Ishq hua (Duet 1)

Chapter 27: Imperfections

Author:

The weight of the silence after Abhimaan's departure was suffocating, pressing down on the room like a storm that had yet to break. He had given Rekha Aunty precise instructions on Vyom's care, his medical expertise keeping him focused even as the tension in the room thickened.

But before leaving, his parting words to Aira had lingered - low, quiet, edged with something that felt almost like concern.

"I'd suggest you keep some distance from Arsh before Vyom recovers. Okay?"

The implication had been clear.

Arsh wasn't just angry. He wasn't just ignoring her.

He was shutting her out.

What choices did she even have when Arsh was already treating her like she didn't exist?

Aira clenched her fists at her sides, her nails biting into her palms. The wound of his silence cut deeper than any of the glares directed her way.

Across the room, Inaya shifted, wincing slightly as she straightened against the cushions. The drying blood on her side painted a dark contrast against her skin, but her eyes were sharp, unwavering.

"You don't have to worry about me running," she said finally, breaking the silence. "You have my family hostage, remember? If I run, they die."

Her voice was steady, void of panic or desperation. She had accepted her circumstances, as if she had already weighed her options and knew resistance was pointless.

Arsh, standing near the edge of the room, barely turned to acknowledge her. His face remained unreadable, his posture rigid with control. "I don't care where you go as long as you are out of my sight."

Then, shifting his attention to Rekha Aunty, he added, "Show her to a guest room. We will talk once Vyom wakes up."

Inaya exhaled a sharp, humorless laugh. "Oh, I am dying to have that conversation."

Arsh didn't react. He didn't turn, didn't spare her another glance.

But it wasn't his indifference to Inaya that made the air turn frigid.

It was the way his gaze flickered toward Aira - brief, fleeting, like an afterthought - before settling back into an abyss of detached calculation.

Aira stiffened.

She felt that glance.

It wasn't anger. It wasn't accusation.

It was nothing.

A hollow, empty void where something used to be.

Her throat tightened.

Was he really going to pretend she didn't exist?

She held my breath.

Waiting.

Hoping.

Something. Anything.

Arsh's next words however sealed it.

"Tell Aira to go to her room," he instructed Rekha Aunty, his tone clipped and impersonal. "And make sure she locks the door from inside."

Aira inhaled sharply.

Not Aira, go to your room.

Not You should rest.

Not even a direct order.

He had stripped her of even the courtesy of acknowledgment.

Rekha Aunty hesitated, her eyes darting between them, sensing the silent devastation Arsh had just delivered. But she nodded, and despite her anger at Aira, her voice was gentle as she spoke.