Chapter -11
Rain fell steadily against the mansion windows.
The estate was quieter than ever.
The guest room remained exactly as it had been the day Nani left.
No one had touched it.
No one had been told to.
---
Sky stood alone in his office.
Another cigarette burned between his fingers.
Another stack of reports waited to be signed.
He stared at the papers without reading a single word.
His thoughts drifted again.
Immediately, he shut them down.
"...You don't care."
His voice was low.
"You've never cared about anyone."
He repeated it as though saying it often enough would make it true.
"He's nothing."
"Just trouble."
"A loud, reckless guest."
"He came."
"He left."
"That's all."
He leaned back in his chair.
"...That's all."
Yet the words felt hollow.
His mind betrayed him.
He remembered the breakfast conversations.
The endless stories.
Someone arguing with geese.
Someone calling him "Cold Ice Cream."
His jaw tightened.
"...Enough."
He reached for another file.
---
Tee quietly entered.
"Boss."
"The meeting with Leon has been confirmed for tomorrow."
Sky looked up.
"Leon?"
"The businessman who visited the mansion."
For a brief moment...
Sky's expression darkened.
He remembered Nani laughing with him in the hallway.
The memory irritated him more than it should have.
Tee noticed but wisely said nothing.
After a long silence, Sky dismissed him.
"I'll attend."
"Yes, Boss."
When the door closed again, Sky rubbed his forehead.
"...Ridiculous."
Why should a simple conversation bother him?
It shouldn't.
He refused to let it.
---
Across the country...
Nani's new apartment was much less comfortable than the mansion.
The mattress was thin.
The shower leaked.
The refrigerator made strange noises every night.
He sighed as he looked at his tiny kitchen.
"So..."
He held up a packet of instant noodles.
"...Dinner again."
He laughed quietly at himself.
"This is definitely character development."
Money was tighter than he expected.
He carefully counted the bills in his wallet before buying groceries.
Every purchase mattered.
He searched for jobs.
Filled out applications.
Walked from one shop to another.
Some smiled politely.
Others simply said,
"We'll call you."
None of them did.
---
One afternoon...
Nani carried two heavy grocery bags up the apartment stairs.
By the third floor...
He stopped.
"I'm..."
"So..."
"Unfit..."
He rested against the wall, breathing hard.
"No elevator..."
"Who designed this place?"
After another minute of dramatic complaining, he started climbing again.
When he finally reached his apartment, he unlocked the door and dropped the bags onto the floor.
"...Victory."
The room was silent.
No chefs asking what he wanted for dinner.
No staff.
No oversized dining table.
Just him.
He looked around and smiled anyway.
"It's small..."
"But it's my choice."
That thought alone made the room feel warmer.
---
That night...
He sat by the window with a cup of instant coffee.
The city lights shimmered below.
He missed comfort.
He missed feeling safe.
But he reminded himself why he had left.
"No one gets to decide my life for me."
He whispered the words like a promise.
"I'll figure this out."
"One step at a time."
---
Far away...
Sky stood on the mansion balcony, looking out into the darkness.
The wind tugged at his coat.
The estate was enormous.
Yet it had never felt so empty.
He frowned at the thought.
"...He's just trouble."
He repeated it one last time.
But somewhere beneath the denial...
There was an uncomfortable truth he refused to face.
It wasn't Nani's absence that unsettled him.
It was realizing that, for the first time in his life, someone had walked away...
And he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it.
--------------
The afternoon was quiet.
Nani had just finished cleaning his tiny apartment when his phone rang.
An unknown number.
He hesitated before answering.
"...Hello?"
The voice on the other end was hurried.
"Nani!"
"You have to come home!"
"Your mother is very sick."
"She keeps asking for you."
The color drained from Nani's face.
"...Mom?"
"Please... come quickly."
The call ended.
For a moment...
He stood frozen.
Then everything else disappeared.
He didn't think about the past.
He didn't think about the arguments.
He didn't think about himself.
He grabbed his backpack, locked the apartment, and ran.
---
The train station was crowded.
Nani pushed through the crowd, barely noticing the people around him.
"Please..."
"Please don't let me be too late."
The journey felt endless.
Every minute dragged.
His hands shook the entire ride.
He kept checking his phone.
No new messages.
No updates.
Only silence.
---
Hours later...
The train finally stopped.
Nani ran the rest of the way home.
His breathing became ragged.
His legs burned.
Sweat soaked through his shirt.
He stumbled once.
Then got back up.
"I'm coming, Mom..."
"I'm coming..."
---
He reached the front gate.
The house stood exactly as he remembered.
No ambulance.
No doctors.
No sense of urgency.
His heartbeat slowed.
A strange feeling settled in his stomach.
He pushed the front door open.
The living room was full.
His father.
Several relatives.
And...
Niran.
Nani stopped walking.
His eyes slowly moved around the room.
"..."
No one spoke.
The silence told him everything.
His breathing became uneven.
"...No."
He whispered.
"No..."
He looked from face to face.
"You..."
His voice trembled.
"You lied to me?"
No one answered.
His father finally spoke.
"We had no other way to make you come back."
Something inside Nani broke.
He laughed once.
A hollow, disbelieving laugh.
Then suddenly-
"AM I A JOKE TO ALL OF YOU?!"
His voice echoed through the house.
"I RAN HERE THINKING MOM WAS DYING!"
"I DIDN'T EVEN STOP TO THINK!"
