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                        VIVAAN's - POV

I paced the corridor, fists shoved deep into my pockets, trying to appear calm when in reality my veins thrummed with unrest. Ira had gone inside Grandpa's room, and though I stood here like a statue, my ears betrayed me-straining for even a fragment of conversation through that closed door.

God, I hated myself for it. For caring. For letting her presence stir emotions I had long buried. I was supposed to be numb by now. Detached. Untouched. That's who I had trained myself to become after Anaya left. And yet... Ira. One glance at her and suddenly, the carefully built walls inside me felt like paper ready to tear.

The seconds stretched, each tick of the clock pressing against my skull until minutes felt like hours. Finally, the door creaked open. My head turned involuntarily, and there she was-standing on the threshold like she'd just been struck by lightning.

Her eyes-those ocean-blue eyes I could never forget-were clouded, her face pale, lips parted as if words had deserted her. My chest tightened painfully. That wasn't just exhaustion. That was a shock.

And in that instant, dread curled in my stomach.

I didn't need anyone to tell me. I already knew. Grandpa had asked her the same thing he had asked me. Marriage.

The word itself was enough to drag a bitter laugh up my throat. Marriage. With Ira. The girl who once looked at me like I was the center of her universe. The girl I had deliberately ignored, because acknowledging her would have meant facing emotions I wasn't ready for.

I shut my eyes, pressing two fingers against my temple. No. I couldn't go down that road again. I respected her too much to mislead her, to let her believe she could fix me when I was beyond repair. She cared deeply-any fool could see that-but love? Love wasn't something I had left to give. Not anymore. My love had already been buried the day Anaya chose someone else.

Still, the thought of Ira agreeing... it clawed at me in ways I couldn't admit.

Not because I wanted her. That was the lie I kept chanting to myself. But because she deserved more. She deserved a man who could love her with every fiber of his being. A man who could match the fire in her soul. And I wasn't that man. I was just a shadow-half alive, half dead, carrying wounds that never healed.

My fists tightened inside my pockets, nails biting into my palms. I reminded myself of the vow I'd made the day my heart shattered: Don't expect. Don't hope. Don't love again.

And yet, when my gaze caught her down the hall, wiping away a tear as discreetly as possible, something inside me cracked. Just a hairline fracture. But enough to let in light I didn't want.

And I hated it.

Because if she said yes to Grandpa, if she agreed to this madness, then one day soon Ira would be mine.

And the truth? That terrified me more than anything.

Not because I didn't want her.

But because I did.

                              IRA's - POV

The moment I stepped out of Grandpa's room, my legs felt like they were carrying the weight of the entire world. My heart was racing, not because of the hospital's suffocating silence or the lingering smell of antiseptic that I already hated-but because of the words that still echoed in my ears.

"I want you to marry Vivaan."

That one sentence. Just six words. But they managed to shake the very foundation of everything I thought I knew about my life.

I leaned against the cold wall, taking a deep breath, but it didn't help. My chest still felt tight, my mind a whirlwind of questions. If I said yes to Grandpa's wish, would it even matter? Would it change anything? Could I really make a place for myself in Vivaan's heart when every corner of it was still occupied by Anaya?

That thought stung-Anaya. The ghost of a love he still carried. How could I fight a memory? How could I compete with a past he wasn't ready to let go of?

I closed my eyes and imagined it. Me, standing beside Vivaan as his wife. Sharing a home. Living like a couple. But the reality crashed into me-he would still be in love with someone else. He might never look at me the way he looked at her. He might never smile at me the way he once did for her.

And that was the question that kept stabbing my heart: Are we really meant to be?

Was it foolish of me to even hope? To dream that one day, maybe, I could be the one to heal his broken heart? Could my love be strong enough to stitch back the pieces of a man who had given up on happiness?

Because that's what I wanted more than anything. To bring him back. To see him smile again-not the empty, polite smile he wears now, the one that never reaches his eyes. But the real smile. The one I remembered from our childhood. The smile that lit up entire rooms and made my heart flutter so hard I thought it might burst.

Could I ever be the reason behind that smile again?

Or... would I lose myself completely in the process of trying to fix him?

That thought terrified me. Because the truth was-yes, I wanted to marry him. Not out of duty to Grandpa. Not out of pity. But because a part of me still longed for the Vivaan I once knew. The boy who was charming, mischievous, warm-the one who made life seem lighter just by being in it.

I wanted him back. Desperately. And if it meant giving my everything-my love, my patience, my soul-I was ready.

But deep down, a sliver of fear whispered: What if I fail?

What if no matter how hard I try, I can't reach him? What if I spend my life pouring love into someone who refuses to let me in?

I took another shaky breath, forcing myself to straighten. My heart knew the truth, even if my mind battled with doubts.

Because despite everything-despite his brokenness, his silence, his love for someone else-I still wanted him.

Not the ghost he had become. But the Vivaan I believed still lived somewhere deep inside.

And if I had to spend the rest of my life searching for that version of him... then maybe, just maybe, it would still be worth it.

                       AUTHOR's - POV

The hospital smelled of antiseptic, yet the air between them was anything but clean-it was heavy, tangled with unspoken fears and unhealed wounds.

Vivaan leaned against the wall, fighting the urge to look at her, while Ira walked past him with a storm in her chest. Neither spoke, but their silence screamed louder than words ever could.

He thought of Anaya, of promises broken and a heart left in ruins. He told himself Ira deserved better than a shattered man like him. Yet when her trembling hand brushed away a tear, he felt a crack where he had sworn there would never be one again.

Ira's mind spun with questions she couldn't silence. Could she really reach him? Could she be the one to heal him, or would she destroy herself trying? Every beat of her heart screamed for him-but his heart, she feared, still belonged to someone else.

Grandpa's wish had bound them to a path neither expected. And as they stood at the edge of this decision, one question lingered between them-

Was this marriage a beginning... or the start of another heartbreak?

-to be continued!

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