JANAKI

PROLOGUE

As she approached his house, Janaki's steps faltered when she saw Neelesh through the door, engrossed in play with his young niece, his hands busy packing a suitcase on the side. The sight of him smiling, unaware of her presence, struck her like a blow. Her heart sank, weighed down by a sinking realization that perhaps she was just a passerby in his world, a world where he seemed blissfully unaware of her existence.

Lost in her inner turmoil, Janaki hurried down the steps, her vision blurred by tears of disappointment and unspoken longing. Unaware of her surroundings, she missed a step, her foot slipping on the uneven pavement. Fear and despair threatened to overwhelm her as she braced for the inevitable fall, both physically and emotionally.

Suddenly, strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her back from the brink of a painful descent. Neelesh's familiar scent enveloped her, his touch both comforting and disorienting in its unexpectedness. For a fleeting moment, she allowed herself to lean into his embrace, seeking solace in the warmth of his presence.

"Are you alright?" Neelesh's voice, tinged with concern, reached her ears, breaking through the haze of her thoughts.

Janaki nodded mutely, unable to speak as conflicting emotions battled within her. She wanted to stay in his arms forever, to bury her face in his chest and pour out her heart. But before she could find the courage to utter a word, he spoke again, his voice tinged with a heaviness she had never heard before.

"I'm leaving the country, Janaki," he said, his voice steady but strangely empty. "I'm settling elsewhere."

The world seemed to collapse around her. He was leaving. The man she had quietly fallen for, who had become the center of her dreams, was disappearing from her life just as she had finally gathered the courage to let him into her heart. She felt a painful tightness in her chest, a hollow ache where her hopes had once been.

Neelesh held her a moment longer, his grip tightening almost imperceptibly. The warmth of his touch was a cruel reminder of what she was losing. She wanted to scream, to demand why, to make him understand what he meant to her. But the words stuck in her throat, her voice silenced by the weight of her sorrow.

"Why?" she managed to whisper, her voice trembling with a mix of confusion and heartache.

"I have my reasons," he replied, his gaze averting from hers. "It's best for everyone."

Neelesh's eyes flickered with an emotion she couldn't quite place - a mixture of pain and resolve. He was hiding something, she could tell. He was leaving not to start anew, but to escape the very feelings he couldn't admit, not even to himself. The feelings for the girl now standing broken before him.

As he gently let her go, Janaki felt a cold emptiness settle in her chest, where once there had been warmth and hope. She watched him walk away, each step taking him further from the dreams she had spun from their shared moments. The weight of her unspoken confession hung heavy in the air, a cruel reminder of what might have been. In the silence that followed, she was left with nothing but the bitter taste of a love that would never come to fruition, and the echo of her heart shattering in the wake of his departure.