Ruhi’s POV
The café was loud.Too loud for the way my heart felt calm for the first time in days.
Aayansh sat across from me, elbows on the table, stirring his coffee even though he hadn’t taken a sip yet. He looked… lighter. Like the tension that had been clinging to him had finally loosened its grip.
“You’re staring again,” he said, glancing up with a small smile.
I blinked. “I’m not.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You are.”
I smiled and leaned back in my chair. “Okay, maybe a little.”
“And?” he prompted.
“And I was just thinking,” I said softly, “how strange it feels when everything is… quiet.”
He chuckled. “That’s because we’re used to chaos.”
“True,” I admitted.
A waiter passed by, and Aayansh finally took a sip of his coffee, making a face. “Still bitter.”
I laughed. “You order it every time.”
“And I regret it every time.”
I reached across the table and slid my sugar packet toward him. “Here. For emotional support.”
He grinned. “You’re very thoughtful today.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I teased.
Our fingers brushed when he took the packet, and something simple and warm settled in my chest. No tension. No doubts. Just us.
Outside, the world moved on people walking, cars passing, life continuing as if nothing terrible had ever happened.
“I was thinking,” he said after a moment, more serious now. “Maybe we should take a break this weekend.”
“A break?” My heart skipped.
“Not that kind,” he said quickly, laughing. “I mean… a short trip. Somewhere quiet. No phones. No work.”
I smiled. “Running away with me already?”
“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “I’ll even pack your bags wrong and forget half my clothes.”
“That checks out.”
He reached across the table and held my hand, his thumb brushing over my knuckles absentmindedly. The gesture felt natural like something we’d done in another lifetime.
“You look happy,” he said quietly.
I nodded. “I am.”
And for once, it wasn’t forced.
I didn’t feel like I was pretending or holding my breath. I felt like maybe just maybe we had survived the worst of it.
Aayansh leaned back in his chair. “When all this settles… I want us to do normal things.”
“Like?”
“Argue about curtains. Fight over pizza toppings. Get annoyed at each other for leaving stuff everywhere.”
I laughed. “You already leave stuff everywhere.”
“See? We’re ahead of schedule.”
I rested my chin on my palm, watching him. “You really think we’ll get there?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
That certainty warmed me more than the coffee ever could.
My phone buzzed on the table.
I glanced at the screen.
Unknown Number
I frowned slightly.
“You okay?” Aayansh asked.
“Yeah,” I said, turning the screen face down without opening it. “Probably spam.”
He smiled. “Even spam knows you’re popular.”
I laughed, shaking my head.
I didnt want to see what it was and ruined the time with Aayansh so I ignored it.Whatever it is Ill deal with it later
What I didn’t see was the message waiting on my screen.
Enjoy today.It won’t last.
Later that evening, we walked through the city streets, hands linked loosely, shoulders brushing as if the world had finally made space for us.
Aayansh stopped suddenly, pulling me back gently.
“What?” I asked.
He leaned down, resting his forehead against mine. “I just wanted to remember this version of you.”
I smiled softly. “Which one?”
“The one who isn’t afraid,” he said.
I closed my eyes. “Then remember this moment.”
I didn’t know it yet but somewhere, someone else was memorizing it too.
Her mothers POV
She watched the message turn blue.A slow, satisfied smile curved her lips.
So the girl had met him after all.
The café footage paused on the screen in front of her grainy, taken from a distance, but clear enough. Ruhi sat by the window, her posture tense. Vikrant across from her, leaning forward. Serious expressions. No laughter. No warmth.
Good.She leaned back in her chair, manicured nails tapping lightly against the armrest.
“Always emotional,” she murmured. “Just like your father.”Her phone buzzed.
Unknown Number:
She met him. And she chose the boy.
Her smile didn’t fade.
I know, she typed calmly. That was expected.
She rose from her seat and walked toward the window. The city stretched beneath her lights, movement, people unaware they were all pieces on a board she had learned to play years ago.
They thought it was over.That the past was buried.Hiten's death had closed the chapter.
She let out a soft laugh.“No one ever checks how deep the grave is,” she whispered.
The accident replayed vividly in her mind.
The rain,the speed. The brief hesitation that had changed everything.
People called it fate.She called it necessary.
Her phone buzzed again.
Unknown Number:
Vikrant is getting close. He’s digging again.
Her fingers hovered over the screen for a heartbeat longer than usual.
