CHAPTER XLIX
"I know you both know everything…" I said softly, my voice trembling as I looked at Sasha and Mia. "You already know what I want—that I want Sita to love me. I want her to see me with the same tenderness, the same longing in her eyes, that she once reserved only for Rama…" My voice cracked at her name, and for a moment, the weight of everything I'd done came crashing down on me.
"After Rama's accident," I continued, tears stinging my eyes, "I followed her last request. She had begged me to find Sita, and I promised her I would. But every time I searched, every time I ran through streets and sifted through rumors, all I found was disappointment. Hope became my enemy—it taunted me, always leading me to empty roads."
I took a deep breath, steadying myself before I confessed the next part. "One day, I realized that I couldn't find Sita if I didn't know her face. I needed more than just a name. That's when I made a decision that still haunts me… I returned to India. I went to Rama's home. I stole her laptop. Her phone. Everything that might hold a piece of Sita." My voice dropped to a whisper, shame thick in every word. "I left with nothing but guilt and those stolen things, and with my sister's help, I escaped back to London."
I looked away, unable to meet their eyes. "I thought… maybe in a place like London, among so many faces and stories, I'd finally find someone who would understand me, someone who could see me. And then I met Mia…"
Mia shifted uncomfortably, her eyes flickering with guilt and memory.
"There was something about her," I admitted with a sad smile. "Something magnetic. I was drawn to her. But when I realized her heart belonged to you, Sasha…" I paused, glancing at Sasha, whose face softened with compassion. "I forced myself to let her go. I buried every feeling I had for Mia because I couldn't bear to destroy what you two had."
My hands curled into fists in my lap as I relived that fateful night. "One evening, I was lying in my room, suffocated by my own frustration, and I picked up Rama's phone. The moment I turned it on… messages poured in. So many voices, so many people. But then I saw her name—Sita. I saw her message. She had written, 'Are you angry with me? Or do you just not want to talk to me? If that's the case, it's okay… I won't bother you.'"
A sob tore at my throat as I recalled the words. "That one message… it breathed life into me. For the first time in months, I felt hope. But just as I was about to respond, another message came through. It was from Rama's father. He wrote that he wouldn't let Rama live…"
My breath caught, and a tear rolled down my cheek. "I froze. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the phone. I wrote Sita's number in my notebook, and then… I smashed Rama's phone. I couldn't risk anyone tracing it, couldn't risk Sita getting caught in this mess. And then… I sent her a message. From my own phone. A message hidden as a poem. My first words to her."
My voice faltered, but I forced myself to keep speaking, each word heavy with pain. "I didn't know if she'd respond. I didn't know if she'd ever trust me. But at that moment, writing that poem… it felt like I was reaching out from the edge of a cliff, clinging to a single thread of hope. Because I knew… if I didn't find a way to protect myself, if I didn't make her see me… I'd lose her. And I'd lose Rama too."
I closed my eyes, feeling the sharp sting of tears slip down my cheeks. The room was heavy with silence—Sasha and Mia's gazes weighed on me, but neither of them spoke. For the first time in a long time, I had laid bare the truth. And it hurt.
I stared at my phone, my fingers trembling above the keyboard. I didn't know this girl. I didn't know the warmth in her laugh, or the kindness in her gaze, or how her voice might sound when she said my name. All I knew was that she was her—the girl Rama loved, the one Rama trusted enough to leave her heart with.
I didn't expect a reply. I didn't even expect to be understood. But something inside me—something aching and desperate—needed to write, needed to pour my emotions into words and send them into the darkness, hoping that maybe… just maybe… someone would see me.
And so, I began typing a poem.
The Poem
"I don't know your face,
yet your name feels like a whisper I've heard in dreams.
You're a shadow I've never seen, yet I find myself reaching for you,
like a drowning soul grasping for the moon.
There are storms inside me that no one sees,
wounds I've buried under a smile no one questions.
But tonight, my heart needed to speak,
and your name was the only one it trusted.
I'm a stranger who writes to you in the dark,
not asking for love, not even for kindness—
just a moment, a breath, a heartbeat of understanding.
If this message reaches you,
pretend you're standing at the edge of an ocean with me.
Don't ask me why the waves are wild or why my voice trembles—
just hold my words like seashells,
press them to your ear, and listen to the storms I can't silence.
Because tonight, I needed to believe that someone out there—
even someone I don't know—
might care enough to read my pain and not look away."
I read the words again, hesitating for a moment before pressing send. It felt reckless, terrifying, to expose myself like this to a stranger. But there was also a strange relief—like breathing out after holding my breath for too long.
I didn't know that the person reading this poem would one day become the center of my entire world. That this stranger would become my greatest love.
Right now, I was just a lonely soul bleeding my heart into a message, unaware that fate had already started weaving our story together.
Mia's voice was calm, but her words felt like daggers.
"Vedu… have you thought about what you'll do when Rama wakes up? Will you give your wife back to her?"
Her question hit me like a punch to the chest. My breath caught, my heart pounding so loud I thought they might hear it. I straightened, anger flashing in my eyes as I snapped, my voice trembling but sharp,
"No. I will not let my wife go. I won't let her walk away from me."
The words came out fiercer than I intended, but I meant every syllable. The thought of losing Sita—of seeing her walk back into Rama's arms—burned through me like acid. I clenched my fists at my sides, trying to steady the storm inside me, but Sasha's calm, calculating voice cut through the tension.
"There's only one way to know where her heart truly lies," Sasha said evenly. "We need to test her… to see if Sita truly loves you or if she only sees you as a friend."
Mia turned to her sharply, eyebrows furrowed. "A test? And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"
Sasha didn't answer right away. Instead, she leaned back against the wall, folding her arms across her chest as a sly smile crept across her lips. Her eyes gleamed with a mixture of mischief and certainty, like she'd already thought three steps ahead of us.
I felt a shiver run down my spine at that look. Sasha wasn't someone who made careless moves; if she was smiling like that, she had a plan. A dangerous one, most likely.
Mia tilted her head, watching Sasha carefully, suspicion flickering in her gaze. "Sasha?" she pressed. "What are you thinking?"
Sasha's smile widened ever so slightly as her gaze shifted to me. "I'm thinking," she said slowly, her voice dripping with quiet confidence, "that it's time we find out if Sita's heart beats for Vedu… or if Vedu is nothing more than a placeholder for the woman she truly loves."
Her words hung in the air like smoke, curling around me, suffocating me. My stomach twisted painfully, torn between fear and hope.
I swallowed hard, my voice shaking as I asked, "And… and how do you plan on doing that?"
Sasha didn't answer me directly. Instead, she let out a low chuckle, glancing at Mia with a knowing look, her eyes glinting with something dangerous.
"You'll see," she said softly. "But one way or another, this test will reveal everything. No more pretending. No more hiding. We'll know if Sita truly loves you, Vedu… or if you're just living in a dream that's bound to shatter."
Her words left me frozen, my heart pounding in my chest as I exchanged a worried glance with Mia. Something in Sasha's smile told me that whatever she was planning wasn't going to be simple—or painless.
And yet, deep down, I knew she was right.
I needed to know the truth.
Even if it destroyed me.
To be continue....