DEV(i)

17. I love you~

"Srinika, the guy you're supposed to meet today... it's me."

Her face went completely still. For a second, she didn't even blink, as if her mind was struggling to process the words she'd just heard.

"What?" she whispered, her voice so faint it was barely audible.

"It's me," Dev repeated, feeling the weight of his own words sink deeper into the pit of his stomach. "I'm the one they've arranged for you to meet."

Srinika blinked, and then her face crumpled, the shock and betrayal hitting her all at once. She took a step back, staring at him like he was someone she didn't recognize. Her chest heaved, and her lips parted as if she were going to say something, but no words came out. The room around them seemed to close in, the murmur of their families fading into the background as the truth settled heavily between them.

"You?" she finally managed, her voice trembling. "You're the one?"

Dev nodded slowly, guilt weighing heavily on him. "I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want you to feel pressured. I thought—"

"You thought what?" she cut in, her voice rising, her eyes flashing with something close to anger. "That you could just drop this on me like it's nothing? That I wouldn't care? I asked you for help, Dev! I thought you were coming to get me out of this!"

"I didn't want to hurt you," he said quietly, his own voice strained, "but I couldn't—"

"Hurt me?" Her voice cracked as the tears welled up in her eyes. "You let me walk into this blind. You let me believe I was meeting someone else. And all along, it was you. Why? Why didn't you just tell me?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but the words stuck. There was nothing he could say that would fix this. She was right. He had let her believe a lie.

The silence between them stretched, heavy and oppressive. Srinika's face was pale, her eyes filled with hurt, confusion, and betrayal. She stood there, staring at him, as though the ground had been ripped out from under her feet.

Dev's eyes flickered, his patience teetering on the edge as he stared at Srinika, her words cutting through him like a jagged blade. Her betrayal was so palpable, so raw, but he had his own storm brewing inside him. He could feel the familiar heat of anger rising, tightening in his chest. Everyone knew he was short-tempered, but this—this was testing his control.

"I thought you were my friend," she whispered, her voice fragile, barely holding together. Her eyes, wide with hurt, bore into him, expecting something—anything—that would make sense of the mess she found herself in. "I thought you were coming to help me. But you—" Her voice faltered, unable to carry the weight of her accusation, and she shook her head, the disbelief etched across her face.

Dev clenched his fists at his sides, his jaw locking. He could feel all the eyes on them—their parents standing in the living room, watching this unfold in silence. The tension was thick, and it felt like it was only a matter of seconds before he snapped. His patience had worn thin, threadbare from the guilt, from the confusion, from her not understanding what he'd been through too.

"Exactly why, Srinika," he said, his voice sharper than intended, though he fought to keep his tone under control. "I am your friend. Just a friend." His words came out in a biting rush, laced with frustration. "That's all I've been. Just a damn friend."

Srinika's eyes flared with anger, the hurt morphing into something fiercer. "Really?" she shot back, her voice rising, trembling with a mix of fury and disbelief. "Even after you knew what I was going through? After I told you I was in love, and you—" She stopped, breathing hard, the anger in her voice crackling like electricity.