"Why did you call me today?" Yashasvi asked, irritation curling in her voice as she looked directly at him.

He rose from his chair, slow and deliberate, and walked toward her. He stopped just inches away, close enough for her to feel the warmth of his presence, but not close enough to touch.

"I was missing you." he said, his deep voice echoing quietly in the room.

She didn’t look away, "You won’t get anything by doing this." she replied, voice low, eyes locked stubbornly with his.

"I don’t want anything else other than you." His voice dropped lower as he stepped closer, so close she instinctively backed away, breath hitching.

"You’re just… wasting your time." She whispered, refusing to break eye contact even as her heartbeat trembled in her chest.

"I can waste anything on you. My time… my mind… everything." The way he said it, quiet, unshaking made her chest tighten.

"You’ll regret this." She breathed, looking like she might cry any second. Her father’s words from the morning flashed in her mind, stabbing her again.

"Every moment with you is something I’ll cherish." he replied softly. "Regret? Never."

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇　

She lifted her eyes slowly, gathering courage she wasn’t sure she had, and asked in the softest voice, "Papa… with whom have you fixed my marriage? You… you didn’t tell me anything about him."

Before her father could open his mouth, Nilima answered sharply, her voice filled with that same harshness that always scraped Yashasvi’s heart, "Girls from good families don’t question their soon-to-be husbands before marriage."

Yashasvi lowered her gaze immediately.

Of course. She should’ve expected nothing else.

She wanted to ask again, but Nilima’s words were enough to shut her voice back into the corner of her throat.

Instead, she simply waited for her father’s reply. Rajkishor finally looked at her, his expression unreadable, "We have personally seen the boy," he said in a firm tone, "and he is good for you."

Good for her. But not good enough to be introduced. Not good enough for her to know his face before being tied to him.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

He bent slightly in an exaggerated bow.

"Come on, my lady." She narrowed her eyes at him, unable to stop the confusion from slipping onto her face.

"Are you sick?" she asked suspiciously. He laughed, loud and unbothered, and slid into the driver’s seat.

"Uh-huh, am I looking like that?"

"No." She said, settling into her seat. "You’re behaving like that."

He only smiled in response, the kind that didn’t need defending. The ride began quietly. Not awkward, not tense just peaceful.

The kind of silence where two people sit comfortably, without trying to fill the space with words. He drove steadily, while she watched the world outside blur into evening shadows.

But silence never lasted long with Sarthak. "I heard your marriage got fixed." he said suddenly, gently, almost cautiously.

She didn’t look at him. She just nodded, eyes tracing the passing lights outside the window.

"Are you happy?" He asked, not sugarcoating it, not softening it.

"Does it matter?" She replied, finally turning her face toward him. Her voice wasn’t sharp, just honest.