AUTHOR'S POV

Srishti was coming down the stairs when suddenly--

"Ouch, dekh ke nahi chal sakte. Main gir jati toh?" She said getting annoyed while fixing her kurti.

"Tum gir jati magar main already gira hua hoon." Vihaan said in the same tone.

Srishti looked down at Vihaan and said, "Tum dekhne mein gire hue hi lagte ho."

"Atleast tum se toh ucha hi hoon." Vihaan said getting up and comparing their heights.

"You---" Before Srishti could finish, Ayanika said coming down the stairs, "You guys already met each other?"

"Nahi." They said at the same time.

Ayanika ignored, "Vihaan this is my bachpan ki dost Srishti and Srishti this is Vihaan Advayansh ka bachpan ka dost." She introduced them with a smile.

They looked at each other then gave a dramatic smile and walked away leaving Ayanika amused.

The Sengupta house was full of chaos because only ten days remained for the wedding. The countdown had become real now.

No longer months.

No longer weeks.

Just ten days.

The kind of number that made relatives excited, parents emotional, and wedding planners nervous.

Today both the Senguptas and the Malhotras had gathered together at the Sengupta residence.

The living room buzzed with conversation.

Tea cups moved from hand to hand.

Discussions about guests, decorations, travel arrangements, and ceremonies flowed endlessly.

Everyone seemed busy.

Everyone seemed happy.

Everyone except one person not because she was unhappy but because she was tired.

Tired of being surrounded by wedding discussions every waking moment.

AYANIKA'S POV

I had officially reached my limit.

For the past two hours, I had listened to discussions about flowers.

Then food.

Then decorations.

Then guest lists.

Then sweets.

Then flowers again.

Why flowers needed to be discussed twice, I would never understand.

I was halfway through a cup of tea when my mother suddenly said,

"So we'll all leave for Siliguri next week."

I blinked.

Then blinked again.

"Siliguri?"

The room continued talking as though nothing unusual had been said.

"Siliguri?" I repeated.

This time louder.

The room slowly became quiet.

"What do you mean Siliguri?" I asked, a strange feeling settled inside my chest.

My mother exchanged a glance with Baba. A glance I immediately disliked.

"What do you mean Siliguri?" I asked again.

Baba cleared his throat.

"The wedding will take place there."

Silence. I stared at him.

Waiting for him to laugh.

Waiting for someone to explain.

Waiting for someone to tell me this was a joke.

Nobody did.

"The wedding..." My voice felt strangely distant. "...is happening in Siliguri?"

Maa nodded softly for several seconds I simply looked at them then one question escaped my lips.

AUTHOR'S POV

The cheerful atmosphere disappeared instantly. The room that had been filled with laughter only moments ago suddenly felt heavy.

Uncomfortable.

Because everyone present knew exactly why Ayanika was reacting this way, everyone except the Malhotras.

AYANIKA'S POV

"You didn't tell me."

My voice trembled.

Just slightly.

Maa looked guilty and Baba looked helpless.

"Beta..." Baba said.

"No." I shook my head vigorously. "No."

"Anu" Ma called.

"You didn't tell me."

Maa slowly reached to hold my hand. I immediately pulled it away.

"Kyun?" I asked, my voice slightly broke.

My father sighed.

The kind of sigh parents make when they know a difficult conversation is unavoidable.

"Kyun ki beta we knew how you'd react." Baba said.

I laughed bitterly. "Really?"

"Anu beta, We know why you don't want to go there."Maa's voice was gentle. Careful. "But beta..."

She swallowed. "...you'll have to let that memory go someday."

Something inside me snapped. "No."

"Anu"

"No." I screamed and the whole room froze.

AUTHOR'S POV

Tears had already begun gathering in her eyes but the anger arrived first.

Years of guilt.

Years of pain.

Years of silence.

Suddenly surfacing all at once.

"You don't understand. Aap log kabhi nahi samajh paoge." Ayanika said.

"We do." Her mother said, trying to hold her little girl.

"No." Ayanika's voice broke. "You don't."

Her mother's eyes immediately filled with tears but Ayanika couldn't stop.

Not anymore.

"Aap log kabhi nahi samjh paoge. KABHI NAHI!" She said.

"Ayanika..." Her mother said.

"KABHI NAHI!" Ayanika screamed.

The words echoed through the room.

"Because I was there....I was there."

Nobody spoke.

Nobody moved.

Her breathing became uneven.

"I saw everything."

The tears finally fell.

"I saw it with my own eyes." Her voice shattered. "I watched him..."

The rest refused to come out. The words got stuck somewhere inside her chest.

Somewhere between guilt and grief.

She covered my face and broke.

AUTHOR'S POV

The room remained silent.