Then she typed Distract him.
A pause.
If that doesn’t work… break him.
She turned away from the window and returned to her desk. From the drawer, she pulled out an old file. Its edges were worn, the paper inside yellowed with time.
The name on the cover darkened her eyes.RUHI Raichand
Inside were hospital reports. Custody papers. Therapy notes.And photographs.
A little girl sitting on a cracked floor. Eyes hollow. Small hands clenched in her lap. Afraid.
Her grip tightened.“You should have stayed broken,” she said softly.
She slid the photo back into the file and locked it away.
Another name surfaced in her thoughts now.
Aayansh.
That boy was a problem.Not because he was strong but because he loved Ruhi and love made people reckless.
Her phone buzzed again this time, a notification.
Ruhi Rahichand Office Location Active her current location.
Her lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile as she reached for her keys.
“So,” she whispered,“You finally think you’re safe.”
She turned off the lights and walked out.Outside, the night waited.
And somewhere far away, Ruhi laughed
unaware that the woman who had ruined her childhood
was already planning how to ruin her peace.
Unknown’s POV
Obsession doesn’t begin with desire,It begins with watching.
I watched her long before she remembered me from a distance, from the shadows, from places she never thought to look.
Ruhi Raichand.
She thinks memory is what connects people. She's wrong. Memory fades Attachment doesn’t.
I stood near the window of my empty apartment, phone in hand, replaying the same clip again and again.
Her Laughing,Soft,Free,Leaning into him.
Aayansh Singhaniya.
My jaw tightened,So that’s what safety looks like now.
My phone buzzed.
Her Mother:
She met Vikrant.
I replied instantly.I know.I had arranged it.
Vikrant was useful nothing more than a trigger. A key to unlock what Ruhi had buried. He believed he was protecting her.
People like him always do.
“She chose him,” I murmured to the empty room. “Of course she did.”
She always chooses what feels familiar,She doesn’t yet understand that familiarity can be engineered.
Another message appeared.
Her Mother:
The boy is a problem.
The boy.
He’s not the problem, I typed slowly, He’s the leverage.
A pause.
Her Mother:
Don’t get reckless.
I smiled.Reckless? No,I’ve waited too long for that.
I turned toward the board on the wall behind me.
Photographs. Timelines. Notes.
Ruhi’s office hours. Her therapy sessions. Aayansh’s meetings.
Routes. Cafés. Security gaps.
Everything is mapped.Including today.
I tapped one photograph lightly,Aayansh beside his car, phone pressed to his ear unaware.
He thinks he can protect her..That’s the mistake they all make.
I’ll handle Aayansh, I typed.This time, there was no immediate reply.
Good.
She’s learning when not to interfere.
The Plan
Aayansh doesn’t need to be hurt,Not yet.
Pain creates heroes.Doubt destroys them.
He’s strong. Confident. Respected,but strength cracks fastest from the inside.
I don’t want him bleeding.I want him questioning.
Ruhi, Himself.
Whether love is enough.
I glanced at the file on my desk.
Singhaniya Group
Amazing how easily people talk when they think no one is listening.
One anonymous email, One carefully timed accusation, One whisper in the wrong ear.
Not enough to destroy him,Just enough to destabilize him,To make him distracted.
Absent.
And absence…Absence is where I step in.
About Ruhi
I opened her contact.
Doll.
I never changed the name.I never will.
People think obsession is loud.
It isn’t,It’s patient.
It’s knowing exactly when not to appear.
She believes she chose him today.
I let her.
Choice feels powerful when you think it’s yours.
I replayed her voice note again the one she’d sent Vikrant.
Firm. Honest. Emotional.
She sounded stronger.That’s fine.
Strong things break beautifully when bent the right way.
I sent one final message.
Don’t touch her.
Three dots appeared. Disappeared.
Then
Her Mother:
You’re crossing lines.
I smiled.
Lines are for people who fear consequences.
Trust me, I replied.
If Ruhi breaks… it will be because of him. Not us.
I slipped the phone into my pocket and picked up my jacket.
Outside, the city pulsed with life.
Somewhere, Aayansh was probably still holding her hand.
Feeling secure, Feeling chosen.
I laughed quietly.
“Enjoy it,” I whispered.
“It’s always the calm before people realize who they were standing against.”
And for the first time since Ruhi remembered me
I wasn’t watching anymore.I was moving.
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