N I Y A
Six months had passed.
Six months since I found the letters.
Six months since the truth started eating me alive.
And somehow... every day felt heavier than the last.
The graveyard had become the only place where I made my home.
The wind flowing so in rush that it wants to say something, mourn like me.
I sat there again tonight.
Right beside her grave.
The grass beneath me was cold and damp, but I had stopped noticing things like that a long time ago.
My back rested against the stone.
Ira Veyansh.
Her name stared back at me from the marble. My fingers moved slowly across the letters, tracing them the way someone might touch a scar.
The letters were spread around me again.
Some crumpled.
Some folded carefully.
Some so worn that the paper had begun to soften at the edges.
I had read them all.
Too many times.
Yet every night I opened them again.
Like maybe the words would change.
Like maybe one sentence would suddenly tell me she was still alive.
But the ending was always the same.
Silence.
The wind moved softly through the trees above me. Somewhere in the distance a church bell rang faintly.
I pulled one of her letters closer and stared at it again and my stomach twisted painfully all again.
I couldn't even remember the last proper meal I had eaten.
Food had become meaningless.
Sleep too.
Most nights I just stayed here.
Talking to a grave.
Reading the same letters again and again until my vision blurred.
"You idiot..." I muttered to myself quietly.
My voice sounded rough.
Broken.
"It was your fault."
The words tasted bitter.
"I shouldn't have left you."
My hand tightened into a fist against the grass because the guilt had grown into something unbearable now.
Because I knew something no one else did.
I didn't leave because I stopped caring about Ira.
I left because I started caring too much.
I closed my eyes slowly and memories rose up immediately.
Her voice, very sharp and sarcastic.
The way she would glare at me when I called her out for being cruel.
The way she would argue endlessly, refusing to lose even the smallest fight.
And sometimes...
When she thought no one was looking...
Her eyes would soften for a second.
Just one second.
That was the girl I saw and not the version everyone else talked about.
Just Ira.
And somewhere along the way... I fell in love with her.
Completely and hopelessly in love.. with Ira, Ira Veyansh.
A shaky breath left my chest.
But you were already in love with him. Already in relationship with him.
Viaan.
Her childhood love.
Her boyfriend.
The man she had chosen long before I ever realized what I felt.
And what was I supposed to do? Stand there and watch the girl I loved love someone else?
Every day?
Every moment?
I laughed quietly.
The sound was hollow.
Because the truth was even crueler than that.
I had never even been someone who could compete with a man like Viaan.
I looked down at my hands. Rough and calloused.
Hands that had spent years gripping drumsticks and wiping glasses behind bar counters.
Because while Ira was the daughter of a billionaire...
The future CEO of two empires...
I was just an orphan.
A boy with no surname.
No legacy.
No family name that meant anything.
Just scholarships, my hard work and part time jobs for survival.
I played drums in clubs at night. Worked as a bartender just to pay bills.
At one point I even worked at the Veyansh mansion itself. Just another employee walking through the same halls she lived in.
Though they were so kind to me, yet I used to rebel against them sometimes for Ira.
That's the reason we grew closer as friends.
And then one day life offered me something impossible.
An Ivy League scholarship.
A chance to leave.
A future I could never dream of before.
So I left.
Because staying meant watching the love of my life belong to someone else... and my heart used to ache watching Ira again and again with Viaan.
In love with him so madly, Ivy League was mere an excuse, I left because I knew I could never have her.
Never.
She would never love a commoner.
Then my fingers slowly reached for the last letter again.
The one that always destroyed me.
Six years. Six years after I left.
I stared at the lines again.
What if it had been you instead of Viaan?
My chest tightened painfully.
"Really, Ira?" I whispered into the quiet graveyard. My voice trembled.
"Would you have loved me?"
The wind moved softly across the grass.
The grave didn't answer.
My eyes burned as I stared at her name carved into the stone.
"Would you have loved me the way I loved you... all those years?"
I swallowed hard.
The question felt heavier every time I asked it.
"And even now...even after 6 six years..I..I still love you the same." My voice cracked.
Because it's the truth, I never dated anyone, loved anyone else. Because she was the only one in my heart and mind.
