Chapter 19
"So class, I hope you all understand the lesson? If any of you have any doubt you can ask me anytime" I say softly to the class, they were new benches students and i always try to make them feel comfortable around me.
"Ma'am may I ask a question?" A student asked raising her hand. I nodded looking at her.
"Ma'am, there was a notice that today we have some special guest coming. May I ask who is It?" She asked while everything student was nodding.
Well about the guest i , myself Don't know who is it as it was last moment when the principal told us that we were having a special guest in our school.
"Don't worry, you'll find out soon . After this class you all are asked to go to the seminar hall" i said while gathering my books and the attendance book .
At 12 o clock, we all students and teachers are sitting in the seminar hall while waiting for the guest, the teachers are talking to each other while i scroll down my phone. Kartik is sitting beside me , after lorenzo left me Kartik has been asking me how I am and if I'm alright.
I always said i was alright, even though i wasn't. Even though my heart wasn't.
After a moment the principal walk into the seminar hall with the guest, as I look up from my phone and stand up, I froze as I saw the guest walking with the principal, his dark eyes meeting mine before turning to the principal
Lorenzo...he.. he's back.
After 3 years.
My heart stopped.
It wasn’t possible. My breath hitched as I clutched the edge of my dupatta, fingers trembling so slightly that I prayed no one noticed. Three years… three long years of silence, of empty nights, of waiting and breaking and rebuilding myself from ashes and there he was.
Lorenzo De Romano.
Walking as though the world still bent for him.
The same tall frame, the same commanding presence, though now sharper, colder.
His dark suit clung to him like it was stitched to his skin, his every step measured, deliberate.
His hair was shorter, his jawline dusted with stubble, but those eyes those merciless, obsidian eyes were exactly the same.
And they were looking right at me.
For a fleeting second, something flickered in them, something raw and unguarded, but then it was gone, replaced by a cold mask that pierced me deeper than any blade.
Kartik’s voice snapped me out of my trance. “Ruhi, are you okay?” he whispered, leaning slightly closer.
I swallowed hard, forcing my gaze away, forcing my body to remain upright even as my legs threatened to give out beneath me. “I’m fine,” I murmured, though my voice cracked at the edges.
The principal was speaking, words I barely heard over the thunder of my pulse.
Something about Lorenzo being invited as a guest speaker, about his contribution to society, about how honored the school was to welcome him.
My students were clapping politely, whispering in excitement, their young faces lit up with curiosity.
But all I could do was stare at him from the corner of my eye.
Three years of questions screamed in my mind Why did you leave? Why no goodbye? Why let me bleed in silence? but his expression remained unreadable, his gaze fixed on the crowd, not me.
My fingers dug into the fabric of my saree as a thousand emotions surged through me rage, relief, longing, fear.
And then he spoke.
His voice. God. It rolled through the hall, deep and steady, commanding attention effortlessly. It was the same voice that once whispered promises against my skin, the same voice that once trembled when he said he didn’t want to lose me. Now, it was laced with authority, stripped of warmth.
“Good afternoon. It’s an honor to be here,” he began, his Italian accent brushing against each word like velvet over steel.
I couldn’t breathe.
I sat there, silent and frozen, with Kartik watching me closely, with students unaware of the storm unraveling inside me, with the man who once held my entire world in his hands standing just a few feet away.
And all I could think was—
Lorenzo… after all this time… why now?
Maybe the teachers forgot him about how he picked me up from the school 3years ago and introduce himself as my husband.
And look at us now. We are standing...but not as husband and wife but as Strangers. Since we were never married at first place.
After his speech all the teachers greet him and now it was my turn, i begged my heart to stop beating so fast but maybe it doesn't want to listen.
"Hello, I'm...Ruhi Agarwal. English teacher" I said shaking his hand.. fuck i missed his warmth. I missed his touch. I missed HIM.
I finally look up to meet his eyes only to realize that he was already staring at me..his eyes, he didn't let go of my hand but he keep looking and keep my hand to his.
Until the principal spoke and make us both step back. “Mr. Lorenzo?” the principal called, breaking whatever strange, magnetic silence had wrapped around us. Lorenzo finally released my hand, slow and deliberate, as if his touch had branded me all over again.
I stepped back, trying to gather my breath, my heart thudding painfully in my chest. Everyone around us seemed normal, unaware of the hurricane between us.
“It’s a pleasure to have you here, Mr. De Romano,” the principal continued with a polite smile. “Would you like to take a tour of the school?”
“Yes,” he replied simply, his deep voice smooth but distant. “I’d appreciate that.”
His tone was polite professional but his eyes flickered toward me again for the briefest moment. I felt it. The same gaze that once burned me alive now watched me as if I were a stranger he barely remembered.
The principal turned to me. “Miss Ruhi, since you’re free after this session, could you show Mr. Lorenzo around?”
My throat went dry. “M-me?” I stammered, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes, you know the school best,” she smiled warmly, completely unaware of what she had just done.
Lorenzo didn’t protest. He just nodded slightly, his expression unreadable.
And so I walked beside him awkward, tense, every nerve in my body on edge as the sound of our footsteps echoed through the quiet hallway.
Neither of us spoke. The silence between us was suffocating, thick with unspoken words and buried memories. I could feel his presence beside me so close, yet oceans away.
“You still work here,” he finally said, his voice low, calm… too calm.
I froze mid-step, glancing at him. “I do,” I replied softly. “Some of us don’t walk away from everything.”
His jaw tightened. “Don’t start, Ruhi,” he muttered, his tone warning.
I let out a bitter laugh. “Oh, trust me, I’m not starting anything. That ended three years ago remember?”
He turned to me, his eyes darkening, that familiar fire flashing for just a second. “You think I wanted to leave?” he said, his voice sharp but quiet.
I looked up at him, forcing myself not to tremble. “You didn’t even say goodbye, Lorenzo. You vanished. What am I supposed to think?”
His lips parted like he wanted to respond but then he didn’t. He just sighed and looked away, his gaze fixed on the far end of the corridor.
“Some things,” he said after a pause, “are better left unsaid.”
I laughed again, though it hurt. “Yeah, that’s what cowards say when they don’t have the courage to explain.”
He turned sharply then, his eyes locking on mine, his voice low and rough. “Careful, Ruhi.”
I met his glare head-on, even as my heart broke all over again. “I stopped being careful the day you left me without a word.”
The air between us crackled with everything we couldn’t say.
And then like a cruel interruption the principal’s voice echoed down the hall. “Mr. De Romano, we’d like a few pictures for the school journal!”
He straightened instantly, slipping that cold mask back on. “Of course,” he said, his voice smooth and detached once more.
As he walked ahead, I stood still for a moment, trying to calm the storm inside me. My vision blurred slightly from the tears I refused to let fall.
To the world, he was just a visiting guest.
But to me, he was the ghost who left with my heart.
And now he was back .
Not as the man I once loved… but as the stranger who still made my soul tremble.