Painfully silent.

Even the Malhotras understood now that this wasn't merely about a location.

This was about a wound.

An old one.

One that had never truly healed. After several moments, Ayanika somehow managed to regain control of herself.

Barely.

She wiped her tears and looked around the room.

Then whispered, "Sorry."

Nobody answered because nobody knew what to say and then she left.

The staircase echoed beneath her hurried footsteps. A few moments later the terrace door closed.

Leaving silence behind.

Srishti immediately stood up. "I'll go, check on her."

But before she could move, a calm voice interrupted.

"I'll go."

Everyone looked toward Advayansh.

Even he looked mildly surprised by his own words.

ADVAYANSH'S POV

I wasn't entirely sure why I had spoken.

Perhaps because everyone else looked unsure. Perhaps because I understood what it felt like to carry old ghosts.

I was already standing, so there was no point changing my mind now.

Without another word, I headed upstairs.

AUTHOR'S POV

The terrace was quiet.

A cool evening breeze drifted through the air. The city lights shimmered in the distance and standing near the railing...

Was Ayanika.

She didn't turn around when she heard footsteps approaching. Instead she quietly said, "Please, Srishti."

Her voice sounded tired.

Broken.

"Not right now."

"I just need a little time alone."

Advayansh didn't answer he simply walked forward and stopped beside her.

A few seconds later she looked up then looked away again.

Toward the city.

For a while neither of them spoke. The silence wasn't uncomfortable.

Just quiet.

Eventually she broke it.

"Retirement ke baad..." Her voice was soft. "...Dadu and thammi moved to Siliguri."

Advayansh remained silent.

Listening.

"That house was thammi's favourite place." A small smile appeared on her face.

Then disappeared.

"Phir kuch saal baad she passed away." Ayanika swallowed. "...we tried convincing Dadu to come live with us."

She looked down. "But he refused."

"Why?" Advayansh finally asked.

A faint smile touched her lips.

"He said every corner of that house reminded him of her."

"He said memories hurt but forgetting hurts more"

The answer lingered in the air.

AYANIKA'S POV

"We visited constantly." I stared at the city lights not really seeing them.

"Vacations."

"Weekends."

"Holidays."

Another tear slipped down.

"I was fourteen." My fingers tightened around the railing. "It was the time of monsoon."

And suddenly, I wasn't standing on a terrace anymore.

I was back there.

Back in Siliguri.

Back in the rain.

Back on the worst day of my life.

"We were playing cards and he was cheating."

"I wanted to go outside, bahar barish ho rahi thi."

My voice shook.

"Dadu kept saying no." I laughed weakly.

"But I was stubborn."

A painful silence followed. Then I whispered, "So I went."

AUTHOR'S POV

The memory unfolded slowly like an old scar being reopened.

Each word hurt.

Each sentence heavier than the last and Advayansh listened.

Without interruption.

Without judgment.

"There was a pond near the house." Her voice cracked. "Dadu came after me."

She closed her eyes. Then saw it again.

The rain.

The mud.

The panic.

"His foot slipped." A tear rolled down her cheek. "He fell--"

Her breathing became uneven. "Main-- maine koshish ki thi. I really tried."

Another tear.

"But I couldn't---"

Ayanika covered her mouth trying to stop herself from crying.

"I called Maa and Baba." Her shoulders trembled.

"They didn't answer."

"Main daurte hue humare pas wale ghar mein gayi, maine un uncle ko sab bataya."

"Lekin jab tak main wapas ayi, he was---"

The sentence never finished, it didn't need to.

The guilt in her voice was unbearable.

The kind of guilt only children carried because children often blamed themselves for tragedies they never caused.

"It was my fault." Ayanika said, the words escaped like a confession.

"If I had listened..."

"If I hadn't insisted. Dadu abhi humare sath rehte." Ayanika finally cried. Tears rolling down her face, eyes red.

Advayansh didn't think.

Didn't analyze.

Didn't overcomplicate.

He simply stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her.

For a second she froze then everything shattered. She grabbed his shirt and cried.

Properly cried.

The kind of crying that came from years of carrying something alone.

"Meri wa-jah--se..." Her voice disappeared beneath tears. "It's my fault, Advay..."

Advayansh gently rested a hand on her head. "Ssh. Ssh."

"It wasn't." He said.

"It was."

"No." He said, trying to calm her down.

"It was."

"You were fourteen." He said and her shoulders trembled.

"You tried helping him."

Silence.

"You called for help."

"You did everything a child could do."

She shook her head. He said.

"But---" before Ayanika could complete Advayansh cut her off. "Ssh." He gently brushed her hair back.

"It was an accident."

She looked unconvinced.

