Chapter 23

Subhi

I walked away, my steps hurried, my heart pounding so loudly that it drowned out everything else. The moment I turned the corner, I exhaled shakily, feeling my chest tighten in a way that made it hard to breathe.

I didn’t know what hurt more—the fact that Abhimanyu had been ignoring me all this time or the realization that I had been foolish enough to think I mattered to him in the first place.

The image of his phone’s wallpaper was burned into my mind. The girl in the picture… She was beautiful. There was something soft yet haunting about the way she smiled, as if she was the one who truly understood him, the one who had a place in his life that no one could take.

And I?

I was nothing.

I clenched my fists, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. Why did it hurt this much? Why did it feel like something inside me had just… shattered?

I hated this. I hated feeling this way.

I should have been prepared. I should have known that whatever I was feeling was one-sided, that I was reading too much into everything.

But then, why did he seem so desperate back there? Why did he look at me like I had just said something unforgivable?

A bitter laugh escaped me. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe he felt bad for leading me on. Maybe—

"Shubhi."

My breath hitched.

I turned around, and there he was.

Abhimanyu.

He had followed me.

His eyes were stormy, filled with something intense—something raw. But I didn’t want to look too closely. I didn’t want to let myself believe that he cared, not after everything.

"What?" My voice came out harsher than I intended.

He hesitated, as if searching for the right words. "You don’t understand."

I scoffed, crossing my arms. "What’s there to understand, Abhimanyu? You’ve been ignoring me for days. I get it now. I was just—just a distraction. Someone you didn’t need anymore."

His expression darkened. "That’s not true."

I shook my head. "Then tell me the truth. Who is she?"

Silence.

That was all I needed to hear.

I let out a shaky breath and stepped back. "That’s what I thought."

His jaw clenched, and for a moment, I thought he was going to say something—anything. But he didn’t.

And that was enough to break me completely.

I turned around and walked away, this time not stopping.

This time, I wasn’t going to look back.

Even if it hurt.