The Sisodia heirs stood unrivaled in control and possession, their world a testament to their might. To onlookers, their lives were a manifestation of perfection, with their family and surname commanding respect, prestige, and reputation.
Yet, behi...
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This part is solely dedicated to Vedika and Sidharth.
[Just read the gist at the end if you want to skip.]
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Vedika and Sidharth stood facing each other, the warmth of their embrace still lingering, yet fading like a fleeting moment. Their worlds seemed to have come to a pause where it felt like time had frozen, taking them back in the past.
"You are... alive." Sidharth's words were barely audible, but they carried weight of years. It was like he was repeating them to himself, confirming them to himself.
The silence around them grows thicker with a maze of memories playing in the background. Their eyes never each other's, existentially, welling up and flowing with tears that they don't bother to wipe.
"You are here. In front of me." His hand rises to touch her face to convince himself it wasn't a dream or hallucination, to make himself believe the impossible truth.
Vedika's eyes blink, and she gives a small nod, tears streaming down her cheeks in an unrestrained flow.
"Fifteen years... I thought I had lost you. Fifteen years. I thought you were gone. Dead," he continues, the resurfacing emptiness a haunting reminder of every breath that testified to his survival without her.
The initial disbelief that was holding them paralyzed earlier begins to wear off, as the reality slowly sinks in. His hand falls from her face of its own accord, and she holds it suspended in mid-air.
A thousand questions swirl in his mind, but only one manages to escape. "Why did you?"
"I didn't," she speaks for the first time, and Sidharth's gaze locks onto her face in reminiscence, hearing the voice he could recognize like the rhythm of his heartbeat. "I was left with no other choice."
The calmness in her tone, her eyes, her very demeanor, clashes with the storm of emotions raging within him — a result of his world crashing down around him.
"Choice? There was nothing in this world you would put over us, our family, right? Then why did you cause this pain to the ones you loved?" He wanted answers. It was becoming difficult for him to take in all, and yet, the irony was that he still didn't know anything.
"Why did you leave me?" he asks with a mix of longing, desperation, and anger.
Did she never wonder what became of him? Think about what he had been going through? How he spent each day, each minute, each moment without her? How he kept living even after dying inside?
"To protect our children, Sidharth. I would have gone against the world for us, fought all battles for our family, sacrificed everything, but their lives were non-negotiable," Vedika replies in acceptance, gripping his hand tighter in hers.
