Crumbling walls
Author's pov-
Purv didn’t leave.
Day after day, he stayed. Not with grand gestures, not with desperate pleas, but with consistency.
He was there in the smallest ways. A cup of coffee waiting on her desk. A file she needed already on her table before she could ask. Silent glances in meetings. Passing touches that lingered just a second too long.
Divya tried to ignore it.
She tried to tell herself it meant nothing.
But it did.
And she hated that it did.
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One Evening – At Her Apartment
A knock on her door.
Divya frowned, setting down her book. It was late. Who—
She opened the door and froze.
Purv stood there, holding a small box. His expression was unreadable, but there was something in his eyes—something raw, something undeniably real.
“I wasn’t going to come,” he admitted, stepping inside before she could refuse. “But I figured you wouldn’t listen unless I did this in person.”
She crossed her arms. “Purv, I—”
“Just listen,” he cut her off gently, placing the box on the table. “I want you to see something.”
She hesitated before slowly lifting the lid.
Inside was a worn-out bracelet. A simple thing—nothing fancy, nothing expensive. But she knew exactly what it was.
Her breath caught. “This… this is—”
“The bracelet you lost five years ago,” he finished for her. “The one you used to wear every day.”
Memories came flooding back. She had worn that bracelet since she was fifteen. It had been a part of her, a piece of home. And then one day, it was gone. She had assumed she had misplaced it, had spent days searching, only to finally give up.
“You had it?” she whispered, voice barely above a breath.
Purv looked down, his jaw tight. “I found it the night you left. It had fallen in my car. I was going to return it, but… you were already gone.”
Her fingers traced the familiar silver chain, heart pounding. “Why… why are you giving it back now?”
“Because I’m done keeping pieces of you without your permission,” he said quietly. “Because this doesn’t belong to me—it belongs to you.”
Divya swallowed, emotions crashing into her like waves. This wasn’t just a bracelet. This was proof. Proof that even when she had left, even when he had pushed her away, he had held onto her in the only way he knew how.
And that terrified her.
Because if he had never truly let go…
Then maybe, just maybe, neither had she.
She looked up at him, something breaking in her gaze. “Purv… what do you want from me?”
He stepped closer, his voice softer now. “Nothing you don’t want to give.”
Her throat tightened. “And if I don’t know what that is?”
His lips curved slightly, a sad, knowing smile. “Then I’ll wait. As long as it takes.”
Something inside her cracked.
Because for the first time, she believed him.
For the first time… she let herself want to believe him.
And that was a dangerous, dangerous thing.