Dear Destiny

8- Dear Helper

*ARIV*

I am Ariv Singhania, and I thrive on games that flirt with crime and dance with death. There was a time when I'd pause, reconsider, caught in the shadow of a family I never really had. But that was before I stumbled upon something within me-something dark, unsettling, and impossible to ignore. It's a truth that gnaws at me, twisting my thoughts into knots, but one I can't escape.

Now, I live as if each breath could be my last, because, in truth, I no longer know if there will be a tomorrow. The line between today and the next has blurred, leaving me in a constant state of dread. Every morning I wake, waiting, wondering if today is the day when my uncertainty will finally end.

You didn't understand, did you? But that's alright. You will, soon enough. When the day comes, when you would no longer find any trace of Ariv-or any ray of sunshine-then it will all make sense.

I moved like a shadow, my hands bound in cold steel, the two officers leading the way. Yes, I was guilty, but not of the crime they believed I'd committed. Still, I couldn't let an innocent suffer for the chaos I had unleashed.

Then, that voice-soft, melodic, unforgettable-broke through the haze of my thoughts. "Ariv?"

I turned, and there she stood-those deep, brown eyes that once brimmed with tears because of me. Now, they were wide with worry, her eyebrows knitted together in a knot of tension. She was worried for me. Could it be true? Did she really hold me in such regard?

But before I could even grasp that fragile hope, she shattered it with a single question. "What about Atharv?"

My heart splintered under the weight of those words. Oh, Ariv, how foolish you were to think you could ever be more, to think you could matter.

"They've arrested you now," she pressed on, her voice trembling with concern. "They'll interrogate you, and soon they'll find out about him too."

She barely knew him, yet her fear was so real, so evident that it clawed at me.

"That won't happen," I replied, my voice laced with ice, each word deliberate, distant.

"But-"

"Mind your own business," I cut her off, my tone sharp enough to draw blood. "Worrying about a man who wouldn't even spit on you is pathetic."

I turned away, my back to her, moving forward without a second glance.

But I could feel it-the way my words must have ripped through her, leaving her heart in tatters. Still, I couldn't afford to care. I am Ariv, the one who lives for himself, who bends the world to his will. My heart is a fortress, cold and unyielding to all.

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*REET*

The sound of his words echoed in my mind as I watched him walk away. How effortlessly he spoke those cruel words, how easily he reduced me to nothing.

I saw him leaving, feeling the sting of his truth. He was right-caring for someone who barely acknowledges my existence is pathetic. But what can I do with this heart that beats only for him, hopelessly, helplessly in love?

As his figure disappeared from view, I forced myself to turn away, only to be met with those deep, black eyes staring back at me, piercing through my very soul. My heart skipped a beat. He stood right in front of me, so close that I could feel the weight of his gaze. In all the time I've known him, I'd never been this close to him, and yet, there was no warmth in his eyes, only a cold, unreadable expression.

"Just because of you, he got arrested." His words hit me like a punch to the gut. How could he blame me for something I didn't do? "You're nothing but a malfunction, bringing trouble into everyones life."