Beneath The Storm (Completed)

Chapter-19: Silent Pull, Unseen Chains

Atharv woke up with a stretch, his mind still groggy from sleep. But as he instinctively turned toward Inaara's side of the bed, he jolted awake.

Her side was empty. A rush of unease washed over him.

He threw off the blanket and checked the bathroom, the balcony—empty.

Where could she have gone this early?

A knot of panic tightened in his chest as he stormed into the cottage’s hall, calling her name.

No response.
Hearing his urgency, one of the bodyguards appeared, looking confused.

"Where is Inaara?" Atharv’s voice was sharp, betraying his growing fear.

The guard shook his head, “Sir, I haven’t seen ma'am.”

Atharv’s frustration mounted. “What are you doing? She’s not here! It’s barely dawn in an unfamiliar place, and she could be anywhere—anything could happen!”

He barked out orders, and his tension seemed to spread through the air as everyone scattered to search.

Within moments, one of the guards returned, informing him that Inaara was in the garden.

Without another word, Atharv marched toward the garden, his steps quick, breaths uneven.

There, under the soft morning light, he spotted her. Wrapped in a shawl, she walked barefoot on the wet grass, lost in her own world.

David stood at a respectful distance nearby, ensuring her safety.

As Atharv approached, he dismissed David with a slight gesture. Inaara looked up, surprised by his stern expression.

“What is this behavior, Inaara?” he demanded, his voice low but laced with irritation.

Inaara’s brow furrowed, genuinely perplexed. “What… did I do?”

“How could you just wander off? You’re here, outside, without informing me. I woke up, and you weren’t there.” His tone was a mixture of anger and the remnants of his earlier panic.

Inaara’s eyes softened with understanding, but she kept her tone calm.

“Atharv, I didn’t go anywhere. I’m within the cottage grounds, just here in the garden. I wanted to feel the grass under my feet,” she explained gently. “David was with me the whole time, and I didn’t want to wake you.”

Atharv clenched his jaw, her words leaving him with no real reason to argue. Feeling exposed he walked back to the room, unable to meet her gaze.

Once inside, he sat on the edge of the bed, his thoughts racing. What was that feeling he’d experienced?

Was it… fear? No, that couldn’t be it. He told himself he’d only been worried—simply concerned. But the tremor in his chest suggested otherwise.

The more he tried to push away that uninvited feeling, the more it seemed to dig in, refusing to be ignored.

As he wrestled with his thoughts, an unsettling truth started to surface: that brief moment of her absence had left him with a hollow ache he couldn’t deny.
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