Breaking the walls
Author's pov-
Divya’s fingers tightened around the doorknob as she looked at Purv. His face was unreadable, but his eyes—his eyes held something she hadn’t seen in years. Desperation. Longing. A silent plea.
"Purv, I—"
"Please," he said softly, cutting her off. "Let me in, Divya."
Her heart clenched at the way he said her name, like it was something fragile, something precious. Against every instinct telling her to push him away, she stepped aside.
Purv walked in, looking around as if he were memorizing every detail of the space she had built for herself. It was simple, warm, but there was a hollowness to it—something missing.
She was missing something.
Or maybe… someone.
She crossed her arms, standing a few steps away from him. "What do you want, Purv?"
He exhaled sharply and ran a hand through his hair. "I want you to stop pretending."
Divya flinched, but before she could say anything, he continued.
"I know you, Divya. I know you better than anyone. And I know that every time you say you don’t care, every time you push me away, you’re lying."
Her throat tightened. "Purv, this isn’t fair."
"I know," he admitted, stepping closer. "But nothing about us has ever been fair."
She looked away, blinking rapidly, but Purv wasn’t done.
"Kaashi told me what you went through after I left. How you broke. How you had to leave everything behind and rebuild yourself from nothing. And I hate that I wasn’t there, Divya. I hate that I was the reason you had to do all of that alone."
A shaky breath left her lips. "Then why are you here now?"
"Because I can’t do this anymore."
She looked up at him, confused.
Purv took another step forward, closing the distance between them. "I tried to move on. I tried to live my life without you, but I couldn’t. No matter how much time passed, no matter how much I convinced myself I didn’t need you, it was always you, Divya. Always."
Tears burned in her eyes. "You don’t get to come back and say this now, Purv. You don’t get to show up and tell me I still mean something to you after everything."
He reached out, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I never stopped loving you."
Divya inhaled sharply, her heart pounding against her ribs.
"You don’t have to say anything," he whispered. "Just… let yourself feel it. If you tell me you feel nothing, if you tell me you’re truly done, I’ll walk away. But if there’s even the smallest part of you that still—"
"I don’t know," she cut in, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don’t know anything, Purv. I don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore."
He searched her eyes for a long moment before nodding. "Then let me help you figure it out."
She hated how much she wanted to believe him.
How much she wanted to fall again.
But could she afford to?