PREMA 🤫: Bound By Hate, Undone By Obsession

Chapter 8: Dhruv

Darpan's body trembled-not from fear, but from the pressure of all the voices inside her that she had silenced for years. She looked Dhruv straight in the eye, her voice calm but laced with buried storms.

Darpan:
"You don't know my past, Dhruv. You only see what you think I am.
I've done things you wouldn't even believe. Things I can't undo. I begged Priya to stay away from me. I warned her. But she wouldn't listen."

She took a step closer, almost whispering now.

"You think you're cruel, Dhruv? I was made in darkness, raised in it. You want a wife, not a curse. You will regret this. I promise you, you will."

Just then, without even blinking, Dhruv's voice cut through the room like a thunderclap:

Dhruv (coldly):
"Bring the mangalsutra."

---

Darpan's POV

He said it. He finally said it.
"Bring the mangalsutra."
My breath caught in my throat.
How could he? So casually... so cruelly.
Like my life was just another deal on his table.

As I left the shopping mall that day, my hands were shaking. My thoughts, louder than the world around me. I pulled out my phone and dialed a number I hadn't touched in years.
"Meet me. I'm sending the location. I need to see him."

I wasn't sure what I was walking into-but I needed to take control before Dhruv crushed me beneath his.

Just then I heard footsteps behind me.
"Darpan?"

Her voice. Priya.

I turned around slowly. My eyes were dead cold.

"Don't you dare," I snapped, stepping toward her.

She blinked in shock.
"You're fucking sick, Priya. How dare you interfere in my life like this? Who gave you the right to play god with my choices?"
I was shaking with rage now.
"Your brother is a fucking criminal. Do you even understand the gravity of what he's doing? Of what you've done by helping him?"

She swallowed hard.
"I know, but he's not that bad, Darpan. Trust me. You've misunderstood-"

"Stop it." I hissed.
I stepped closer, voice low and deadly.
"You changed your name when you came to that college, didn't you? Your real name isn't Priya Kapoor. It's Priya Malhotra, isn't it?"

Priya's lips trembled.
"Darpan, listen-"

"Shut up." I spat, eyes blazing.

The car I had called earlier screeched to a halt beside me. I turned without another word and stepped toward it. But something stopped me. I couldn't leave it like that.

I opened the door... and then turned back.

"Get in that car," I ordered. My voice was flat. Cold. A tone she'd never heard from me.

Without protest, Priya walked toward the vehicle and sat inside. She knew better than to push me now.

One to safety.
One to war.

After a while, i stepped out of the car.

Without a word, Priya pulled Darpan into a hug. Darpan didn't resist. She melted into it-just for a moment.

Priya looked into her best friend's broken yet blazing eyes.
"I know," she whispered, voice trembling. "But... I love my brother. And I love you. I don't want to lose either of you."

Riverbank -

The sky bled into hues of violet and ash, the wind carrying a bitter chill as I sat there-knees tucked to my chest, eyes fixed on the restless river. It moved like my thoughts-wild, uncontainable.