Silently...

Epilogue

It had been one year of living together.
Three hundred sixty-five days of almosts.

Almost confessions.
Almost kisses that lingered too long.
Almost words that stayed trapped behind Arjun’s clenched jaw and guarded eyes.

Riya knew.
She always knew.

Love had never been a question between them—only timing was.

That evening, the house looked different. Soft lights. Candles. The kind of silence that felt heavy, like something was about to break—or bloom.

Riya stood by the window, arms crossed, pretending to admire the city lights.

“Arjun,” she said lightly, though her heart was racing, “you know today completes one year, right?”

He nodded. “I know.”

She turned, raising an eyebrow. “That’s it? No dramatic speech? No surprise? I expected at least one filmy line.”

He smiled faintly. Too faint.
That’s when she sensed it.
Something was different.

Arjun walked toward her—slow, deliberate—like a man walking toward his truth.

“Riya,” he said, his voice low, steady but strained, “do you know what scares me the most?”

She swallowed. “You… not liking my coffee anymore?”

That made him smile—for real this time. Then his face softened.

“No,” he said. “Losing you… without ever telling you what you mean to me.”

Her breath hitched.
He took her hands, pressing them against his chest.

“Feel that?” he asked. “This heart… it was dead once. I buried it with someone I loved and lost.”

Riya’s eyes shimmered, but she didn’t look away.

“I promised myself I would never love again,” he continued. “Not because I didn’t want to—but because I didn’t believe I deserved it.”

His voice broke.
“And then you walked in.”

Her fingers curled into his shirt.
“You stayed when you didn’t have to. You loved me when I didn’t ask for it. You waited when I didn’t give you answers.”

He cupped her face, thumbs brushing her cheeks.
“Do you have any idea how terrifying it is,” he whispered, “to fall in love again after you’ve already lost everything once?”

Tears slipped down her face.

“And yet,” he said, voice rising now, emotion raw and unfiltered, “here I am. Completely ruined. Completely in love.”

Riya shook her head, overwhelmed.
“Arjun—”

“I love you, Riya,” he said firmly, loudly, like a man finally claiming his truth.

“I love you not quietly, not secretly, not silently anymore.”

He leaned his forehead against hers.

“I love you in every breath I take. In every night I sleep better because you’re beside me. In every morning I wake up knowing I’m not alone.”

Her lips trembled.

“I don’t want a life where you’re just there,” he continued. “I want a life where you’re mine. Where I choose you openly. Proudly.”