Page 72 of Lawfully Yours

“When they kiss like the world doesn’t exist,” he said, brushing his thumb across her jaw. “All I think is, I used to kiss you like that and you used to melt for me.”

She stared at him, eyes glistening, breath trembling.

“Do you know what it does to me? Watching another man hold his woman like she’s his oxygen… while mine stands across the room pretending she can breathe without me?”

Her knees weakened. “Kushal… Please.”

“You think you’ve moved on?” Their bodies pressed. “Lie to everyone else, Aru. Don’t lie to me.”

He raised his hand to brush a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering at her jaw.

“You still burn when I touch you,” he said softly.

Arundhati trembled.

“Every time I look out that window, I don’t see a happy couple. I see a stolen future.Ourfuture.”

His hand slid to the back of her neck. His forehead leaned into hers. “And I’m taking it back.”

Her hands trembled at her sides. Her pulse roared in her ears. She hated how right he felt. How much she wanted to lean into him again. How badly she had missed all of this.

But she didn’t say a word.

Because if she opened her mouth now, she didn’t know if it would be to scream at him… or kiss him.Again.

Chapter 12

Kushal’s Penthouse

Kushal stood still in the quiet aftermath of his confession. Every damn thing that had been clawing at his insides for months, he had finally put it out there, before her. His hand lingered at the side of her face, fingers lightly brushing against her cheek as if memorising its shape all over again.

“I want a fresh start, Aru,” he said. “Just give me a chance.”

His face was close now, his lips barely brushing hers, and he waited for her to meet him halfway. But her eyes snapped open, wide and startled as if he had crossed a line she’d only just remembered was there. And before he could process the shift in her gaze, her hands pressed firmly against his chest, and she shoved him back with unexpected strength.

The connection broke. The warmth vanished.

Kushal took a stunned step back, watching her with disbelief. Her breath came fast and uneven, as if she too hadn’t anticipated her own reaction. Their eyes locked across the room again. She looked wounded. Angry. Torn.

He moved toward her, instinctively, unable to accept the space now widening between them. But she stepped back again.

And this time, without a word, she turned on her heel and walked out of the bedroom. Out of the home they once shared. Out ofhisreach.

The front door opened with a faint creak, and the soft sound of it shutting behind her landed like a final verdict.

For a long moment, Kushal didn’t move. The echo of her absence settled into the room like fog, and only then did he truly feel the sting. His chest tightened as fury surged inside him. Without thinking, he turned to the glass wall and slammed his fist against it.

She was gone. And this time, she hadn’t even left him with anger, or a fight, or a parting word. Just silence. Crushing, punishing silence.

Dragging a hand through his hair, he stepped back and lowered himself onto the edge of the bed, elbows resting on his thighs, fingers still clenched. He had known this wouldn’t be easy. He had known Arundhati wouldn’t simply fall back into his arms because he’d finally said what he should have long ago. But what he hadn’t expected, what gutted him more than anything, was the way she left him hanging in the hollow of uncertainty.

No closure. No expression. Not even anger.

Just… nothing.

And that, more than anything else, was what undid him.

Because Arundhati didn’t walk away from things easily. She burned them down first. Only if he could read what she really had going on in her heart and head.