Author's POV
The drive back home was painfully quiet.
Ruhanika sat stiffly, staring out the window, while Aayansh kept glancing at her every few seconds worry carved into every line on his face. She hadn’t spoken since the call, and he wasn’t the type to sit comfortably in silence. Especially not when her fingers trembled faintly in her lap.
“Ruhi,” he said for the fifth time, “please tell me what’s wrong.”
She swallowed hard.
“I… don’t know yet.”
And that was what scared her the most.
When they reached home, her steps slowed. Something in the air felt wrong too still, too heavy. Before they could ring the bell, the front door burst open. Her bhabhi rushed out, eyes red, breath shaking.
“Ruhi…”
Everything inside her froze.
Her heart dropped.
Her voice came out as a whisper.
“Where is Aayan?”
Bhabhi didn’t answer.
She didn’t have to.
The silence punched harder than any words.
Ruhi repeated, louder this time, “Where is Aayan?”
Still no answer.
Inside, Rishabh spoke rapidly on the phone.
Dadi prayed under her breath.
Bade Maa paced the room.
Parth and Aditya were talking with the security team and police.
Ruhi’s vision blurred.
Her hands turned ice cold.
Her breath got stuck between her ribs.
“He didn’t come home,” Bhabhi whispered. “When Bade Papa went to pick him up, he wasn’t himself. Quiet… sad. Then he said he wanted ice cream. Bade Papa went to get it. When he came back, Aayan was gone. We called his friends, but he wasn’t with them. No one has seen him.”
The ground slipped from beneath Ruhi.
Her world twisted.
Her chest tightened painfully.
Not again.
She knew this feeling.
This terror.
This helplessness.
Memories hit her like a flood
Her father’s warm smile.
Her parents’ separation.
Years living only with her mother.
The courtroom.
Her father won custody back.
His relieved, proud hug.
And then
The accident.
The hospital lights.
The silence.
The unbearable emptiness.
Losing him had shattered something inside her. Something she had buried deep.
Now even the thought of losing Aayan ripped that old wound open.
Her breathing grew fast and uneven.
“Ruhi.”
A voice finally cut through her panic.
Aayansh stood right in front of her, gripping her shoulders, worry could be seen in his eyes.
“Look at me,” he said softly but firmly.
He lifted her chin gently.
“You’re panicking. Breathe. Ruhi, breathe.”
Her hands shook violently.
“I I can’t, Ayan… what if ”
She couldn’t finish.
He didn’t wait.
He pulled her into his chest.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered.
“Just breathe.”
And for the first time in years…
she let someone hold her while she broke.
He made her sit, kneeling in front of her like an anchor in the storm. Her breathing steadied a little, but her lashes were still wet with unshed tears.
“Ruhi,” he murmured, “why are you thinking the worst? Why would you think something will happen to him?”
She stared at the floor.
Her voice cracked.
“Because once… it did.”
He froze.
“I lost someone,” she whispered.
Aayansh’s jaw tightened.
He slowly held her hand, squeezing it gently.
“Ruhi… nothing will happen.”
“I can’t lose Aayan. I won’t survive it.”
This time, he didn’t hesitate.
He wrapped his arms around her tightly.
“I won’t let anything happen to him,” he promised.
The next hour was chaos phone calls, neighbours, police, updates.
And through all of it, Aayansh never left Ruhi’s side.
Finally, Ruhi composed herself enough to ask for the CCTV footage.
The moment she saw it, she didn’t say a word.
She just ran.
Everyone shouted behind her, but she didn’t stop.
Rishabh and Aayansh followed immediately.
Ruhi drove straight to the park the one not far from home. The direction Aayan walked in the footage could only lead there.
She ran inside, shouting his name.
No reply.
Nothing.
Rishabh and Aayansh reached her, asking what she saw, but Ruhi didn’t answer. She kept searching desperately.
Rishabh grabbed her shoulders.
