Her Only Saviour

bonus #3 (optional)

𝕶𝖍𝖜𝖆𝖆𝖇 𝕳𝖆𝖎 𝕿𝖚..

𝕹𝖊𝖊𝖓𝖉 𝕳𝖔𝖔𝖓 𝕸𝖆𝖎𝖓
𝕯𝖔𝖓𝖔𝖓 𝕸𝖎𝖑𝖊𝖎𝖓 𝕽𝖆𝖆𝖙 𝕭𝖆𝖓𝖊

𝕽𝖔𝖟 𝖄𝖆𝖍𝖎 𝕸𝖆𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖚𝖓 𝕯𝖚𝖆𝖆
𝕿𝖊𝖗𝖎 𝕸𝖊𝖗𝖎 𝕭𝖆𝖆𝖙 𝕭𝖆𝖓𝖊 𝕭𝖆𝖆𝖙 𝕭𝖆𝖓𝖊..

~~~~~

The day had been soft, uneventful. Sunlight spilled into the Oberoi mansion like warm honey, the air unusually still.

Nandini had spent most of it tucked in the garden, sketching new choreographies in her diary, chatting lightly with Gauri and Anika over cups of nimbu paani.

She laughed when Rudra tripped over the garden hose. Smiled when Shivaay and Omkara began their mild bickering about business models. Even hummed a little tune when she passed Dadi’s room.

But that evening, something shifted.

Anirudh had gone out briefly to meet a client—just for two hours. She had told him to go.

“I’ll be fine, Ani,” she’d said, waving her hand. “It’s not like I’m made of glass.”

But glass could crack without warning.

Because while she sat on the bed alone, trying to fold her clothes, her eyes fell on a tiny old box tucked in the back of her closet.

She pulled it out with trembling fingers.

Inside was a single white pair of baby socks.

The ones she’d bought secretly a year ago or more… before the nightmare swallowed her whole.

Her breath hitched.

The next second, she couldn’t breathe.

She didn’t even know when the sob escaped her throat. Or when her knees gave way as she slid down beside the bed, the socks clutched tightly to her chest.

It wasn’t just sadness.

It was fear.

Fear that it would happen again.

That she’d be too weak.

That something would go wrong.

That she didn’t deserve this happiness.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered to the silence. “I thought I could… but I can’t…”

Her body shook violently.

“I’m scared, Ani,” she whispered to the empty room, eyes closed, hot tears spilling out. “I’m so scared…”

The door flung open a few seconds later. Anirudh didn’t even knock.

He’d sensed it. Somehow.

Ram, his PA, had noticed a strange tension in him during the drive home—a nervousness, an urgency that couldn’t be explained. “sir you can leave now I'll reschedule everything," Ram had said simply.

He didn’t wait.

And thank god for that.

Because the moment Anirudh saw her collapsed on the floor, her arms wrapped tightly around that tiny box, sobbing like the world was ending—his heart shattered into a thousand pieces.

“Nandini,” he whispered, kneeling beside her instantly. “Angel—hey, look at me.”

She couldn’t. Her tears kept falling, her grip didn’t loosen.