"It wasn't your fault."

The words didn't erase the guilt.

Nothing could but they loosened its grip.

Just a little.

And sometimes that was enough.

Several minutes later the tears finally slowed. Ayanika stepped back.

Embarrassed.

Then glanced toward his shirt.

Which was completely ruined.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

Advayansh looked down then back at her and ignored the comment entirely.

ADVAYANSH'S POV

"Your Dadu loved you?" I asked.

She nodded immediately.

Like a child.

"Hm."

I gently wiped away a remaining tear.

"Then if he saw you crying like this ten days before your wedding..."

She looked down and I continued

"Would he be happy?"

A small shake of her head. "No."

"Aur agar tumhari us ghar mein ho---"

Ayanika cut me mid sentence then sniffled and said, "When I was little..."

A faint smile appeared on her face, "...he always said he'd marry me off from that house."

I nodded and asked, "Then if he knew you were refusing to go there would he be happy?"

Again.

A small shake of her head. "No."

I looked toward the city lights. Then quietly said, "Your Dadu loved you."

She remained silent.

"And if your wedding happens there..."

A faint smile appeared on my lips.

"I think he'd be the happiest person there."

Tears filled her eyes again but these were different.

Softer.

Warmer.

"And..." I added quietly. "I'm pretty sure he'd be proud of you."

AUTHOR'S POV

Neither of them noticed the four figures standing near the terrace entrance.

Watching silently.

Srishti.

Vihaan.

Mrs. Sengupta.

Mrs. Malhotra.

None of them said a word, none of them interrupted. After a few moments...

They quietly turned around and left leaving the two of them alone.

A few minutes later...

Advayansh and Ayanika finally returned downstairs.

The room immediately became silent.

Everyone looked toward Ayanika.

Waiting.

She glanced at her parents. Then quietly said, "We'll go to Siliguri."

A relieved breath escaped the room.

And somewhere...

Though neither of them realized it yet...

A tiny crack had formed in the wall Advayansh had spent years building around himself.

The Malhotras left shortly after dinner.

The cheerful conversations faded.

The sound of departing cars disappeared into the night and slowly, the Sengupta house returned to silence.

At least on the surface bcause inside Ayanika's mind,

Nothing was.

AYANIKA'S POV

I sat near my bedroom window.

The city lights blinked in the distance.

The house was unusually calm now.

Maa and Baba had finally stopped discussing wedding arrangements. Even Srishti had stopped teasing me for once.

My thoughts kept circling back to the same thing.

Again.

And again.

And again.

The terrace, Advayansh.

His words. His voice. His arms around me.

I closed my eyes.

Immediately the memory returned not the painful one.

Not Dadu. Not the rain. Not the pond.

Him.

The way he had simply stood beside me without asking questions, without forcing me to speak. Without telling me to calm down. Without saying things like "everything happens for a reason."

He had simply listened.

A strange warmth spread through my chest and that realization immediately annoyed me.

"Wonderful." I groaned quietly. "Now I'm thinking about him."

The ceiling fan continued spinning.

Completely unhelpful. I buried my face into the pillow.

Only to remember something else.

"Your Dadu loved you."

"I think he'd be the happiest person there."

My throat tightened slightly because somehow...

Somehow...

Those words had made the guilt feel lighter not gone. Just lighter.

I sighed.

Then rolled onto my back. Staring at the ceiling for two months he had barely spoken to me.

He had built walls.

Created distance.

Signed a contract that practically screamed: Do not come closer.

And yet...

Tonight...

For a few minutes those walls had disappeared.

"Kya soch rahi hai Ayanika, usne bas as a human woh sab kiya kyun ki tu waha pe bhondu ki tarha ro rahi thi." I mutter. "Ab zyada mat soch aur so ja."

AUTHOR'S POV

Meanwhile...

On the other side of the city another person was finding it difficult to sleep.

Though he would never admit why.

ADVAYANSH'S POV

I loosened my tie.

Placed it on the chair.

Then sat at the edge of the bed the room was quiet.

Comfortably quiet.

The kind of silence I usually preferred.

Yet tonight...

My thoughts refused to settle. The terrace conversation replayed itself.

Uninvited.

Persistent.

Ayanika crying. Her guilt. Her story. The pain in her voice.

I frowned slightly.

Why exactly had I gone upstairs?

I wasn't sure.

Srishti could've gone, her parents could've gone anyone could've gone.

Still somehow I was there holding her in my arms.

I leaned back against the headboard.

Thinking.

Then immediately stopped myself. Thinking too much was rarely useful.

The explanation was simple.

Humanity.

That was all.

A person was hurting and I helped. That's it end of story.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

And besides I understood not her exact pain but the feeling. The feeling of watching someone disappear.

