Chapter 49

Subhi

I didn’t know where I was taking him.

I just knew that after everything—after all the pain, the walls, the silences—I couldn’t let him drift away again. Not now.

So I pulled him along, away from the heaviness of everything, away from the ghosts that haunted him. Away from the version of him that believed he didn’t deserve happiness.

We walked in silence, but it wasn’t awkward. It felt... peaceful. The sun was setting, casting a soft golden glow over everything. I glanced at him, watching how the light hit his face—his sharp jawline, the slight crease in his brows, the way his lips parted as if he wanted to say something but didn’t.

I stopped near a bench under a tree and gestured for him to sit. He hesitated for a second before finally lowering himself onto it. I sat beside him, close enough that our arms brushed.

"You okay?" I asked softly.

He let out a breathy chuckle, shaking his head. "You always ask me that."

I shrugged. "And I’ll keep asking."

He looked at me then, his eyes searching, like he was trying to understand something. "Why do you care so much?"

I blinked, caught off guard. "Because you matter, Abhimanyu."

He scoffed, looking away. "I don't know if I do."

I grabbed his hand before I could stop myself. He tensed at first but didn’t pull away. "You do," I said firmly. "You matter. To me."

His fingers curled slightly around mine, and I swore I felt his heartbeat in the silence between us. He looked at our hands, then at me, his expression unreadable. "You’ll regret saying that."

I shook my head. "Never."

For the first time, he didn’t argue. He just sighed, leaning back against the bench, closing his eyes.

And in that moment, I knew—this was just the beginning.