AVNI'S POV:

I wake up alone. The first thing I notice isn't the silence it's the absence. The space beside me is empty, but it doesn't feel untouched. The sheets are still warm, slightly disturbed, carrying the weight of everything that happened just hours ago.

My body reacts before my mind fully catches up a slow, unfamiliar awareness settling into my muscles, into my breath, into the way I shift even slightly. I close my eyes for a moment, and it all comes back the terrace, the night air, his voice, the way he doesn't ask... he decides.

A slow breath leaves me as I sit up, pulling the sheet slightly closer around myself, though there's no real reason to. The room feels different now. Not new. Not strange. Just... his. And somehow mine too.

That thought lingers longer than it should. I push myself off the bed, my feet touching the cold floor, grounding me just enough to move. The mirror across the room catches my reflection before I'm ready for it, and I stop without meaning to.

For a second, I don't recognize myself. It's not my face not really. It's something else. Something in my expression, in the way I'm standing, in the way my body holds itself like it remembers something my mind is still trying to process.

I step closer, my fingers lifting slowly, brushing against my own arm, my collarbone, like I'm confirming something. "I don't look the same..." I whisper to myself, because I don't, not completely. There's a softness missing. Or maybe something else has replaced it.

"You're thinking again."

His voice comes from behind me, low and steady, and I freeze for half a second before turning. Vivansh is leaning against the doorway like he's been there longer than I noticed, his gaze already fixed on me. There's no hesitation in the way he looks at me no awkwardness, no distance. Just familiarity, like nothing about last night needs to be questioned. I swallow lightly. "I just woke up."

"Hmm."

He pushes himself off the frame and walks toward me slowly, like there's no urgency in anything he does anymore like time bends around him instead of the other way around. By the time he stops behind me, I can feel him before he even touches me. And then his hand rests at my waist casual, natural, like it belongs there.

"You should stop doing that," he murmurs.

"Doing what?"

"Thinking too much."

His fingers press slightly, not enough to hurt, just enough to ground me again in his presence. I don't move away. I don't even try. "I'm not "

"Avni."

My name in his voice does something strange to me. Not loud, not sharp just enough to make me stop. He doesn't repeat himself. He doesn't need to.

Before I can say anything else, a voice cuts through the moment. "Vivansh?" It comes from outside male, unfamiliar. I turn instinctively. Vivansh doesn't. His hand lingers at my waist for a second longer before he steps back slightly, his expression shifting just enough to become unreadable.

"Come in," he says.

The door opens, and that's when I see him. He walks in like he already knows this space like he belongs here just as much as Vivansh does, but in a completely different way. Less controlled. Less precise. More... unpredictable.

His eyes land on me almost immediately and stop not in surprise, not in confusion just looking. Too long. Too directly. Something in my chest tightens slightly under that gaze.

"So," he says slowly, a faint curve touching his lips, "this is her."

His voice is lighter than Vivansh's, but there's something under it something that doesn't sit right. I straighten slightly without realizing it. Vivansh doesn't respond immediately, which somehow makes it worse. The man Aaditya, I assume takes a few steps closer, his gaze never leaving my face. Then lower. Then back again.

"Interesting," he murmurs.

I don't like the way he says that. It doesn't feel like a compliment. It feels like he's figuring something out. "You got married," he continues, glancing briefly at Vivansh before looking back at me, "and didn't bother telling me."

Vivansh's voice is calm. "You're here now."

Aaditya smirks slightly. "Yeah," he says. "I am."

There's something in the way they look at each other not hostility, not exactly but not warmth either. Something sharper, quieter, more controlled. I stay still, unsure where I fit in this exchange. Aaditya looks at me again, and this time it feels more deliberate.

"You don't look like someone who'd agree to something like this so easily," he says.

My brows pull together slightly. "Excuse me?"

He tilts his head, studying me more closely now. "Nothing," he says lightly. "Just an observation."

I don't respond, because I don't know how to because something about the way he's looking at me makes it feel like anything I say will be measured. Vivansh moves slightly then, stepping closer to me again, his presence immediate, grounding too close, deliberate.

"Enough," he says.

One word. Calm. But final.

Aaditya's smirk doesn't fade. "Relax," he says. "I'm just talking."

Vivansh doesn't answer. He doesn't need to. The silence stretches for a second longer before Aaditya exhales lightly, like he's amused by something no one else can see. "I'll see you downstairs," he says, his gaze flicking to me one last time before he turns and walks out.

The door closes, and the room feels different again quieter, but heavier. I don't realize I've been holding my breath until I exhale. "That was..." I start.

"Stay away from him."

Vivansh cuts me off. I blink. "What?"

His gaze is steady. "Stay away from him."

"Why?"

There's a pause just a small one, but I notice it. Because Vivansh doesn't pause. Ever.

"He doesn't look at things the right way," he says finally.

"That doesn't explain anything."

"It doesn't need to."

My frustration flickers slightly. "Vivansh" But he steps closer again, his hand finding my waist like it's second nature now, his grip firm enough to stop whatever I was about to say. "I said I'll handle it." There it is again, that tone, that certainty. And the worst part? A part of me wants to let him.

I don't respond, because I don't know if I agree, or if I'm just... adjusting. Later, when I'm downstairs, the house feels different again alive, occupied. And I feel it before I see him.

Aaditya.

Leaning casually against one of the pillars, watching not hiding it, not pretending. Just watching me.

Our eyes meet, and something shifts. He doesn't look away. Doesn't soften. Doesn't pretend this is normal. He just... smiles slightly slow, knowing like he's already figured something out about me that I haven't.

And for the first time since I got here, I feel something I can't explain. Not fear. Not exactly. Something sharper, something that lingers under my skin in a way that makes me aware of every movement, every glance, every second that passes between us.

Vivansh looks at me like I belong to him, like it's already decided, like there's no question.

But Aaditya. He looks at me like nothing is decided yet. Like he's still considering something.

And somehow, That feels far more dangerous.