"You deserve everything you want."

- Love, Simon

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~ A A R O H I ~

I thought I had moved on.

That was worse .

Because...

Months had passed since the wedding disaster. Life had continued. People had adjusted.

And somewhere between family expectations, healing quietly, and learning how to survive public humiliation with dignity....

I convinced myself I was okay.

Then I saw Aditya again.

And suddenly.. I wasn't.

The moment Advik and I walked into the mansion and my eyes landed on him standing there beside Sneha... something inside me froze .

Not because I still loved him.

I didn't.

That chapter had ended the moment he walked away from me publicly.

But heartbreak , pain, humiliation still ran somewhere between my bloodstream.

The whispers returned instantly.

'Poor Aarohi'. 'The abandoned bride.'

' The girl who wasn't enough for someone to stay.'

I hated that those memories could still hurt me.

Because , I knew none of it defined me.

But emotions were cruel things. They remembered humiliation .

And the worst part?

Nobody downstairs was trying to hurt me. The family was happy.

Aditya was home. Sneha was pregnant. The scandal had faded . Became Manageable.

Everyone else had healed from it.

Except maybe me.

Because standing there watching everyone surround them so lovingly,

I suddenly felt strangely misplaced.

Like I was witnessing a version of life that once rejected me.

And somehow...

Advik noticed immediately.

Of course he did.

Even downstairs, while everyone focused on Aditya and Sneha, Advik's attention kept shifting back toward me .

The way he stayed beside me. The way his voice softened whenever he spoke near me. The way he interrupted awkward silences with his sarcasm.

Not because he had to do it, but

Because he wanted to.

And maybe that was why I finally broke upstairs.

Not because Aditya came back.

But because for the first time since everything happened...someone noticed I was hurting before I had to say it aloud.

The second our bedroom door closed, the strength I had been forcing all evening disappeared completely.

And when Advik pulled me into his arms

I shattered completely.

Like all the shame I buried for months finally vented out.

I cried against his chest while he held me carefully, one hand moving through my hair slowly while he whispered things that hurt and healed me at the same time.

"You are not difficult to stay for."

Nobody had ever said something like that to me before.

Not because I wasn't loved.

But because after the wedding disaster... after society looked at me with pity instead of respect...a part of me quietly started believing love was conditional.

Temporary.

Something people could withdraw from me once they realized I wasn't enough.

And then there was Advik.

Emotionally unavailable. Commitment-phobic. Sarcastic Advik.

Holding my face gently like I was something precious. Looking angry at the thought of me blaming myself.

Kissing my tears away like he couldn't bear seeing them there.

The tenderness of it ruined me.

I remember looking at him through blurred vision while he spoke softly against my forehead...

"Anybody who had you and still walked away was simply too blind to understand what they were given."

Something inside me broke .Because he sounded honest.

Then before I could think properly before embarrassment or fear could stop me...

I kissed his cheek.

Softly. Instinctively.

Barely even a kiss.

But the second I realized what I had done... horror flooded through me instantly.

My entire face burned as I immediately hid against his chest again, wishing the earth would swallow me alive.

Because oh my God.

I had kissed Advik Oberoi.

And worse....

I wanted to do it again.

Silence filled the room afterward.

For one awful second I thought maybe I crossed a line. Maybe I ruined something fragile between us.

Then suddenly... his arms tightened around me. Instinctively.

Like letting me go never crossed his mind at all.

My breath caught ...

And that was when I heard it.

His heartbeat.

Fast.

I stayed hidden against him quietly after that, partly because I was embarrassed beyond repair... and partly because I genuinely didn't think my heart could survive looking him in the eye immediately .

But ...he never let go.

His hand kept moving slowly against my back unconsciously, thumb brushing comfortingly over the fabric of my kurta while his chin rested lightly against my head.

I lifted my head slightly just enough to look at him. He was already looking down at me.

Grey eyes softer than I had ever seen before. No teasing smile. No arrogance. No emotional distance.

Just him.

Tired. Honest. Terrified.

And somehow... that version of Advik affected me the most.

Because for all his confidence, all his charm, all his reckless freedom...

he looked scared of this too.

This attachment. These feelings. These proximity.

"You got emotional today," I whispered softly against his chest.

"There was crying," he replied hoarsely. "Very emotional environment."

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. And instantly..his expression softened further. Like hearing me laugh physically relieved something inside him.

"You called me baby," I reminded him quietly.

Immediate regret crossed his face.

"That," he answered with dignity, "was temporary emotional weakness."

"You sounded very calm to it."

"I was under pressure."

I smiled properly then.

And God...the way he looked at me afterward made my chest ache.

Then slowly his fingers brushed loose hair away from my face again.