"Would you have loved a simple man like me?"
A man with no name. No fortune. No empire.
Nothing.
I looked down at the letter in my shaking hands.
"...a man with no surname and nothing to offer you," I whispered.
My gaze slowly lifted to her grave again.
"...except love."
The graveyard was silent.
Not the peaceful kind of silence.
The kind that felt heavy, like the earth itself was mourning.
A sound broke the stillness, crunching lightly against the gravel path.
My head snapped up immediately.
No one came here at this hour, especially not to this grave.
The footsteps came closer.
Closer.
Then a figure appeared through the misty darkness between the graves.
A woman.
The moonlight fell across her face.
And my entire body went rigid.
Niya.
Of all the people in the world.
My jaw clenched so hard my teeth hurt.
"What the hell is she doing here..." I muttered under my breath.
She stopped a few steps away, her eyes widening slightly when she saw me sitting there.
"R... Reevan?" she said softly. Her voice sounded surprised.
"Is it you?" She took another small step forward.
"You're here? After all these years?" And then she smiled. That small polite smile she always had.
Something inside my chest twisted violently. Anger rose up like poison.
I looked away from her and back at the grave.
"Leave," I said coldly.
But she didn't move.
Instead she slowly lifted the flowers in her hands.
White lilies.
"I came here to visit Ira's grave," she said quietly.
The words made my stomach turn.
"She might have been very cruel to me," Niya continued, her voice trembling slightly, "but she didn't deserve to die."
The wind moved between us.
"No one deserves to die like that." She looked down at the grave.
"You don't know how sad I felt when I heard the news." Something inside me snapped.
I stood up slowly. The letters fell around my feet.
"Oh shut up."
My voice was low and very cold.
"With that fake sweetness, bitch", the word echoed across the empty graves.
Niya froze.
Her face paled as tears gathered in her eyes.
"Why... why are you being so rude to me?" she asked, her voice shaking. "I know what happened with Ira was tragic but you also have to understand... it wasn't someone's mistake. It... it was fate."
A bitter laugh escaped my throat.
"Get lost from here, Niya," I said quietly. "Before I kill you with my own hands... and call it fate."
She flinched.
Her body stiffened like she was about to run, but instead she slowly walked toward the grave.
My fists clenched.
She bent down and gently placed the flowers beside Ira's name.
For one second I just stared at them, then rage exploded through my chest.
I stepped forward and kicked the flowers away. They scattered across the wet grass.
Niya gasped.
"Reevan! What are you doing?!"
We were both standing now. Facing each other across the grave.
My voice came out sharp.
"Don't dirty Ira's grave with your disgusting presence... and your flowers."
Her lips trembled.
"I... I..."
Her eyes dropped to the ground.
Then she spoke quietly.
"Tomorrow is mine and Viaan's wedding."
"I just came here... to take Ira's blessings."
The world stopped.
Everything around me went silent.
"W... what?"
My voice barely came out.
Wedding.
The word echoed inside my skull.
Wasn't that bastard supposed to marry Ira six months ago?
Wasn't she standing at the altar waiting for him?
Wasn't she the one who ran out into the rain after he left her?
Alone.
Broken.
Then the truck.
The blood.
The letters in my bag rustled as the wind blew harder.
Because of that bastard...
She died.
My chest burned.
"She loved him for years," I whispered to myself.
"And that's how he repaid her?"
My mind replayed the last letter again.
Viaan hurt me again...
Niya was still talking.
"Ira was like a sister to..."
I didn't even realize when my body moved and my hand shot forward and grabbed her throat. Her eyes widened in terror.
"Ah..h.!" She choked.
Her hands immediately grabbed my wrist, trying to pull it away.
"R... Re... Reevan...!" Her nails dug into my skin.
"Le...leave... ahh..!" But my grip only tightened.
Rage.
Everything I had buried for months exploded inside me.
"I'll fucking kill you, bitch!" I roared. My voice echoed across the dark cemetery.
Somewhere in the distance a dog barked. The trees shook in the wind.
Niya's face was turning red as she struggled desperately.
Her fingers clawed at my arm.
