Breaking the illusion
Author's pov-
Purv hadn't realised he was gripping his glass too tightly until Rudra nudged him.
"You good, bro?" Rudra asked, though his smirk said he already knew the answer.
Purv exhaled sharply and set the glass down. "She's different."
"That's what happens when people grow up," Rudra replied casually, sipping his drink.
Purv didn't answer. His mind was still stuck on the way Divya had looked at him-detached, unaffected. Like he was just another business associate.
Like he had never mattered.
And he hated that feeling.
---------------------------------------------------
Divya stood near the balcony of the venue, sipping her wine. Kaashi leaned against the railing beside her, watching her closely.
"So? How did it feel?" Kaashi asked.
"How did what feel?"
"Seeing him like that. Talking to him like that."
Divya took a slow breath. "Like nothing."
Kaashi narrowed her eyes. "Liar."
Divya chuckled softly. "Okay, fine. It felt... strange. Not bad. Just different."
Kaashi hummed in understanding. Then, after a pause, she asked, "and why do you think that is?"
Divya didn't answer immediately. She swirled the wine in her glass, watching the city lights reflect off it.
"Because for the first time, I don't feel like I need his validation."
Kaashi smiled. "Now that's the Divya I always wanted to see."
---------------------------------------------------
Back inside, Rudra was still observing purv, who had gone quiet.
"You're thinking too much," rudra commented.
Purv's jaw clenched. "She confronted Aryan."
Rudra raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Five years ago. She told him she loved me. Before even I knew I felt something for her."
Rudra's smirk faded slightly as he realised the weight of that statement.
"And yet, you let her break."
Purv's gaze darkened. "I didn't know."
"You didn't want to know," Rudra corrected. "There's a difference."
The words hit purv harder than he expected.
Because deep down, he knew Rudra was right.
For five years, he had believed that divya had simply moved on. That she had stopped caring just as he had pretended to.
But now, everything was unraveling.
And for the first time, purv realised.
He might have lost something he wasn't ready to leg go of.