•AUTHOR'S POV•

-T w o   w e e k s   a g o-

At the club

"Alone?"

A woman with brown eyes and lips the color of spilled wine slid onto the velvet seat beside Rudra. She smiled.

Rudra didn't respond. He was half-sunken into the couch in the VIP section, his fourth bottle half-empty. His eyes red and glassy held the kind of silence that screamed louder than words. His head rested against the back of the couch, eyes bloodshot, cheeks streaked with silent tears that clung to his lashes.

"Got your heart broken, Mr. Singhania?"

He didn't answer. His throat was too tight to speak.

"You always looked like the kind who would cheat, not the one who gets cheated on," she said, tracing her fingers along his arm.

"Don't," he murmured, "Stay away."

She climbed onto his lap anyway, her arms looping around his neck like chains.

"Loyalty doesn't suit you, darling. Don't pretend to be the saint here."

"Get the fuck away from me," he slurred, trying to shove her off, but his arms were too heavy. Everything ached his muscles, his head, his soul.

She leaned in again, aiming for his jaw.

"I said don't touch me," he rasped, his body slumping forward, too slow to fight her off. Her lips missed his jaw and instead landed on the collar of his shirt, leaving behind a maroon imprint a stain marking a moment he never consented to.

"I'm married," he choked out, "Just go."

But she ignored him and leaned in again.

Before her lips could find his skin, a rough hand yanked her back. She crashed to the floor with a startled yelp.

Avyaan stood there, his expression blank, but his eyes sharp like a blade left in the snow.

"He said no. Don't you understand what the fuck that means?"

She stood, brushing off her skirt. "Chill, hero. He would've enjoyed it if you hadn't interrupted."

"No, he wouldn't. He said no," Avyaan said, voice edged with fury. "You girls scream 'consent' until a man says it. Then suddenly, you act like he's supposed to like it. Hypocrites don't wear masks anymore. They wear lipstick."

She scoffed. "Okay, Mr. Misogynist. Don't start your men's rights lecture-"

"Get the fuck out. Before I call security," he cut her off, calm but firm.

With a final eye-roll, she walked away.

Avyaan turned to Rudra who hadn't moved. Still clutching the bottle.

Avyaan said nothing for a moment. He sat beside him, his eyes scanning the ruins of his friend's face.

"Stop drinking."

Rudra didn't respond.

Avyaan reached over and took the bottle from his hand without asking. Rudra weakly tried to pull it back, but Avyaan shoved his arm aside, unmoved.

"You'll kill yourself like this. Your doctor is going to beat your ass-"

Rudra suddenly chuckled. A dry, hollow sound escaped him as his head fell back against the couch.

"She's probably spending quality time with her lover."

Avyaan's brows drew together.

"When I was on that trip, do you know how much I missed her? Fuck... All I wanted was to come back, hug her, kiss her, tell her how much I love her. How much I missed her."

His voice cracked, eyes closing as more tears welled up.

"I missed her so much I thought my heart would forget how to beat without her voice. I kept sending her voice notes. Just to remind her I love her. Like a fucking idiot. I kept telling her she didn't have to earn love, that she was enough. That even if she couldn't say it back, I'd say it enough for both of us. I told her I wished she'd see herself the way I see her. I sent her videos of white roses... because they reminded me of her. I even kept white roses beside my bed, Avyaan. Just to feel close to her. That's how desperate I was."

"But she... she was with Saarth, those p-photographs...they were..." His voice cracked again. "She looked at him the way I used to pray she'd look at me." He pressed a hand to his chest.

"I wanted her to feel loved even when I wasn't around. I thought maybe just maybe it would make her believe she wasn't hard to love." He looked up, tears running freely down his face.

"I feel so fucking pathetic, Avyaan... so damn ugly after getting cheated on again. It hurts, it fucking hurts right in my chest, just imagining her listening to my voice notes while lying in his bed," he whispered. "Maybe laughing. Maybe mocking the way I said, 'I miss you, Pearl. I love you, Pearl.' Maybe he heard them too. Maybe he laughed louder."

He looked at Avyaan.

"Do you know what it feels like? To be so loyal, so in love, that you send a part of yourself every day just to make her smile... and realize she was giving herself to someone else the whole time?"

He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms. "I feel like a fucking joke. Like I was a side character in a story I thought I was leading. But how do I blame her, when I was the idiot begging for bullets from someone holding a loaded gun? They must've laughed at me."

He dropped his head forward, shoulders shaking.

"Just like Anvika and Mahir did," he whispered. "They laughed to my face. I heard it, Avyaan. That laugh, it's still stuck in my head."

