BLOOMING
I opened my mouth slightly in protest as Vihaan brought the spoon toward me again, feeding me as if I were a child.
“I am perfectly fine. I can eat myself,” I said quickly, my voice a little firmer than before.
But he didn’t respond.
He simply brought the spoon back to my lips again without a word.
My brows furrowed slightly.
He wasn’t even looking at me.
“So… you won’t talk to me?” I asked quietly, uncertainty slipping into my voice.
I sat there, staring at him as he continued feeding me in the same calm, distant way, as if my words were something he hadn’t decided to acknowledge at all.
He is angry because I hid my serious illness from him for a long time.
I breathed out softly and opened my mouth again as he fed me another spoonful without saying a word, his silence heavier than any argument.
Earlier, I had somehow convinced Adithya to go back home and freshen up since he had stayed here all night without rest.
Just then, the door opened.
Adithya walked in, now changed into fresh clothes.
Vihaan straightened up without a word and walked out of the room.
I sighed softly and turned toward Adithya as he settled beside me on the bed.
“I told you to take rest,” I said gently, watching him closely.
“That house feels scary,” he admitted after a moment.
I let out a small, surprised chuckle. “Scary?”
“Yes,” he nodded, leaning back slightly. “Very hollow. I couldn’t stay there. It didn’t feel like a home at all.”
His words lingered in the air for a moment, and my smile faded slightly as I looked down, unsure what to say to that.
“The doctor said you can be discharged tomorrow,” he said, offering a faint smile.
Vihaan is so sure he’ll bring me back.
But how do I even say that to Adithya?
Even I don’t want to go back to that house.
I want to go with him.
But…
“Are you okay?” he asked, studying my face carefully.
I nodded slowly, forcing a small response as I looked at him.
“Why are you hiding all your problems, Viyana?” he asked, his voice quieter now, more serious.
My gaze dropped for a moment.
“See… it all got serious now,” he added, a hint of frustration slipping through.
“Please don’t ignore your health. You shouldn’t skip your treatments,” he said.
I nodded slowly, but my eyes stayed fixed on him, unable to say anything more.
“You’ve become so caring,” I said softly, letting out a small, tired chuckle.
He didn’t respond. He just looked away, his jaw tightening slightly as if he didn’t want to hear it.
But my mind wasn’t really here anymore.
It drifted back to that moment… when I couldn’t breathe.
When my body felt like it was finally giving up on me.
And in that suffocating fear, only one thought had come to me.
Adithya.
How would I leave him without ever telling him what I feel?
Without telling him how much he means to me?
Without even letting him know that I was already slipping away from him in ways I couldn’t control?
My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes, and before I could stop myself, my hand slowly reached for his shirt sleeve.
He turned toward me immediately.
I swallowed hard, trying to steady my voice, but nothing came out properly.
What if I leave this world before saying anything at all?
What if he never knows?
My fingers tightened around his sleeve as I pushed myself up slightly, leaning toward him.
And then, I wrapped my arms around him.
Holding on like he was the only thing keeping me grounded.
He slowly wrapped his arms around me in return, holding me without saying a word.
“I don’t want to die… I want to stay with you, Adithya,” I finally said, my voice breaking into quiet sobs.
His hand on my back froze.
For a second, even his breathing seemed to stop.
I shut my eyes tightly as embarrassment and fear twisted together inside me, my grip tightening on his shirt like I was afraid he might disappear if I let go.
I had never been like this before.
Never in my life had I imagined myself holding onto a man like this… crying… begging to stay… as if he was the only place I had left to belong.
He slowly pulled away, just enough to look at me properly.
The distance between us felt heavier than his hands had moments ago.
Tears kept spilling from my eyes as I still clutched his shirt tightly in my fists, refusing to let go completely.
“I know you hate me… I know you won’t forgive me for what I did to you,” I said, my voice shaking as everything I had buried finally came out.
“I forced you into this marriage. I threatened your family. I played with your life like you were some puppet.”
My breath hitched painfully as I shook my head.
“I am sorry… for everything.”
More tears slipped down my face before I could stop them.
“I just don’t know what’s happening inside me,” I whispered, voice breaking completely now. “It hurts. The thought of leaving you hurts. And the thought of you hating me… hurts even more.”
