ISHQ IBAADAT 💗

24. A FEAR OF NIGHTMARE ❤️‍🩹

Shridha POV

Next morning, the sunlight was still weak, peeking through the curtains, but my body felt heavy, weighed down by the remnants of a dream I couldn't escape.

I saw it again-Shivaay, hugging someone... a girl. I could feel the image burn into my mind even as I blinked awake.

In the dream, it had been raining heavily, droplets smashing down on the empty road like tiny daggers. I was standing there, invisible, silent, watching them. The girl had come from the darkness, running into his arms. Her face was blurred, impossible to see clearly, but the way Shivaay held her-the way he buried his hands in her hair, the way his chest pressed against hers-it was painfully intimate.

My heart had shattered instantly, the pieces cutting me from the inside. My lungs felt tight, as if someone had wrapped a chain around my chest. I couldn't breathe properly. My hands had trembled, clutching my own arms as though trying to hold myself together.

Tears started flowing on their own, hot and heavy, sliding down my cheeks and dripping onto the floor. My sobs echoed in the empty street of my dream. It felt like the rain outside had joined my tears, hammering down relentlessly. I couldn't stop. My knees felt weak, and I stumbled slightly, but I couldn't tear my eyes away.

Shivaay's gaze had shifted toward me in the dream, and he had started walking toward me. My heart had leapt with a flicker of hope, only for the girl to catch his hand and stop him. I had felt my chest twist painfully-how easily she had held him back, and how easily he had allowed it.

He had looked at me then, his eyes not mine, but hers. And he had said it-the words that cut me deeper than anything I could imagine:

"Shridha... humara sath yahi tak tha... Main tumse kabhi pyaar nahi kar sakta..."

Even in the dream, his voice had been calm, almost casual. But in that calmness, my heart had screamed. The words had drilled into me like ice-cold knives, shattering my chest. My tears had started pouring uncontrollably, faster than the rain, and I had fallen to my knees on the wet street, my body trembling with despair.

I had reached out blindly, my hands shaking, wanting to grab him, wanting to stop him-but the girl's hand had held him back, and he had let her. My vision had blurred, rain mixing with tears, until everything had dissolved into pain and darkness.

Suddenly, a voice had cut through the storm-sharp and real.

"Nahiii... Shivay..." I had shouted, my voice hoarse, ragged, echoing through the dream like a desperate plea.

I had felt warmth on my cheeks, the dampness of tears, and then a weight lifting-something breaking the nightmare's hold.

"Kya hua, Shridha...?" A voice whispered close, filled with worry.

I opened my eyes with a gasp. My body was drenched in sweat, my heart racing uncontrollably. My hands were shaking as I pushed the blanket away from my face.

Shivaay was there-right in front of me. His brow was furrowed, eyes wide and worried. He reached out instinctively, his fingers brushing my arm lightly as he checked if I was awake, safe.

The nightmare clung to me like a second skin. I could still feel the rain in my hair, the weight of his hands on someone else's shoulder, the echo of his words in my chest. My breathing was uneven, shallow, and my body trembled as if still caught in that storm.

I murmured, barely audible:
"So... it was... a nightmare..."

Shivaay didn't let go. His hand remained on mine, steadying me, grounding me in reality. He gently pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around my trembling body. The warmth of him was real, solid. My tears continued, now both from the remnants of fear and the relief of being safe.