“Varun and his team searched this whole area. He’s not here.”
But she didn’t listen.
Couldn’t listen.
Aayansh tried calming her, but she shook him off.
Then suddenly she remembered something.
She ran deeper into the park, toward the hidden side behind the thick trees. Not many people went there.
But she and Aayan had once.
The moment she reached, she saw him.
Aayan sat under a tree, arms wrapped around his knees, tiny shoulders shaking.
Ruhi’s breath broke.
She sprinted, dropped to her knees, and pulled him into her arms.
“Bui…” he sobbed, clinging to her.
Tears filled her eyes, but she didn’t cry.
She only held him tighter.
“Why did you come here without telling anyone?” she whispered. “Do you know how worried everyone was?”
He didn’t answer.
He just looked down.
Rishabh called the family immediately.
Then came over.
“Let’s go home, Ruhi. Everyone’s waiting.”
She nodded, picked Aayan up, and settled him in the car.
Rishabh drove.
Aayansh followed in his own car.
At the gate, Aayansh said he would leave since it was late. They exchanged tired goodbyes.
The five-minute ride felt like hours.
When they reached, everyone stood outside. Ruhi stepped out with Aayan in her arms his face peaceful but tear-stained, sleeping.
No one said anything.
They simply followed her inside.
Upstairs, she placed him on the bed.
Downstairs, Rishabh explained everything.
Silence fell until Avni suddenly cried:
“It’s my fault! I shouldn’t have said I’d send him to the hostel. I only meant to scare him…”
Everyone tried to calm her.
Badi Ma sent Parth upstairs to call Ruhi for dinner.
He walked into the room and saw her still holding Aayan while he slept.
“Dinner is ready,” he said softly.
“We’ll come after getting fresh,” she replied.
Ruhi woke Aayan gently, helped him wash his face, and brought him downstairs. Everyone sat quietly, barely touching their food.
Aayan kept his head down, pushing food around.
Ruhi touched his hand gently.
He flinched.
Her heart cracked.
“Bui…” he whispered, “Are you angry with me?”
Everyone looked up.
Ruhi shook her head instantly.
“Never. I was scared, baby. That’s all.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I thought… you’ll also leave me.”
The words hit Ruhi like a punch.
She pulled him into a hug immediately.
“Bui, please… don’t send me away. I’ll be a good boy.”
“No one is sending you anywhere,” she said firmly and looked at everyone while hugging him tighter.
“I promise.”
After dinner, she took Aayan to his room and tucked him in. Rishabh and Avni came in too.
Avni broke down and hugged him tightly.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it. I’ll never send you away, I promise.”
“Really?” he asked in a tiny voice.
“I thought you would really send me away… The teacher said there would be a parent-teacher meeting, and the maths teacher said she’ll complain about everything. I got scared you’d send me to a hostel.”
“I promise I’ll never send you away from me. Even if you do mischief, I promise,” she cried.
He hugged her back, falling asleep in her arms.
Ruhi watched them, a soft smile on her face.
She told them to take him to their room.
They nodded.
As she left, Rishabh followed.
“Ruhi… are you okay?”
“I’m fine, bhai,” she whispered and walked away.
In her room, she tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, flashes of her past attacked her. She couldn’t breathe. She didn’t dare close her eyes again.
Then her phone rang.
She didn’t check the caller ID.
She simply answered, voice small.
“Hello…”
A familiar voice replied,
“Ruhi?”
Aayansh.
She didn’t speak.
“Ruhi, are you okay?” he asked softly.
Silence.
“Ruhi… are you there?”
“Hm.”
Barely a sound.
That was it.
They didn’t talk.
They just stayed on the call
the silence louder than words.
After a few minutes, exhaustion finally pulled Ruhi under. Her breathing softened.
Aayansh heard it.
He knew she had fallen asleep.
He didn’t hang up.
He placed the phone beside him…
and slept too.
Connected.
Quietly.
Without saying a single word.
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