PRESENT DAY 

SHANAYA'S POV :

The sun had risen, but it couldn't reach her. Not today.

Shanaya sat on the windowpane of her room, knees to her chest, as the weight of the previous night still lingered in her chest like a wound that refused to clot. Her soaked dress from the night before lay discarded on the floor, her hair still damp from the rain. Her body was shivering, but not from the cold.

From everything else.

Her heart felt raw. As if someone had taken a blade and sliced through old scars that had barely begun to scab over. The moment she saw Rohan's mother last night... the way she looked at her, the way she called her "his first love" — it hit her like a train. And then... Kabir. Kabir, who had somehow become the one place she felt safe again, turned out to be the brother of the one person she had spent years grieving.

How cruel could fate be?

She hadn't slept a second. All night, she just lay on her bed, eyes wide open, trying to make sense of it all. Trying to silence the storm inside her.

How could she not have known? How could Kabir not have known?

But the worst part wasn't the shock. It wasn't the confusion.

It was the guilt.

Was she... betraying Rohan?

She couldn't unsee the way Kabir looked at her when he learned the truth. The confusion in his eyes, the fear, the heartbreak. She could still feel the way his voice cracked when he said "How do you all know each other?" — as if a part of him already knew he was about to lose her.

She stood up and walked to her dresser, staring at her reflection.

This wasn't the girl Rohan had loved.

This wasn't even the girl Kabir had held in his arms a night ago.

This was someone in between. Torn between the past and the present. Lost between what was and what could be.

A knock echoed at her front door.

She didn't move.

Another knock. Then another.

Then Kabir's voice.

"Shanaya... please. Please open the door."

Her heart clenched.

He came.

Of course he did.

And yet... she couldn't move.

She wanted to scream at him. Ask him why fate had to be this cruel. Ask him how the universe thought it was okay to stitch her broken pieces back with someone who shared the same blood as the person who shattered her.

But when she opened the door, her voice failed her.

Kabir stood there, eyes tired, shirt still slightly damp, his hair a mess, and his face... broken. Not angry. Not confused. Just broken.

"Why did you run away again?" he whispered.

She couldn't answer.

"Why didn't you let me be there for you?" he asked again, this time stepping forward.

Her lips trembled. "I don't know... Kabir, I don't know."

He looked at her for a long moment, searching her eyes for any lie, any distance. But all he found was pain.

"I'm sorry," he said, his voice heavy. "For not knowing. For not telling you. For not being there last night when you needed me the most."

She closed her eyes. "It's not your fault... none of this is."

"But it hurts anyway," he replied, and she could hear the crack in his voice.

She turned her back to him, her shoulders shaking as tears finally threatened to fall.

"I loved him," she whispered. "And I love you. And I don't know how to do both..."

Silence.

Then, Kabir slowly walked up to her, placing a trembling hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to choose. I know I can never take his place. I'm not asking to. But I'm here, Shanaya. I'm not going anywhere. Unless you tell me to."

Her chest ached. "How can you still say that after knowing the truth?"

"Because I know what grief looks like," he whispered, leaning closer. "And I know what love feels like. And I've never felt anything stronger than what I feel when I'm with you."

The dam broke.

She turned and collapsed into his arms, her sobs muffled by his chest, while he held her tighter than ever before.

The past had returned.

But maybe, just maybe, the present still had a chance.

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KABIR'S POV :

I held her in my arms as tightly as I could without breaking her.

But maybe she was already broken.

Her tears seeped through the fabric of my shirt, burning my chest like acid. Her sobs—soft, shattered sounds—shook the very foundation of my being. And in that moment, I—Kabir Singhania—the man who always had control, who knew how to handle anything thrown his way—stood helpless. Speechless. Shaken.

Because I loved her.

I loved her.

But now, I wasn't just falling in love with Shanaya.

I was falling into the pieces of a woman who had already been loved and lost.

And the man who had loved her first?

Was my brother.

Rohan.

The name alone now held weight in my chest.

Not just because he had been my cousin. But because now... I had unknowingly walked into his legacy. Into his memories. Into her memories.

When she said "I loved him, and I love you," my heart both soared and shattered.

Because there it was.

The truth.

She loved both of us.

And I had no right to ask her to stop.

Not now. Not ever.

I closed my eyes as she cried against me, running my fingers through her damp hair.

I thought of all the times Rohan and I had played together during childhood. How close our fathers had been. How my parents still went to the Malhotras' house on every festival. How I had never been around much. How I missed knowing this entire part of Rohan's life—the most important part.

I didn't know about her.

And now, she was mine.

Or at least, part of her was.

Would it always be like this?

Would I always wonder if, when she smiled at me, part of that smile belonged to someone else?

And still... I couldn't walk away.

Because in her eyes, in the way she looked at me with guilt, pain, longing—there was something unspoken. Something real.

And love?

Love wasn't about being first.

It was about being there.

I slowly pulled back and looked down at her face. Her eyes were red, her cheeks wet. But she was still so beautiful.

Not because she looked perfect.

But because she looked real.

Raw. Torn. Honest.

Just like I felt.

"We need to talk," I said softly.

She nodded, wiping her face. "Okay."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE : 

This chapter tore pieces from my heart while writing it.

 Grief, love, confusion — they can all exist together, and this is Shanaya and Kabir's truth. Healing doesn't come in straight lines. Sometimes, love means holding someone through their pain, not asking for perfection, but simply being there. Thank you for feeling this with them. 

The storm isn't over yet... but maybe, just maybe, they're learning how to dance in the rain.

COMMENTS XXXX