He inhaled sharply, chest visibly trembling.

"And now it's happening again."

His glassy eyes looked far away, like he was watching a memory unfold in front of him. He buried his face in his hands, a muffled sob escaping him.

"It's like the universe has a sick way of showing me I'm only meant to love, never be loved back."

When he looked up again, his stare was shattered.

"It's all happening again, Avyaan. The same heartbreak. The same humiliatio-"

Avyaan just pulled Rudra into a tight hug, one hand at the back of his head, the other steadying his back.

And Rudra broke, loud, raw sobs ripping out of him.

Avyaan sighed, watching his best friend spiral into the same darkness he had barely crawled out of nine years ago.

"You still have that same innocence in you, Rudra," Avyaan said quietly.

Rudra pulled back.

"Innocence?" he said hoarsely. "Don't flatter me. That's not innocence. That's just being a fucking idiot."

"Rudra-"

"I tried to kill that part of me," he muttered, slurring slightly. "The part that hopes. That believes someone might actually choose me and stay, that not everyone is cruel. I swore I'd never go back to being that boy who waited around like a fool... but here I am."

"Let's go," Avyaan said softly.

"Go where?" Rudra chuckled with tears clinging to his lashes. "My home already found a new family." He pressed a fist to his chest, gripping his shirt like he could tear the pain out. "Tell me... I'm dumb, right?"

Rudra dropped his head back. "You know what's funny? Before I came here, I told her I'd sleep with someone else. Thought maybe it'd hurt her. Thought maybe she'd feel something."

He chuckled bitterly.

"But you can't hurt someone who feels nothing for you."

"Then why the hell did I find you pushing that woman away?"

"Because I can't cheat, Avyaan. I can't fucking cheat. Even if I'm drowning, I can't reach for another fucking hand." His chest heaved with every sob. "I wanted to hurt her emotionally, yes but I can't betray her. I just... can't."

His throat bobbed with the force of holding it in.

"You know I once promised her that even the thought of cheating on her wouldn't cross my mind. And I meant that."

"She cheated on you. You owe her nothing. Stop torturing yourself over a woman who didn't give a damn. Why are you still holding on to some stupid promise? She doesn't even love you," Avyaan said, his voice rising in frustration.

"But I do," Rudra whispered. "I love her. Isn't that enough?"

"You're not innocent. You're actually fucking dumb," Avyaan snapped.

Rudra laughed again, a broken exhausted sound as fresh tears slid down his face.

"That's why I end up like this, right? Because I love like an idiot." His lips trembled.

Avyaan wanted to yell yes, shake some sense into him but he knew better than to break someone already on the verge.

"You're not an idiot, Rudra. You just again fell for the wrong damn bitc-"

"Don't. Don't call her that." He barely had the energy to sit upright, but he summoned what was left just to say that.

"Not once, Avyaan. Not even once did I ask her to love me back. I knew I didn't deserve it... not after everything I'd done to her. I just wanted to love her. Quietly. That's all. But she...left. She even took the last part of me that still believed in love."

"That's enough," Avyaan interrupted, standing now with a firmer voice.

He reached down and grabbed Rudra's arm but Rudra collapsed instantly.

Avyaan cursed under his breath, hoisting him up and slinging one of Rudra's arms around his shoulder.

"Fucking hell, Rudra..." he muttered, dragging him toward the exit of the dimly lit club.

Rudra's head lolled, his body heavy with drink and heartbreak.

Avyaan managed to reach the car. He opened the passenger door and shoved Rudra inside. Rudra slumped into the seat, mumbling incoherently.

Avyaan buckled him up, then stepped back.

Just before Rudra passed out, he whispered something.

"P-Pearl..."

His head tilted sideways. He went still.

Avyaan stared at him, heart burning with frustration. Then he slammed the door shut.

He turned back and walked into the club again. His steps were sharp.

At the bar, he tapped the counter.

The bartender looked up. "Yes, sir?"

"I want today's entire CCTV footage," Avyaan said, voice cold.

She blinked. "Sir, that's restricted to authoriz-"

He pulled out his phone, dialed a number, a few seconds later, he handed it to her without a word.

She nodded through the call.

"I'll be back with the footage."

"And a laptop," he added.

She nodded again.

He leaned back against the counter, fingers tapping rhythmically on the wood. A few minutes later, she returned with a pendrive and a laptop, handing both to him.

He plugged it in immediately, checking the footage frame by frame from every available angle. He trusted no one, not the media, not the club. He knew how quickly narratives could be twisted. One misleading edit, and Rudra wouldn't just be misunderstood, he'd be vilified. Labeled a monster instead of a man trying to hold himself together. Rivals would seize the chance to weaponize it against him.

