Three days later.
Aarya walked into her mother's room, slowly, arm in cast, ribs still painful.
Mother was awake.
Eyes open. Looking at the ceiling.
Aarya sat beside her. Took her hand.
"Amma."
Mother turned. Looked at her. Tears filled her eyes.
"Beta."
They hugged. Cried. Held each other like they would never let go.
"I thought you were dead. I thought I lost you."
"I'm here, beta. I'm here."
For a long time, they just held each other.
Then Mother spoke.
"I remember everything. The accident. Vikram's face. Then darkness. Then now."
"He kept you in a nursing home. For months."
"I know. I could hear sometimes. Voices. Nurses. That monster visiting."
"My father. Was it really an accident?"
Mother's face hardened. "No. Vikram killed him. On Karan's orders. Your father was going to confess everything. Write that diary. Go to police. They couldn't allow it."
"And you? Why did you marry him? Captain told me everything. About 1984. About your family. About revenge."
Mother was quiet.
"Yes. I married him for revenge. I hated his brother. I hated anyone connected to Karan. But then..."
"Then?"
"I fell in love with him. Really, truly in love. Satyendra was not his brother. He was kind. Gentle. He knew who I was from the beginning. He knew I was Gauri, not Sudha. He knew I wanted to kill his brother. And he loved me anyway."
Aarya wiped her tears.
"He spent his whole life trying to make up for what he did in 1984. Trying to protect me from his brother. Trying to protect you from the truth. He wasn't a bad man, beta. He was a man who made one terrible mistake and spent the rest of his life regretting it."
"I know, Amma. I know."
They sat together, mother and daughter, in the hospital room, morning sun falling on them, finally at peace.