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She continued, voice cracking, “We like each other. We get along. There’s something real between us, something people spend their whole lives searching for.”

But he only shook his head, cutting her off with quiet finality. “That’s not enough, Nandini.”

She flinched, as if he’d physically struck her. “Maybe it’s not enough now,” she said, gathering herself. “I’m not saying we need to marry tomorrow. We can take months… a year if you want. We can take all the time we need to grow into it.”

But his expression only hardened further. And in that moment, she realised this wasn’t fear. This wasn’t doubt. This was a refusal. Deep, anchored resistance. “You don’t want to marry me?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “Ever?”

He didn’t even hesitate. “No.”

Her chest caved in. The pain wasn’t sharp. It was slow and consuming, like she was drowning.

“Why?” she asked. “Why would you let me fall for you if this was never in the cards?”

He reached for her then, gripping her arms as if to anchor them both. She tried to pull away, but he held her. “It’s not about you,” he said, urgently. “It’s not you, Nandini… it’s me. You know I’ve been married before. I’ve already walked that path. The dreams you’re seeing for us now… I once saw them with someone else. I’ve lived that life—falling in love, getting married, planning a future, talking about babies. I’ve done all of that. And it didn’t work.”

“So?” she shot back. “So it didn’t work with you before. That doesn’t mean it won’t work with us. What does that have to do with us?”

“All I’m saying is… going through marriage again, repeating all of that, it’s just not something I want anymore,” he replied, “I can’t.”

“You mean you won’t,” she corrected bitterly, her eyes flashing with hurt and fury.

“Then what the hell were you doing with me these past few days, Shaurya?” she snapped. “Why were you holding my hand, stealing glances, kissing me, saying all those things, if you had no plans of giving us a future? Why lead me on like that?”

He looked taken aback, as if the truth in her voice had caught him off guard, but she didn’t stop.

“Was I just… temporary comfort for you? Something nice to feel in the moment until your past crept back in and made you run again?”

He swallowed hard.

“Why, Shaurya? It’s been over a year since your divorce. You’ve moved past that phase. You can’t let your past dictate your future.”

He shook his head and pulled away from her arms.

“Do you still love her? Your ex-wife?” she asked. “Is that what this is about?”

He let out a frustrated grunt and replied, “No. I don’t love her anymore,” he said tightly through gritted teeth. “But she… she broke something in me, Nandini. A part of me I don’t think I’ll ever get back. I just... I can’t do it all over again. Not the marriage. Not the planning. Not the promises. I don’t have it in me anymore.”

Nandini stared at him, fear and hurt burning in her chest. She stepped forward and grabbed his T-shirt, her voice rising in disbelief. “You can’t even try? You’re going to punishmeforhermistakes?”

He gently but firmly pried her fingers off him, his hands curling around her wrists. “I’m protecting you from me. I don’t want to try,” he said. “And I don’t want you wasting your life hoping that I will.”

Tears gathered in her eyes before she could stop them. Her heart cracked open as he went on.

“You’re a good woman, Nandini,” he said quietly. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You deserve someone who hasn’t already walked this path. Someone who can give you everything for the first time. With me... it’s never going to be the same.”

She yanked her hands away and stepped back, her chest heaving with frustration.

“Don’t you dare decide what I deserve,” she snapped. “You don’t want this? Fine. But don’t stand there and act like you get to make that choice for me.”

Shaurya looked at her, his eyes filled with something that resembled sorrow and regret.

“I do care for you,” he said, just as broken. “And that’s why I’m walking away.”

Her hands balled into fists. “Don’t you dare pretend this is noble,” she snapped. “I knew what I was walking into the moment I fell for you,” she continued, louder now, pain woven into every word. “I knew you were older. I knew you were divorced. I knew your heart had been through hell. And still, I fell for you. I believed you had enough courage left to fall in love again. To try again… with me.”

She blinked away a tear and laughed bitterly. “But I was wrong. You don’t want change. That’s the truth. You don’t want a future. You want a grave for your past. You want to mourn what you lost instead of fighting for something new. You’d rather hold on to a past that didn’t work rather than try again with someone who wants nothing more than to love you right.”

He tried to move closer, but she raised her hand, stopping him cold.