He saw his daughters.
Laughing.
Running toward him.
Calling him Baba.
His heart clenched.
How could he?
How could any father—
Then another image appeared.
The little girl.
Lying on the hospital bed.
Silent.
Suffering.
Two worlds.
Two truths.
And he was stuck between them.
What is right?
What is wrong?
For the first time—
Tanoy didn't know.
Morning came.
But the darkness inside him remained.
And he knew—
He had to make a decision.