CHAPTER 47! FOUND HER #3
She rested her elbows on the table, burying her face in her hands.
She didn't cry. The tears were frozen somewhere deep inside her, trapped behind a wall of sheer exhaustion.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
Outside, the wind rustled through the dry grass.
She could hear Ayaan's faint, muffled giggles echoing from near the black Mercedes-Vivaan was keeping him distracted, keeping him safe.
Her thumb drifted across the rough surface of the table, coming to rest on a dark, old burn mark on the edge of the wood.
She traced the scorched grain. Once. Twice. Over and over, her skin rasping against the rough grooves as she tried to force her heart to slow down, tried to convince herself that she was still alive.
Outside, Aryav leaned against his black Mercedes, one hand tucked into his coat pocket.
He didn't look toward the farmhouse window. He didn't need to. He knew exactly which glass pane she was standing behind, counting the seconds.
The low growl of an approaching engine cut through the cold air as a second vehicle pulled in behind his.
The driver's door opened, and Shaurya stepped out onto the gravel.
Their eyes met across the dusty yard.
No greeting. No accusation. No challenge. Just one unyielding look before Shaurya walked past him.
Inside, the silence had turned suffocating.
She sat there in the silence, letting the reality of her choices wash over her, until the crunch of footsteps on the gravel outside broke through her trance.
The door opened softly, and Shaurya stepped inside.
He didn't speak right away.
He pulled a chair next to hers, the wood scraping harshly against the floorboards, and sat down.
Agonizing minutes passed to the steady, rhythmic ticking of the old wall clock.
"Maa ka phone aaya tha," Shaurya spoke finally, his voice flat, drained of its usual sharp edge.
"Woh tumse baat karna chahti hain."
The words should have comforted her. They didn't.
She looked at him for a long moment. Her brother had never sat this quietly. Her brother argued.
Interrupted. Lost his temper at the slightest provocation.
The man sitting beside her now measured every breath, every word, as though afraid one more wrong sentence would cause his sister to shatter completely.
Aadhira reached across the small gap between them, her trembling fingers barely brushing the back of his knuckles. "...Bhai."
Shaurya looked down at her hand for a long, painful second.
Then, gently... he moved his hand away.
It wasn't rejection. It was punishment-a silent, self-inflicted sentence for a man who knew he had failed her when it mattered most.
"Saat saal pehle maine tere liye faisla kiya tha." He paused, his gaze fixed on the worn wooden table. "Galat tha."
Aadhira held her breath.
"Mujhe khud aana chahiye tha." He turned to look at her properly, the deep lines of exhaustion etched into his face.
"Is baar jo hoga... teri marzi se hoga. If you want to go, go."
"And if I don't?" her voice cracked, small and vulnerable.
"Toh main sambhaal lunga."
Shaurya pushed back his chair and stood up. At the doorway, he stopped, his back still turned to her.
"Is baar... jo karna hai, soch samajh ke karna, bina kisi dar ke."
He stepped outside, the heavy thud of the door closing behind him echoing through the quiet house.
Shaurya walked past the black Mercedes without slowing his pace.
Gravel crunched sharply beneath his boots.
Aryav was still leaning against his car, one hand tucked into his coat pocket. He didn't look up as Shaurya approached, but his voice cut through the cold air, terrifyingly calm.
"She expected it from me," Aryav said. "Not from you."
Shaurya stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw clenched so tight the skin turned white, every muscle in his broad shoulders locking into iron tension.
But he refused to look back. He took two step toward his SUV, opened the driver's door, and stopped.
He turned slowly to look at Aryav.
"She won't come because you ordered her to."
"I know."
Shaurya's brow furrowed, a flicker of genuine confusion cutting through his anger. "Then why are you here?"
Aryav finally raised his head, his dark, unblinking eyes fixing on the quiet farmhouse window behind them.
"Because she'll come... for you."
He was not smiling. Not saying this because of arrogance. Just because, he is certainty, he knows aadhira better than she knows herself.
Shaurya stared at him for a long beat, the silence stretching taut between them, before he got into his vehicle and slammed the door.
The SUV roared to life, kicking up dust and gravel as it sped away down the dirt road.
Inside the house, Aadhira remained motionless at the wooden table.
Slowly, her hand drifted back to the dark burn mark on the edge of the wood.
Her thumb traced the scorched grain again. Once. Twice. Over and over, feeling the rough, ruined timber beneath her skin.
For the first time since escaping... she wasn't afraid of Aryav.
She was afraid of making the wrong choice.
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