Chapter 1

She just sat there. Her heart had been telling her the whole evening, that something was about to go wrong. Little premonitions, here and there, had been warning her, that the fragile glasshouse of a relationship that she had with her Rudra was becoming too good to be true, and glasshouses are susceptible to breaking... Sometimes from outside, sometimes from within.

But she had turned away from them. Blind almost literally to everything around her, she had chosen to live in the beautiful glasshouse, until he told her.

And that was when she could hear the glass shattering, with almost a haunting sound. And the millions of scattered glass shards, each piercing into her heart separately, made her wince in pain.

Aath saal...

The time he mentioned seemed to echo in the crevices of her mind, and despite all her attempts at shutting it off, it just continued to reverberate.

-x-x-

He was cold. Cold at the absence of a reaction from her.

She was still, completely lifeless, as if made of stone.

He had told her. But watching her right now, it felt as if he had committed the biggest mistake of his life.

Why was this so devastating to her? He had a past. He was not proud of it. But one thing he knew, that it was in the past. He didn't feel anything for Laila.

And quite frankly, he never did feel anything for Laila to begin with.

The first person that had even made him realize that he had feelings, was her.

And here she was, sitting there like a statue, barren of any feeling in the world.

He felt like breaking into pieces, if that's what it took for her to see him.

See for herself, that it was her that made him a human again.

But she wasn't.

She was just staring into nothingness, her gaze hollow.

And Rudra realized that he had never truly felt fear until this very moment.

"Paro..." He breathed, his voice dying in places.

She didn't look at him.

She didn't beck to his call.

He stood there, just watching for her to react.

When it seemed like an era had passed, he finally moved closer to her, afraid of how still she was.

"Paro... Kuch bhi nahi hai... Abhi kuch bhi nahi hai.." He begged, just once if she looked into his eyes, she'd know that he was telling the truth.

She finally turned to him.

"Par kuch tha..." Her voice seemed to be coming from an abyss, void of the life it usually possessed.

"Nahi... Nahi tha Paro" He pleaded for her to listen.

"Agar aap mhaari jagah hote, aur mai aapse yeh kehti..." She questioned.

And suddenly all he could see was red. He gritted his teeth, the anger almost clouding him, the thoughts of someone else touching her making him deranged.

"Paro..." He spat out, his body shivering with anger.

And she turned her face away from him again. Her eyes were dark, the warmth lost.

He gulped, realizing what he had done. His hands were sweaty now, and he felt a kind of nervousness he had never encountered before.

When had he ever answered to someone?

When had he ever felt the need to justify himself to someone?

"Sun... Maaf kar de Paro... Tujhse pehle tha woh..." He prayed.

She faced him again, her heart still bleeding profusely.

"Aap pyaar karte the usse..." She asked.

"Nahi." He didn't waste a second in answering.

"Fir kyuun jaate the..."She questioned.

"Nahi pata..."

"Kya meri wajah se jaana chodha?"

"Pehle hi chodh aaya tha usko... Woh peeche peeche aayi..."

"Yeh nahi socha, ki aapke ateet ka aapke bhavishya par... mhaare par kya asar hoga?" She thundered, her voice heavy with unshed tears.

He couldn't take it anymore. He just wanted to disappear so he couldn't see the accusations that her eyes held for him.

But he had to voice out.

"Kabhi socha nahi tha... Tere jaisa koi hoga zindagi mei..." He answered.

With heavy steps, he tried making his way to the door. He couldn't see the tears in her eyes. She was crying now, and he was the reason.

"Rukiye Major Saab... Baithiye... Aur dekhiye mhaare ko... Itna toh aap kar hi sakte hai." She told him.

He burned. She was asking him to watch her in pain. A pain he had given her.

He burned.