The feeling of helplessness.

The feeling of wishing you could go back and change something.

Anything.

Kabir's face flashed briefly across my mind. I looked away from the memory.

Immediately.

Humanity.

That was all.

Satisfied with that explanation. I turned off the lights.

Unfortunately...

The explanation felt far less convincing than usual.

AUTHOR'S POV

The next morning arrived far too quickly and with it...

Absolute chaos.

Because today both families were leaving for Siliguri.

The wedding was only ten days away and the preparations were entering their final stage.

The result?

Madness.

Pure madness.

AYANIKA'S POV

"Where's the suitcase?" Ma screamed from downstairs.

"I packed it!" Baba screamed too.

"Then where is it?" Maa asked. Still screaming.

"I don't know!" Baba said in a ultra defensive tone.

"HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW?" Maa literally screamed like a mad women.

I walked downstairs. Only to find my family running around like a group of highly stressed penguins.

Boxes.

Bags.

Gift packages.

Shopping bags.

Garment covers.

Flowers.

Decorations.

Everything was everywhere I immediately turned around.

Nope. Too late.

"Ayanika!" Maa had spotted me.

Disaster.

"Take these." She ordered.

"What are these?" I asked.

"Wedding jewellery." She said with a no nonsense tone.

"Why am I carrying them?" I asked.

"Because I'm carrying six other things."

Reasonable.

Unfortunately.

AUTHOR'S POV

Outside...

The Malhotras had arrived and surprisingly their side looked no better.

Mr. Malhotra was arguing with a driver.

Mrs. Malhotra was checking luggage.

Vihaan was pretending to help while doing absolutely nothing useful and Srishti had somehow become everyone's supervisor.

SRISHTI'S POV

"No."

"What?" Vihaan asked.

"That bag goes there." I pointed to the corner.

"Why?" He asked again. God this guy.

"Because I said so.".Vihaan stared.

"You became bossy very quickly." He muttered.

"I was always bossy."

"Fair point." He said with a dramatic face.

AUTHOR'S POV

Eventually after countless delays and several arguments and one missing suitcase that was discovered exactly where it had been left originally...

The convoy was finally ready.

The travel arrangements had already been decided. The parents and older relatives would travel separately.

While...

Advayansh, Vihaan, Srishti and Ayanika would travel together. A decision everyone seemed strangely happy about.

Especially the parents.

AYANIKA'S POV

I should've known something was suspicious. The moment I sat in the car...

Srishti grinned.

Dangerous.

Very dangerous.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." She shrugged.

"That's a lie."

"It is." She said.

Vihaan immediately joined. "Oh absolutely."

I groaned. The journey hadn't even started.

ADVAYANSH'S POV

Seatbelt checked, mirrors checked navigation, fuel. Everything checked.

Good.

I started the car and immediately heard laughter behind me.

Troubling.

Very troubling.

I glanced toward my side and the rear-view mirror.

Srishti. Vihaan. Ayanika.

All talking.

Good.

Then my gaze lingered for half a second longer than necessary.

Ayanika looked tired.

Probably because of yesterday.

I looked back at the road but a few minutes later...

I checked the mirror again.

She seemed fine.

Good.

Then again.

Twenty minutes later.

Still fine.

Good.

AUTHOR'S POV

The problem was Advayansh didn't realize he was doing it.

Not once.

Not twice.

But repeatedly.

A glance through the mirror. A brief look then back to the road.

Again.

And again.

And again.

VIHAAN'S POV

Interesting.

I watched quietly from the passenger seat.

Then slowly smiled because my emotionally unavailable best friend had checked on Ayanika at least six times in the last hour.

Completely unconsciously.

This was valuable information and therefore information that absolutely needed to be used against him later.

AYANIKA'S POV

The road stretched endlessly ahead. Green fields passed by, small towns appeared and disappeared.

The sky looked impossibly blue for the first time in weeks...

Everything felt peaceful.

Then suddenly...

My eyes drifted toward the front mirror and froze because Advayansh was looking at me.

Not for long.

Just briefly.

But definitely looking the moment our eyes met he immediately looked away back to the road as though nothing had happened.

I blinked.

Then looked out the window pretending I hadn't noticed.

For some reason...

The corners of my lips lifted slightly.

AUTHOR'S POV

The journey continued filled with laughter.

Teasing.

Roadside snacks.

Arguments over music and countless wedding discussions.

Ahead of them waited Siliguri.

A house filled with memories.

Some painful.

Some beautiful.

And perhaps without realizing it. The four of them were driving toward much more than a wedding.

Because sometimes...

The roads that lead us back to old memories also lead us toward new beginnings.