So he made sure to secure the original footage before anyone had the chance to tamper with it.

✦✦✦✦

"Rudra? Che gli è successo?" (What happened to him?) A man with sharp blue eyes so similar to Avyaan's frowned at the sight of Rudra, who was practically slumped against Avyaan, barely able to stand.

"è ubriaco." (He's drunk) Avyaan answered calmly, adjusting his grip on Rudra who mumbled something incoherent against his shoulder.

"Lorenzo, let's go to slee-Rudra? A woman stopped in front of them, tying her hair into a loose bun, her brows furrowing as her eyes landed on Rudra.

"What happened to him, Avyaan?" She asked stepping closer, worry lacing her tone.

"He's drunk, Ella. Can't you see?" Lorenzo replied with a roll of his eyes.

"I can see that, Lorenzo. I'm not blind." She scoffed, shooting him a sideways glare.

"Mom, Dad, get a room to fight. And move aside." Avyaan sighed, exhaustion clear in his voice as he maneuvered past them.

They stepped aside, still muttering under their breath as Avyaan helped Rudra to the room. He sat him on the edge of the bed, pulled off his shoes, then guided him down gently before throwing a blanket over him.

"Saanvi..." he mumbled. A tear slipped down from the corner of his eye, trailing toward the pillow.

Avyaan stared at Rudra, a tight knot formed in his chest. Seeing him like this, broken and vulnerable. He couldn't leave him alone, not after knowing what Rudra was capable of when pushed too far. He'd seen it before, and there was no way in hell he would let him spiral again.

- N e x t   N i g h t -

Penthouse

The hall was a wreck. The glass table stood cracked, liquor bottles lay shattered, one still dripping across the floor. Rudra sat on the cold floor, hands resting on his knees, staring blankly at the spot where she collapsed, where his parents had rushed Saanvi to the hospital just minutes ago. His face held no expression, just silent tears slipping down. Blood dripped steadily from his bruised knuckles, smearing across the floor beneath him, stark red on polished wood.

He didn't even blink when the door flew open.

"Rudra why the hell did you leave without telling-" Avyaan froze at the door. His eyes scanned the room. The blood. The broken glass. The look on Rudra's face, dead.

He let out a slow breath and rubbed his temple, jaw locked.

Avyaan walked in, stepping over the mess, stopping right in front of him.

"You want to die?" he asked coldly. "Then do it in one fucking shot. But stop dragging it like this. What is this?" he gestured around, voice rising.

Rudra didn't answer. Just stared at the couch. Avyaan ran a hand through his hair, exhaled sharply, and left.

A minute later, he returned with a first aid kit. He crouched beside Rudra and grabbed his hand, silently cleaning the cuts.

Avyaan noticed Rudra still wore the same shirt from last night creased and stained, a lipstick mark still visible on the collar. His face was pale, he hadn't eaten. He had been asleep most of the day, and when he finally woke up, he had left without telling anyone and landed here.

Avyaan stood up and headed to the kitchen to make something.

Meanwhile, Rudra leaned his head back against the wall and shut his eyes.

But the silence didn't last. His phone buzzed on the floor he glanced at the screen.

His father. Abhiraj.

He didn't touch it, but his phone buzzed again and again.

Rudra grabbed the phone.

"Rudra. Come to the hospital. Right now. Saanvi needs you. She's having a pan-"

"I don't give a fuck about that woman," he snapped.

"Don't be ridiculous. She needs you."

He let out a dry, humorless chuckle. His heart burned in anger.

"As if I care. You know what? Just tell her I'm having a great time with another woman. Just like she did with Saarth. Tell her, Dad, that I'm happy she's gone. I'm not crying over that woman. In fact, I'm fucking someone else in her absence."

"I promise..."

His entire body froze. He knew that voice. Hoarse, quiet, trembling.

"I'll make sure I die... so you'll carry the pain of being unforgiven forever."

His heart dropped. His fingers clenched the phone harder, his entire body stiffening. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

"Saanvi, give me the phon-" Abhiraj's voice rushed back in, but it was too late.

Rudra threw the phone at the wall. It shattered on impact.

Both of them were broken, wounded, crushed by things that never happened. Rudra, convinced Saanvi had cheated, let his pain consume him and pushed her away with cruelty she did not deserve. And Saanvi, watching him drift toward someone else. Her heart couldn't bear the weight of that assumption.

A tragedy born from a single misunderstanding. And now, she was in a hospital bed. Because his words were the final blow.

______________________________________________________________________________