"Re... Reevan... please...!"
But all I could see was Ira.
Standing in her white dress.
Walking into the rain.
And never coming back.
The night had grown darker.
My hand was still wrapped around Niya's throat.
Her fingers clawed desperately at my wrist as she struggled to breathe.
"Ah...ahh... Re...Reevan..!"
Her voice came out broken.
My vision had gone red. All I could see was Ira's name carved into the marble behind her.
All I could hear was the echo of her letters in my head.
Reevan, I wish you were here.
"I'll fucking kill you, !" I growled again through my teeth.
Then suddenly a force slammed into me.
Hard.
"Reevan! What the fuck are you doing?!"
My grip broke as someone shoved me violently. I stumbled backward, losing my balance before crashing into the wet grass beside the grave.
My shoulder hit the stone hard, pain shooting through my body.
For a moment the world spun.
Then I looked up.
Viaan.
He stood there like a storm had taken human form. His chest rose and fell heavily, his eyes burning with fury.
Niya staggered backward behind him, coughing violently as she held her throat.
"Niyu!"
Viaan turned to her instantly, all his rage shifting into panic.
"Are you okay?", he grabbed her shoulders gently, his hands moving quickly to her neck.
His fingers brushed over the red marks forming on her skin.
"Does it hurt? Can you breathe properly?"
Niya's breathing was shaky as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I... I'm fine," she whispered hoarsely.
Viaan pulled her into his arms protectively, holding her tightly against his chest.
The sight made something dark twist inside my chest.
My hands trembled as I slowly stood up from the ground.
The cold wind brushed against my face, but it did nothing to cool the fire burning inside me.
Viaan finally looked at me again.
The anger in his eyes had returned.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he shouted. His voice echoed across the empty graveyard.
A cold laugh escaped my throat.
"What the fuck is wrong with me?", I wiped the dirt from my hands slowly as I stared at him.
"YOU BASTARD!!!."
My voice grew louder.
"YOU FUCKING FUCKER."
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!."
The words spilled out like poison.
"You were about to marry Ira, right?!" My finger pointed toward the grave between us.
The marble glowed faintly in the dim light.
"And it hasn't even been six months since she died." My chest tightened painfully.
"And you're already whoring around with this bitch."
Niya gasped softly behind him.
Viaan's expression darkened instantly.
"Reevan," he said quietly.
His voice was low..
"Be careful what words you use. His jaw clenched.
"Otherwise this won't end well for you."
I laughed again. The sound felt hollow even to my own ears.
"What are you gonna do, huh?"
I took a step toward him.
"Kill me?"
My voice cracked slightly.
"Go ahead."
I spread my arms mockingly.
"Kill me."
Then I pointed again at Ira's grave.
"But I swear to God... I'll make sure to end both of you before I die."
My heart pounded violently in my chest.
"You fucking liar, cheater!"
"You played with her!"
"You never loved her!"
My voice broke as the words tore out of me.
"Not once!"
Viaan closed his eyes tightly.
For a moment his entire body went still.
The wind howled softly between the graves.
"That's not true, Reevan." his voice came out strained when he finally spoke.
"That's not true." I scoffed bitterly.
"You expect me to believe that?"
His hand rubbed over his face like he was trying to wipe away exhaustion.
"God..." he muttered.
Then he looked up again.
"I loved her." his voice cracked. "I loved Ira more than anything."
For a moment his eyes drifted toward the grave.
"You don't know what happened to me when I heard she died," he continued quietly.
"You don't know what kind of state I was in."
"I lost my sanity, I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe."
The wind blew harder, rustling the trees above us.
"If Niya wasn't there..." he said slowly. His voice dropped to almost a whisper.
"I wouldn't have survived it."
Niya held his arm tightly beside him.
"But it's the truth, Reevan."
His gaze hardened again.
"Ira is gone."
The words echoed across the graveyard like a death sentence.
"She's not coming back."
"And I didn't kill her, It was a truck accident, it was Fate", his jaw clenched tightly.
My fists tightened at my sides.
"I can't keep mourning her for the rest of my life," he said firmly. "I have to move on."