Dhruv's pov!

The next morning seemed like a nightmare I couldn't wake from.

I stood at the hospital door, watching Shraddha get ready to depart with her family, her steps cautious and deliberate as Siddhu helped her. My heart contracted agonizingly at every inch she moved away from me. She was slipping away, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Abhay moved across to reach out his hand. I forced myself to look at him and accept his handshake with a weak smile.

"Mr. Khuranna," he said, with gratitude in his voice, "thank you for bringing her here just in time. If not for you...I am not sure what would have happened."

"It's the least I could do." The words burned in my throat as I pushed myself to speak. But within, I was screaming. I wanted to tell him the truth—that I was her husband, not some random stranger who wandered in. The man who had promised to keep her safe and be there for her. I wanted to shout that I love her and had given her everything I had, even if it meant stripping myself bare. But I bit my tongue, allowing the words to die, tasting the bitterness they left behind.

He nodded politely and went back to his family, to her, leaving me there like a second thought. Just Vedant stayed beside me, his hand resting on my shoulder in quiet support, a steadying presence as my world collapsed around me.

Then, as they started to depart, she looked back. Her gaze fixed on mine, and I felt every wound I had tried to conceal rip open at once.

Her gaze was a storm, filled with pain and betrayal, cutting into me deeper than any words could have. I wanted to plead with her, to make her understand that everything she had heard was only a fragment of the truth. I wanted her to know that the man I had been didn't matter because now, every piece of me belonged to her. I willed her to see it in my eyes, to give me a single moment to explain, to hold on to the love we'd built.

But her look got colder, and after what seemed like an eternity, she turned away, shoulders set and steps strong. She left my life swiftly carrying everything meaningful about me. The doors closed behind her, leaving behind a terrible silence only I could hear.

I could hardly breathe. Every step she moved away from me was like another knife cutting my chest, a cruel reminder of how I had let go of the one person who mattered more to me than life itself.

Vedant's hand on my shoulder kept me standing, but his touch did nothing to ease the ache hollowing out my heart. I was numb, lost, drowning in the knowledge that she was gone, and I was the reason why.

I wanted to run after her, to fight for her, to show her that whatever she thought of me was wrong. But all I could do was watch, helpless, as the love I had built with every fiber of my being shattered and disappeared from my life, leaving me alone in the ruins.

Shraddha's pov!

Each step I took away from him felt like tearing a piece of myself apart, leaving fragments scattered in that hospital corridor.

My heart clenched awfully, as if it were resisting every movement, every inch that separated me from Dhruv.

God, I love him. And the truth alone made it difficult to breathe. I could still feel his stare on me, heavy and pleading, but I didn't dare to look back. I couldn't bear it. Because I knew that one look could break whatever resolve I had left, and I might run back to him, might beg him to tell me that this was all some horrible nightmare.

But I couldn't. Not after everything I'd learned. Dhruv had married me not because he loved me, but to shield his sister's marriage, to protect his sister's feelings. A marriage born out of necessity, a deal sealed for everyone else but us. And I had been blind enough to believe in it, to believe in him, trusting every tender moment, every whispered promise. I had been so naive to believe we were creating something real.

Still, I couldn't stop myself from yearning to go back in time to when everything felt perfect. I desperately wanted to go back to that one time when he was just Dhruv—the man who filled my world and made me believe in love.

I would give anything to have missed that cursed day when I went to his office and overheard him and Vedant. If I hadn't been there, I could've kept believing in our love, even if it was a lie. I would've lived in ignorance, and maybe, just maybe, that ignorance would have been my solace.

But the truth is a relentless tormentor. And now, knowing that I had been part of some twisted plan, that I had been used in his scheme to protect Diya's marriage—oh, how it shattered me.

My heart felt like it was bleeding out with every bitter step, an endless ache that clawed at my soul. I hated him at that moment. I hated him, Diya, and Siddhant ji. I hated them all. The pain they had all inflicted on me was so raw, so unending, that I couldn't help but resent every single one of them for tearing my world apart.

But I loved him, too. I loved him just as fiercely as I hated him. I don't even know if that's possible—to love someone with such intensity while feeling the sting of betrayal so sharply. How can my heart still hold so much love for the very man who broke it?

But hate or love was useless now. The faith was gone. Every step away from him also reminded me of how fragile that love had been, how easily it had broken under the weight of secrets and lies. And so I persisted, even when my heart urged me to stop and hang to the memories of who I thought he was. But I understood that person was also gone—just as much an illusion as the love we used to have.

A/n

Nothing much in this chapter.. Just wanted to show what Dhruv and Shraddha are feeling at this moment...

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SF❤️