Such a tiny gesture.

Yet somehow it felt more intimate than the kiss itself.

His fingertips lingered near my cheek before he murmured quietly.

.

"You should sleep."

But neither of us moved.

Because the truth sat silently between us now.

Huge. Terrifying.

This marriage had stopped feeling temporary a long time ago.

And unknowingly, he had become my safe place.

~ A D I T Y A ~

(Because I don't want anyone to hate him.... sometimes love makes you do reckless things. )

Rain pressed softly against the balcony windows while the bedroom sat wrapped in dim yellow light.

Sneha had changed into one of my hoodies now, sitting cross-legged near the headboard while I leaned back against the couch with a glass untouched in my hand.

Neither of us had really spoken properly since dinner downstairs.

Not because we were fighting.

Because tonight had reminded us both that some decisions never stop echoing.

Sneha looked toward me quietly first.

"You've been staring at the same wall for twenty minutes."

I exhaled softly. "sorry...."

"That bad?"

I laughed once before rubbing a tired hand across my jaw.

"I saw her face today, Sneha."

She knew exactly who I meant. Aarohi.

The girl who was once supposed to become my wife.

The girl I left standing alone in front of an entire society while I ran away chasing the life I actually wanted.

Sneha said softly , "She looked hurt."

"Yeah."

I leaned back heavily against the couch cushions before speaking again.

"The worst part is... she still tried being polite to me."

Sneha stayed quiet.

And honestly? That somehow made it worse. Because anger I could handle. Hatred too. But Aarohi had looked at me like someone reopening an old wound they'd spent months trying to survive.

I closed my eyes briefly.

"I never wanted to humiliate her."

"I know."

"But I did."

Sneha shifted closer toward the edge of the bed now. "Do you regret choosing me?"

My head snapped toward her instantly.

"No."

Never. Not for one second.

And she must've seen the answer on my face immediately because some tension left her shoulders. I stood up slowly then, walking toward the balcony doors before speaking quieter.

"I regret the damage," I admitted honestly. "Not you."

Sneha watched me carefully.

"I tried convincing myself marriage would fix everything," I continued.

"Family approval. Expectations. Stability."

A humorless laugh escaped me.

"But every time I imagined that the wedding actually happening..." I shook my head. "All I could think about was you."

Sneha's expression softened .

"I hated myself for it," I admitted. "Because Aarohi hadn't done anything wrong."

And that was the truth nobody understood properly.

Aarohi was kind. Beautiful. Gentle.

She deserved somebody who chose her naturally. Not somebody standing beside her while secretly wishing for another woman.

"I thought if I married her anyway," I murmured quietly, "eventually she'd realize I wasn't fully there."

Sneha whispered softly, "And that would've hurt too."

"Exactly."

I looked down at my hands .

"So I made the selfish choice instead."

"No," Sneha corrected gently. "You made the honest one."

I laughed at the irony , "By disappearing from my own wedding?"

"That part was weird though" she admitted immediately.

I snorted despite myself.

After a moment, Sneha spoke quietly.

"What was going through your head back then?"

I leaned against the balcony slowly before answering.

"Fear."

"I couldn't breathe that entire week before the wedding," I admitted. "Everyone kept talking about decorations and business alliances and family prestige while I sat there realizing I was about to trap someone in a marriage built on a lie."

Sneha's eyes softened .

"I kept thinking..." I swallowed once. "What if Aarohi fell in love with me eventually..?" I paused "And what if I never loved her the same way back?"

That sentence hurts even now.

Because people thought heartbreak only belonged to the person left behind.

But guilt had followed me too.

Not enough to make me regret Sneha.

Never that.

But enough that sometimes I still remembered Aarohi's face at the mandap and felt physically sick.

"I chose you because I loved you," I said finally. "But I hate that loving you hurts somebody else."

Sneha walked toward me quietly then.

The moment she reached me, her arms wrapped gently around my waist while her cheek rested against my chest.

"You were in love," she whispered softly.

"People make terrible decisions when they're scared of losing love."

I rested my chin lightly over her head.

"And now Advik's in love with her."

That earned the tiniest laugh from Sneha.

"He's so obvious."

Sneha physically laughed harder now.

And strangely...

hearing her laugh eased something inside me too.

Because despite all the chaos...

despite the guilt..despite the destruction..

I would still choose this life again.

Choose her again. Every single time.

I touched her stomach gently then before m

urmuring softly,

"I just hope one day Aarohi genuinely believes none of this happened because she wasn't enough."

Sneha looked up at me quietly.

"She will," she whispered.

And after seeing the way Advik looked at her downstairs tonight...

For the first time in a long while...

I thought maybe that was true too.