"I'm not as simple as you think," she whispered. "What you see-that softness-it's real. But it's not all of me."
Her smile was fragile, almost heartbreaking. "And the rest of me... it's not easy to love."
His thumb brushed beneath her eye, wiping away a tear she hadn't even noticed.
"You don't have to be easy," he said quietly.
She shook her head, unable to stop the truth from spilling out.
"You don't understand," she whispered. "If you knew how far I could go... how much I could want... how fiercely I could hold on-"
She stopped. The word obsession was too dangerous to say out loud.
So she chose the simpler truth.
"I don't want to lose you," she said, voice breaking.
"I don't want to lose this chance. Even if-"
She swallowed, and her voice shook as she continued.
"-even if what we have isn't love yet."
The word yet hung between them like a fragile thread of hope.
Raghav went still.
"You're saying," he said slowly, careful, "you'd stay... even without love?"
She lifted her gaze, eyes shining with unshed tears.
"I would stay," she whispered.
"I would choose you."
"Even if it hurts."
"Even if it's not perfect."
Her honesty trembled on the edge of selfishness-and she knew it.
Because the truth was darker.
She could survive a loveless life with him.
But she couldn't survive a life without him at all.
She rested her forehead against his chest, voice barely audible now.
"Maybe that makes me selfish," she admitted. "But just this once... I want to be."
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