FIVE YEARS BACK :

The night was quiet. Too quiet for the chaos thundering in his chest.

Kabir stood at the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. Shanaya's face was half buried in the pillow, strands of hair across her cheek, her fingers curled loosely by her side. Peaceful. Untouched by the storm he was about to unleash.

His eyes soaked her in, like he was memorizing her. Because he was.

Because he had to.

Because this was the last time he'd see her like this—whole, safe, his.

His hand hovered above her forehead, aching to brush her hair back, to kiss her one last time. But he didn't. He couldn't. One touch and he'd stay. One moment longer and he'd collapse.

And that wasn't an option.

The letter sat folded on the bedside table.

His last words. His goodbye. His heart carved onto paper.

He clenched his jaw, fighting every instinct screaming at him to lie beside her instead, to tell her the truth. That the threats had reached closer. That someone had betrayed them from within. That Shanaya's name was being whispered in the dark—and this time, his power couldn't shield her.

But instead, he bent down slowly, leaving the lightest kiss in the air above her forehead.

"I'm sorry, my sunshine," he whispered so low the room itself barely heard him.

And then, with pain stitched into every step, he walked away.

----------

The morning didn't come with sunlight.

It came with emptiness.

Shanaya blinked awake slowly, her hand reaching instinctively for the other side of the bed.

Cold sheets.

No heartbeat. No warmth.

Her brows furrowed as she sat up, confused.

"...Kabir?"

No answer.

The silence had a weight to it. A warning. A goodbye she hadn't heard.

She looked around.

His jacket was gone. His boots. His watch. Everything.

She rose quickly, a strange panic crawling beneath her skin. Her feet hit the cold marble floor as she checked the bathroom. The balcony. The study.

Nothing.

Nowhere.

Gone.

That's when she saw it.

The folded paper on the side table.

Her name written on it, soft and steady, like it hadn't torn him apart to write it.

Hands shaking, she picked it up.

And as she read—

She shattered.

The words blurred behind tears before she even reached the middle. Her knees hit the floor. Her lips quivered with unspoken screams, and her chest felt like it was splitting open from the inside.

"No... no, Kabir... you didn't... please, please no—"

She read it again. And again.

Desperate to find some other meaning. Some secret code.

But the only truth on that page was this—

He was gone.

And she didn't even get to say goodbye.

The love of her life...

The man who once promised to protect her forever...

Had walked away while she slept.

Left her with a letter, and a hollow ache that nothing could ever fill.

She curled into herself, sobbing into the floor as the city outside began to rise.

But inside her?

Everything fell apart.

----

There was no sound.

No birds, no breeze, no footsteps.

Just the way her heart shattered... again and again and again... in absolute silence.

She had stopped crying hours ago. Not because she felt better—no. She simply couldn't cry anymore. Her body had given up. Her voice was gone. Her eyes were swollen shut, salt burning beneath her lids.

The letter lay crushed in her fist. Like her heart.

----------

Everything about the room screamed him—his scent lingering on the sheets, the half-full glass of water on his nightstand, the jacket he always left carelessly on the couch now... missing.

Every little absence screamed he's not coming back.

She broke.

Screamed into the silence. Beat the pillows. Tore the sheets. Her chest heaved violently as the sobs racked through her small, fragile frame.

"COME BACK!!"

She screamed until her voice cracked.

"PLEASE... please, Kabir, please—don't do this—don't leave me—don't—don't—"

She crawled to the edge of the bed, falling to the floor on her knees, palms pressed together.

She looked up at the ceiling, at the heavens, eyes swollen red, voice shattered beyond recognition.

"Please God... please... just give him back to me... please—I'll do anything—just bring him back—just let him walk through that door and hold me once... once..."

Her hands slammed against her chest.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye! I didn't even get to touch his face one last time—I didn't—"

She let out a cry so broken it could've cracked the walls.

"I need him. I need him. He's my home. My air. My everything..."

She looked down, her forehead hitting the cold floor, as her fingers clawed at her chest—trying to physically pull the pain out of her body.

"I can't breathe without him," she whispered. "I can't do this without him."

She curled into herself, fetal and fractured, sobbing like the girl who had just lost the only person she ever believed in.

---

Hours passed.

Kartik arrived.

When Kartik finally stormed in, having not heard from either of them since the night before, his heart dropped the second he saw her.

She was curled up on the cold floor, still in the same clothes. Her lips were dry and bruised from her own trembling teeth. The air around her felt like death.

"Shanu..." Kartik whispered, falling to his knees beside her.

But she didn't flinch.

Didn't look up.

Didn't blink.

He gently cupped her face, his own voice breaking. "What happened? Where is Kabir?"

She turned her head, barely. Her hand uncurled, letting the crumpled letter fall to the floor between them.

Kartik picked it up.

And the moment he read it—

His face paled. His eyes stung. His jaw clenched with rage.

"No... no, that son of a—"

He stopped himself.

Because this wasn't about him. It was about her.

And when he saw her... he fell to his knees too.

"Shanaya..."

But she didn't look at him. She couldn't.

He didn't even say goodbye..."

Kartik shut his eyes, breathing through the ache in his chest.

"He... he promised me," she whispered. "He promised he'd never leave me like this. That no matter how dark it got, we'd fight together."

Tears started falling again. Slow, hollow tears. Not the kind that release pain—but the kind that hold more.

"I woke up and he was just... gone. I didn't even get to hug him one last time. To stop him. To beg him to stay..."

Her hands clutched her chest like she was holding it all in place.

"Why didn't I wake up? Why didn't I feel it?"

Kartik pulled her into his arms as she finally collapsed. Her sobs weren't loud. They were choked. Like every inhale was suffocating. Every exhale a scream trapped beneath her ribs.

He held her tighter, tears now falling down his own cheeks.

Kartik slowly pulled her into his arms, whispering, "You're not alone. You'll never be alone."

"I'm already alone," she choked out. "He was my safe space. My fight. My future. And now he's just... gone."

Kartik's voice broke, "He left to protect you."

"But who protects me from this pain?"

And in that moment, Kartik realized—there was no saving her from this. Only time could. And time was cruel.

---

That night, Shanaya sat alone, by the balcony. Her hair wild. Her skin pale. Wrapped in Kabir's hoodie, which smelled like him... but less and less with each hour that passed.

She stared at the stars, whispering promises to the night sky.

"I'll wait for you, Kabir. No matter how long it takes. I'll wait... until you come home."

------

End of chapter

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