The room fell into a stunned silence. The enormity of what Gaurav had uncovered left them all shaken. Aisha had been living with a target on her back, and none of them had known.
Vikram's eyes darkened, his voice low and dangerous. "Someone planned it? To kill her?"
Gaurav nodded. "Yes. But I still don't know who. Whoever is behind this...they're still in the shadows."
Kavya, her face pale and voice trembling, whispered, "I can't believe she was in danger...even back then. Was it because she was a Joshi?"
Neha's gaze turned cold as she focused on Anaya, her voice cutting through the tension like a knife. "How did you know about Aisha, Anaya? If no one else did..., how did you?"
Anaya gulped, her throat dry as she prepared to share the dark secret she had carried for so long. 
"It was the Joshi company's 45th anniversary party, just the day before our farewell," she began, her voice shaky. "I went with my brother. At first, I didn't even know Aisha was there. But then...I saw her."
She paused, trembling as the room's attention intensified, their eyes wide, waiting for her to continue.
"She was wearing a waiter's dress...going into the kitchen. At first, I thought maybe she had taken a catering job or something," she explained. "But then...I got bored and started roaming around, looking for someplace quiet."
Anaya's voice grew softer, haunted by the memory. "I heard...a commotion coming from the basement."
The room tensed. Everyone held their breath, knowing that whatever came next would be hard to hear.
"I...I was curious, so I went down there. And..." She hesitated, tears gathering in her eyes. The image of that moment seared into her mind forever.
"I saw Aisha. She was on her knees, begging...begging the eldest Mr. Joshi." Anaya's voice cracked. "Her clothes were torn. She had wrapped herself in a blanket. She kept saying, 'Papa...papa, I didn't do anything. Please, listen to me.'"
Aisha's pleas echoed in the room, though she wasn't there. Every word cut through the air like glass, shredding the silence.
"But..." Anaya's breath hitched, the weight of her revelation crushing her. "He slapped her. Her mother and other family members were there. They all just stood there and said that...that Aisha had been raped. They called her a disgrace to the family."
The room froze, horror sinking into each heart. The silence that followed was suffocating, a darkness that no one could shake off.
Natasha couldn't hold back anymore—tears poured down her face as she collapsed into Rivaan's chest. 
Rivaan's own tears brimmed, his heart breaking at the image of His Pixie—His Aisha—in such torment. 
He hugged Natasha tighter, his jaw clenched painfully as he tried to control his anger, but inside, he was burning with fury.
Everyone else was paralyzed. Tears filled their eyes, yet they couldn't move. The idea of Aisha, who had always seemed so strong, reduced to this...they couldn't comprehend it.
Radhika, her voice a trembling whisper, finally broke the suffocating silence. "So...that's why she didn't come to the farewell...that's why she didn't meet us during exams and left everyone."
Her words hung in the air, a final, devastating confirmation of the depth of Aisha's suffering. The room was filled with silent sobs, their hearts breaking for the girl who had endured so much pain, alone and abandoned by the very people who should have loved her.