The moment her phone started ringing, Anahita's palms sweated in nervousness. They were still seated in that lounge, waiting for the call to arrive.

For the past one hour, she had prepared herself countless times as to how she would speak, what she would speak but all of it was a fail for she knew that it would be a waste because she would be speechless when she would hear him again.

Karan was as usual supportive throughout her almost panicked state. Like any caring husband, he had easily managed to make her eat her vitamins and dinner on time so that she would have some energy and strength while she spoke to him.

"Here, take it," he passed her phone to her. Anahita gulped as she took the phone. Her eyes glanced at the screen. It was an unknown number with an Indian code. Of course, it was him. She could sense it.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself down before she pressed over the accepted option. This was it. She pressed the button and slowly kept the phone near her ear.

There was silence.

She could hear the soft breaths from the other side, a nostalgia settled within her. It was really him.

She felt the seat beside her shift and she noticed Karan getting up. She looked up at him in question. He said nothing. Instead, he leaned over and dropped a kiss on her hair and smiled at her in encouragement.

With that, he made his way out of the lounge, closing the door behind him.

Anahita was almost in a panic when she saw him leaving. When she was about to get up, a familiar voice stopped her.

"You picked up," And that was all needed to make her forget what she was about to do. She sat back, analyzing the relief in his voice. There was no change in his tone. It was gentle, like always, but there was a roughness in his voice. Living in jail was difficult.

Sensing that he was waiting for her response, she breathed, carefully thinking over her next words.

"I always do," she was surprised how her voice didn't break at the end. But she was even more surprised at how she sounded.

Just like eight years ago.

"H-How are you?"

"I am good. Y-You?"

"Happy," he admitted.

Anahita was confused by his answer. "W-Why?"

"I am getting to talk to you for one last time," he answered. His voice was heavy, she could feel it. For her voice was feeling heavy too.

Too many years.

Too many pent up emotions.

And, the heartbreak over their first love.

"W-When is it—" she couldn't say further.

"I will be hanged in two hours," he answered. "I have gotten an hour to talk to you."

"This is so wrong," she whispered, a tear slipping out of her eye.

"What is wrong, Ana?" Ana. The nickname that only he used to call her. The nickname that was once used to make her smile. The name that signified that she once belonged to him.

"I don't know, Ansh! I simply don't know!" she angrily wiped off the tears that ran down her cheeks. She wasn't supposed to feel like that. She wasn't supposed to cry over him.

So much time had passed yet that feeling never stopped.

"Oh, Ana!" His voice was heavy as a rock, a lone tear slipping from his eye.

A love for over a decade, a sin for a lifetime. Their love was a sin. A love that ruined them.

Or rather he ruined them both.

At that point in life, they weren't Special Agent Anahita Singhal and serial killer convict Aayansh Rathi.

They were just Ana and Ansh.

Crazy in love.

A love to talk about for a lifetime.

Life was cruel. Life was unfair.

They weren't supposed to end like that. But they did. It was their destiny.

"Do you forgive me?" He asked her, finally, after a long silence.

Anahita heard his question and she went into deep thoughts. Had she forgiven him?

"As your lover, I forgive you now for breaking my heart," she closed her eyes and sighed over her words. She had forgiven him, long ago for the heartbreak and pain he had caused her, for that experience had now resulted in her being in a better place in her life.

"But," she gulped, "As a colleague who worked with you in the CBI, I don't forgive you. You betrayed the law, you betrayed the CBI you worked with, whom you once considered your family. You destroyed families by killing their loved ones. I can never forgive you for that."

Aayansh smiled through his tears. Even during the most heart-wrenching moments, she managed to say the truth and didn't sugarcoat him just out of pity that he was going to die soon.

"Did you ever unlove me?"

Anahita chuckled. "One can never stop loving someone, Ansh. I loved you even when it hurt. But the intensity of that love just simmered down as time passed. Somewhere I still love you but that love is now locked away in some restricted corner of my heart."

And that was when he started crying. His cries broke her heart bit by bit. He wasn't supposed to cry like that at any point in life. He loved her too much but he couldn't give up on his bloodlust. And that's where he went down.

"I just sometimes wish that maybe someone else had solved those murders. Maybe someone else had the gun pointed at me. Not you. Never you," Hot tears fell from her eyes as she remembered that moment when her suspicions had pointed towards him. She remembered that final showdown when she had the gun pointed against him, her legs shaking in heartbreak and despair.

She still remembered that moment when she had stumbled upon his hidden files in his house, files which had the names of his potential targets.

He had one slip up that led her to his house, to those files and then finally to their separation.

It was that one single moment where everything had fallen apart. Their forever became a myth.

It was a war between love and duty.

It was a war between truth and lie.

Ex CBI officer Anahita Singhal had chosen her duty over love, truth over lie.

Love had lost but people who had lost their loved ones had won.

She sacrificed her love and became a hero.

But none of them knew that he had kneeled in surrender the moment she had her gun against him.

He truly loved her. Even his psychotic mind didn't allow him to kill her. Her heartbroken face was his defeat and surrendered willingly, for he knew that it was his end.

"Scientific researchers say that psychopaths don't have a heart and that's the reason why they kill people. But they were wrong. Though I was a sinner, I truly loved you. I always have, always will," he told her.

Anahita had no doubt about that. Call it a gut instinct or something else, she knew that he loved her, with all his heart and soul.

"I know," she gulped back her tears. "I have always known that. Maybe that's the reason why it's harder to let you go even after knowing that what you did was so wrong."

Aayansh Rathi smiled again. It was at that moment that he realized that she was worth it.

It didn't matter that love made him lose the war.

For every second that he had spent with her, she was worth it.

The ticking clock brought back his attention.

"Only five minutes are left," he mumbled. Anahita's heart raced at a palpable speed. She wouldn't be able to see him anymore. She wouldn't be able to hear him anymore. But now, the thought of that didn't bring her pain.

It brought her peace.

"I am letting you go, Ansh," she told him. "It wasn't our time. Thank you for being there with me when I needed you and thank you for making me who I am today." She spoke with a heavy heart, the tears hadn't stopped flowing from her eyes.

He was her first, in all ways. Letting go was hard.

"Thank you for loving me as long as you could have. I know it wasn't easy," he gulped back his tears. "I am not saying goodbye, Ana. I am giving you a promise. You once said that we humans have seven lives, isn't it?" He asked her. Anahita pressed her lips, controlling her tears as she bobbed her head up and down even though she knew that he wouldn't be able to notice it.

"Then, I promise to meet you in the next life where we wouldn't be Ana and Ansh, we would be someone else, where I would be a better man for you. I promise that in my next life I will become worthy of your love. I promise that in the next life, we'll have a happy ending." He sniffed back his tears.

The time was up and Anahita had to cut the call.

Karan knocked over the door and slowly entered the lounge. Her gaze met against his. All of her vulnerability resurfaced as she cried over her first love for the last time. Her phone was clutched to her chest as she sobbed.

Karan held her in his arms as she cried.

They had cherished their first love with every ounce of life they had in them.

Ana and Ansh were lost in time with a promise to meet again in another lifetime.

~xxxxx~

This brings us to the end of the short story. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it.

Please vote and comment. Shower some love.

With Love,

Akii.