Main Hoon. Na -

“ Main hoon, ” he replied. “ Na. ”

He didn’t sit beside her. He stood two feet behind, hands in his pockets, breathing still uneven. Not from the run anymore. From the weight of what he was about to say. main hoon. na

Now he stood outside the terrace gate of the old Tiwari mansion—her family’s abandoned property. The place she always fled to when the world became too heavy. The gate was unlocked. The staircase was dark. “ Main hoon, ” he replied

She turned fully now, eyes red and swollen. “You never said.” “ Main hoon

“Neither did you. Until tonight.”

He took a slow breath. The wind carried the sound of a stray dog barking somewhere far below. The city slept, indifferent.

“You can’t know.”