Guilt morphed into nausea. ‘Oh God. I’m so sorry.’
‘I don’t blame you, Ananya.’ His gaze softened. ‘I’ve only recently realised what Rekha is capable of. You were a victim of her games like the rest of us. This is solely her fault.’
I wanted to believe him. But the apology on my tongue wasn’t just for this situation. It was for everything. The months of silence. The secret. The betrayal.
‘If I’d told you sooner … if I hadn’t been so selfish, maybe none of this would’ve happened. You’d said so yourself; I waited too long. I could’ve saved the line. Saved us.’ My voice cracked.
Us. The word sounded foreign. Precious. Broken.
He shook his head, eyes bright with emotion. ‘You weren’t selfish. You were trying to do your best,’ he said, his voice raw. ‘It’s easy for me to talk about doing the right thing because I’ve been able to do it without losing anything. I now know it is a privilege – one you didn’t have. And expecting you to make the same choices as I would’ve made was unfair. I should’ve been more understanding. I’m sorry.’
Something inside me ripped open. I’d been holding in this grief for days,evenmonths.Now, it was all gushing out. I wiped my cheeks, but it was pointless; tears kept falling, hot and endless. ‘Don’t apologise,’ I said, my voice threatening to break. ‘I’m the one who hurt you. I betrayed your trust. I ruined everything.I’msorry.’
He exhaled, a tremor in his breath. ‘You did hurt me,’ he said softly. ‘For the first time in a long while, I trusted someone. Ireallytrusted you.’
My heart splintered.
My throat closed around a sob I couldn’t hold back. A hand covered my mouth.
‘And when you broke it, it gutted me,’ he continued, his voice reduced to a whisper. ‘I couldn’t see past my pain. But you also told me the truth of your own accord. Tokeepthat trust.’ His eyes lowered, then lifted again to meet mine. ‘You could have kept it a secret forever, and I probably wouldn’t have found out. But you didn’t. Even though it could have ruined your life. You told me the truth for me. That … means more than you think.’
This was too much. Too generous. Too kind for someone I had viciously betrayed.
‘I’m sorry for hurting you, Jai. I’m so sorry,’ I cried. ‘I wish I could undo it. I wish I’d never said yes to her. I wish I’d been honest from the beginning … I wish I’d done things differently.’ With each word, the regret etched deeper, carving itself onto my bones. ‘I know my actions didn’t show it, but I’ve always wanted the best for you. I’ve always been on your side. I swear it.’
I leaned forward, unlocking my phone and placing it in front of him. ‘Check my phone. Every text I’vesent her is there. I can testify in court if you’d like. Just … please forgive me.’
His gaze stayed on me, searching, hurting, but softer than ever.
The anger was gone. The edge was gone.
What remained was a soft afterglow. Tired, yet hopeful.
And in that moment, I felt the faintest shift in the air. Forgiveness, fragile but real, mingling with budding warmth.
Footsteps approached, and a server appeared. He set down a bowl of two rasgullas and left.
The café didn’t even have it on the menu. But the half-bashful, half-certain smile on Jai’s face told me he had somehow got them to serve it. ‘To starting over,’ he said.
My vision blurred again. A sob tore through my throat, and I covered my face with my hands as I cried.
The next moment, I was crushed against a hard chest, and two strong arms engulfed me, steady and comforting. ‘We’ll get through this, Ananya,’ he murmured.
I nodded, trying to steady myself. ‘Let’s start over.’
We sat there for a while, slowly eating our rasgullas.
The storm had passed. The silence that followed wasn’t empty; it was shy and tentative. More peaceful than anything I’d experienced in months.
When we finally stepped outside, the sky was bruised pink and black. The streetlights had come on. Jai’s hand brushed against mine as we walked.
A sudden tingle spread at the nape of my neck.
He opened the back door of his car, and I slid in.
As he always did, Jai dropped me off at home. I lived only fifteen minutes away. And after almost twoweeks apart, I burned for him in a way I couldn’t control.
So, when Dilip pulled up by my building, I turned to Jai. ‘Do you want to come up? For some chai?’
