I stood before the digital map while the mountains watched in silence, their beauty nothing more than a disguise. Lines of red pulsed across transit routes, tunnels, and security corridors, each one screaming the same truth—this was never just about bombs. "This isn't a terrorist attack," I said, my voice steady even as instinct screamed danger. "This is international sabotage. They want the world to bleed while watching India." Around the room, officers nodded, scribbled, prepared. Across from me, Vinnie watched without speaking. I felt her gaze even without turning. Something in it had changed—no hesitation, no fear. Just certainty. In the days that followed, she moved closer without asking permission for it. Packed lunches appeared beside my files. She lingered after briefings, teased me in corridors like time hadn't broken us once already. She wasn't fighting enemies anymore. She was fighting for me.
Love returned quietly. No declarations. No apologies repeated. Just presence. During night patrols, we walked beneath star-heavy skies, shoulders brushing, memories breathing between steps. One morning, church bells echoed through the valley, soft and distant. She pulled me inside with a smile that trembled but didn't doubt. No crowd. No witnesses. Just us and the weight of everything we survived. Silver wires became rings. Promises were whispered, not sworn. When we kissed, it felt less like madness and more like coming home. We had fallen in love twice. We had chosen each other twice. And this time, we knew exactly what we were risking.
The summit day arrived dressed in precision and pressure. We moved fast. Every device traced. Every tunnel cleared. Every suspect detained. Victory felt close—too close. My instincts refused to settle. I ran the data again. And then I saw it. One missing variable. One name unaccounted for. This plan wasn't built on metal. It was built on a body. I ran through corridors as alarms stayed silent, scanning faces until my blood turned cold. Sholi. I cornered her near the chamber, weapon raised. "Where is it?" I demanded. She ran—but stopped when Aakrit stepped between us, furious, confused. "She's innocent!" he shouted. I didn't lower my gun. "She used you," I said. "Your feelings bought her time." She laughed then—soft, cruel. "Too late," she said calmly. "I changed the target." My heart locked. "Who?" I asked. Her smile sharpened. "The one who believed love was real."
Panic exploded everywhere at once.
Vinnie figured it out before anyone else. She noticed his pupils, his pulse, the way his body betrayed him. She remembered the tablet Sholi had given him—wellness, she'd said. No scanner could detect what was already inside him. There was no time. No evacuation. Twenty nations stood inside that hall. One wrong order would humiliate a country and massacre its guests. So she ran. She grabbed Aakrit, whispered apologies he didn't understand, and pulled him toward the lake. "Trust me," she said softly. "Just once." He did.
I chased them.
The explosion shattered the sky outside the hall. Fire tore through water. The blast threw me to the ground. My ears rang. My vision collapsed. And when I screamed her name, it came from a place I didn't know still existed. "VINNIE!" I tore free from hands trying to restrain me and ran until my knees gave out at the lake's edge. Smoke rose like a funeral prayer. I dropped into the grass, fists striking earth that refused to answer me. "She was my world," I whispered, my body shaking apart. "I promised I'd protect you… and I failed."
Then I heard coughing.
I looked up.
She walked out of the smoke—soaked, bruised, breathing. Alive.
For one second, I thought grief had finally broken me. Then she ran. Straight into my arms. I held her like breath itself, like something I would never let go of again. "You came back," I whispered. She cupped my face, tears shining but fearless. "You once told me," she said softly, "even death can't separate us. So death tried… and failed."
Sirens wailed. The wind howled. The world resumed its noise. But none of it mattered.
We had survived fire, betrayal, distance, and ourselves. Our love wasn't perfect. It wasn't clean. But it was real. And sometimes, real is enough to defy even death.