"I JUST RAN!"
His chest rose and fell violently.
"You all lied..."
He looked at Niran.
"...For what?"
"So your pride wouldn't be hurt?"
He turned toward his father.
"And you..."
His eyes filled with tears.
"...Am I even your son?"
The question came out quietly.
Broken.
"So easy to trick..."
"So easy to sacrifice..."
His father looked away.
Nani waited.
No answer came.
His lips trembled.
The tears he'd been holding back for weeks finally spilled over.
He covered his face.
A sob escaped before he could stop it.
Then another.
Everything he'd tried to stay strong through-
The forced wedding.
Running away.
Living alone.
Feeling unwanted.
Sky's harsh words.
The fear.
The loneliness.
It all crashed down at once.
His knees gave way.
He collapsed onto the floor.
Crying so hard he could barely breathe.
The room remained painfully silent.
No one moved.
No one seemed to know what to say.
Between sobs, Nani managed to speak.
"I'm..."
"So tired..."
His voice cracked.
"I keep running..."
"I keep begging people to listen..."
"But no one ever does..."
He wiped at his tears with shaking hands.
"You all already decided my life..."
"So..."
He looked up with red, swollen eyes.
"...Do whatever you want."
The words felt empty.
Like he'd run out of strength to fight.
"If marrying Niran is what everyone wants..."
He closed his eyes.
"...Then I'll do it."
The room fell completely still.
"But..."
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Don't expect me to be the same Nani anymore."
The sentence lingered in the air.
Not as acceptance.
But as the sound of someone who felt they had nothing left to give.
Even Niran, who had remained composed until then, said nothing.
Because for the first time...
Everyone in the room could see it.
They hadn't just cornered Nani.
They had broken his trust.
-------------
The house was silent.
No one tried to stop Nani as he walked upstairs.
His footsteps were slow.
Heavy.
He reached the familiar pink bedroom that had once been his favorite place in the world.
Now...
It didn't feel like home anymore.
He pushed the door open.
Stepped inside.
Then turned around.
Click.
The lock slid into place.
A soft knock came almost immediately.
"Nani..."
His mother's voice trembled from outside.
"Please open the door."
Nani closed his eyes.
"...I can't."
Another knock.
His father spoke this time.
"We should talk."
Nani laughed bitterly.
"Now?"
"When I've spent months saying no?"
His voice cracked.
"I hate what you've all done."
A long silence followed.
"I just..."
He leaned his forehead against the door.
"...I hate all of this."
No one answered.
Eventually...
The footsteps outside faded away.
---
Nani walked into the bathroom.
He turned on the light.
The bright room felt strangely cold.
Slowly, mechanically, he undressed and turned on the bathtub faucet.
Water poured steadily.
He sat down inside the empty tub before it had even filled.
His shoulders slumped.
For several minutes...
He simply stared ahead.
Then...
The tears came again.
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just quiet tears slipping down his face.
He covered his mouth with one hand, trying to muffle the sound.
"...I'm so tired."
The words barely escaped his lips.
The bathtub slowly filled with warm water around him.
Still...
He didn't move.
When the water reached high enough, he finally stepped into the shower.
The warm water fell over his hair and shoulders.
He remained standing there.
Motionless.
Minutes passed.
The water continued to run.
His thoughts were louder than anything else.
---
Far away...
North City.
Sky had just finished another meeting when Tee entered the office.
"Boss."
Sky looked up.
"What?"
"Our people received news."
Sky waited.
"Nani went back home."
A long silence followed.
Tee continued carefully.
"They're saying..."
"...he agreed to the marriage."
The words landed like a weight.
Sky's expression barely changed.
But the pen in his hand snapped in half.
Neither man spoke.
Sky slowly stood and walked toward the window.
Outside...
Rain clouds gathered over the city.
The office felt colder.
He told himself the same thing he always did.
"...It doesn't matter."
No response came.
---
Hours later...
The office was a mess.
Broken glass still hadn't been replaced.
Reports lay scattered across the desk.
A bottle of whiskey sat open.
Sky hadn't touched the paperwork.
He simply stood there.
Silent.
Tee watched from the doorway.
For days...
He had watched his boss grow more restless.
More distant.
More angry.
Finally...
Something in him broke.
"Boss."
Sky didn't answer.
Tee stepped forward.
"No."
"I'm going to say this."
"You can fire me afterward if you want."
Sky slowly turned.
Tee met his gaze.
"You keep saying you don't care."
"You keep pretending none of this matters."
"But look around."
He gestured toward the office.
"You've destroyed half this room."
"You barely eat."
"You barely sleep."
"And now you're just standing here."
His voice became firmer.
"If you believe Nani matters so little..."
"Then stop thinking about him."
Sky remained silent.
Tee shook his head.
"But if he does matter..."
"Then sitting here won't change anything."
He took a slow breath.
"You hurt him."
"You pushed him away."
"And now you're acting as if the world should fix it for you."
Another heavy silence.
Then Tee spoke one last time.
"Sit here feeling sorry for yourself if that's what you want."
"But don't expect anything to change unless you're willing to face what you've done."
He lowered his voice.
"Regret without action won't reach Nani."
Tee gave a respectful nod.
Then turned and left the office.
The door closed softly behind him.
For the first time...
Sky didn't have a reply.
Only the echo of Tee's words...
And the growing realization that some distances became much harder to cross after trust had been broken.