I finally went silent, my grip still trembling on his shirt, as if even now I wasn’t ready to let him go.
“Who said I hate you?” he said suddenly.
My eyes lifted back to him, searching his face as if I had heard him wrong.
“I don’t hate you, Viyana,” he repeated, softer this time.
And then I saw it.
His eyes glistened.
Before I could process it, he lifted his hand slowly and cupped my cheek.
My breath hitched at the contact, but it didn’t feel uncomfortable.
It didn’t feel wrong.
Because this wasn’t any other man touching me…it was Adithya.
“The thought of you leaving… it hurt me too,” he breathed out, his thumb gently brushing away my tears.
“I hate it whenever you talk about leaving… about dying,” he said, his voice tightening. “I hate it. I don’t want you to leave. And I can’t even bear hearing you speak like that.”
His eyes stayed locked on mine, unwavering.
“My own home… the one I’ve lived in for years… feels empty without you,” he admitted, his voice cracking slightly. “I can’t even stay inside it for a moment anymore.”
“When Vihaan said he’s taking you with him… I was scared,” he admitted, his voice breaking in a way I had never heard before.
He looked down for a moment, as if gathering strength just to continue.
“I ran to the park,” he said quietly. “And I cried there… for hours. I don’t even know why I was crying like that.”
My breath hitched.
I stared at him, unable to look away now.
His hand still cupped my cheek, but it trembled slightly, like even he was struggling to hold himself together.
“I kept thinking… what if I lose you?” he whispered. “What if I come back and you’re just… gone?”
His eyes glistened again as he finally met mine fully.
“I’ve been around you almost for a year, Viyana… but I never understood what it would feel like if you weren’t there anymore,” he said, his voice cracking at the end. “And that thought… it ruined me.”
“Nobody feels this much for a friend… do they?” he asked, his voice barely steady as tears slipped down his face.
My chest tightened at his words, because he wasn’t asking like he expected an answer—he was asking like he was already afraid of what the answer might be.
“I don’t want to name any of this,” he continued, his grip on me trembling slightly. “I don’t want to label whatever this is I’m feeling for you.”
He swallowed hard, eyes refusing to look away from mine now.
“I just… I don’t know what this is,” he admitted quietly. “But I know one thing. It’s not something I want to lose.”
“I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want you to go away from me,” he said, his voice breaking completely now.
His grip tightened slightly as if he was afraid I might slip through his fingers.
“I have no one to go back to after you leave me, Viyana,” he admitted, swallowing hard. “If you go… I’ll be left alone.”
His breath trembled.
“And I’m fucking scared of it.”
“You parents won’t accept you if you stay with me —”
“I don’t give a shit,” he snapped immediately, his voice sharp enough to cut through my thought.
Then he exhaled, like the anger wasn’t what he really meant at all.
“Viyana… I was alone my whole life,” he said, his voice lowering, turning heavier with every word. “No one ever really understood me. Not even a little.”
His eyes didn’t leave mine now.
“I didn’t have anyone to share my stupid thoughts with.
No one to talk nonsense with. No one who teases me just to annoy me…
or argues with me like it’s the most serious thing in the world, and still comes back after it like nothing happened.
No one I could scold seriously and still expect them to stay.
I had no reason to come back home after work. It was just… empty.”
Then his expression softened, but his voice didn’t.
“But then you came into my life.”
“With all your tantrums… your ridiculous questions…”
He let out a small, breathless laugh that wasn’t really humor.
“My evenings stopped feeling empty. You sitting on the bed, me sitting on the chair, just talking about random things like it meant something.”
His thumb brushed slightly against my cheek again, grounding me.
“You crying over movies… building cardboard houses for a stray cat… naming a dried-up rose plant like it was alive…”
“Just like how you held that dried-up rose plant in your hand with so much hope, you planted it in a corner of my small house… and you watered it every day, like it mattered. You took care of it and slowly… it came out of its dryness. It started to live again. And just when it was finally ready to bloom…why are you abandoning it, Viyana?”
Then, slowly… he pulled away from me.
He stood up suddenly, wiping his face harshly and turned around without glancing at me. He walked out of the room as the door slammed behind him.
I stayed still at my place.
Is he talking about the rose plant or —