Estranged lovers

Chapter 48

AARYAN'S POV

As the door clicked shut behind Adhvait, Annika turned back to Siddharth's side, her fingers tightening around his hand, but Aaryan remained frozen for a moment, his gaze following Adhvait's retreating figure. There was a weight in the air....a tension that had never fully left, despite the years that had passed.

Aaryan hadn't spoken to Adhvait like this in so long. It had been too long.  Adhvait had changed. That cold, unfeeling exterior, the ruthlessness that defined him, made Aaryan hesitant. But beneath that hard surface, Aaryan knew there had to be something else....some fragment of the boy he had once called a friend.

Without thinking, Aaryan found himself walking quickly down the hallway after Adhvait. The sounds of the hospital....the hushed voices, the clicking of nurses' shoes......faded away as he followed the man who had once been like a brother to him. His mind was a whirlwind, full of the things he never said, the words he should have spoken all those years ago.

Adhvait didn't slow his pace. He was as unbothered by Aaryan's presence as ever, his posture straight and unyielding. His cold eyes never once flickered toward Aaryan as he pushed open the door to the stairs and started walking up.

Aaryan's footsteps quickened to catch up. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Part of him wanted to tell Adhvait everything he'd kept bottled up.....how much he regretted the distance that had come between them, how much he missed the old days, how he didn't know how to fix it. But Adhvait had become something unrecognizable. He was a man of ice and silence, and Aaryan knew the more he pushed, the more Adhvait would retreat.

Finally, as they reached the rooftop, Aaryan spoke, his voice more strained than he intended.

"Adhvait," he began, his tone hesitant. "I never thought I'd see you again."

Adhvait stopped, his back to Aaryan, his hands in his pockets, staring out over the cityscape. There was no warmth in his expression, but there was a weight in his silence, one that told Aaryan everything he needed to know.

Aaryan took a deep breath, his emotions rising to the surface. "You know... I never understood why we drifted apart like that. You were, are....my best friend. You were like a brother to me. And I can't even tell you how much I regret letting it all slip away." His voice wavered slightly as he continued, "I didn't agree with what you became, but I should've been there. I should've tried harder."

Adhvait's posture stiffened for a moment, but he didn't turn to face Aaryan. His voice was cool, detached. "I didn't need you there, Aaryan. I don't need anyone."

The words hit harder than Aaryan had expected. They echoed with finality, each syllable a reminder of the distance between them. But Aaryan wasn't ready to let it end like this, not without trying.

"You've turned into someone I don't recognize anymore," Aaryan continued, his voice softer now. "But I still... I still care about you, Adhvait. And I can't just walk away from that. Not after everything."

Aaryan took a hesitant step forward, trying to close the gap between them, but Adhvait didn't respond. The tension between them stretched thin, hanging in the air like a storm about to break.

Adhvait's voice came low, almost imperceptible. "You don't understand, Aaryan. You can't. There's no place for softness where I've been. There's no room for regrets. I made my choices, and I don't look back."

Aaryan felt the weight of the words sink into him, the cold truth of them. It was as if Adhvait's heart had been carved out, piece by piece, by the world he had chosen to inhabit.

"I know you're different now," Aaryan said, his voice quieter, but there was a certain sadness in it. "But that doesn't mean I've stopped caring. It doesn't mean I stopped wishing things had turned out differently. We used to be able to talk about anything, Adhvait. Anything."