Chapter 19

❤️ Please vote, comment, share and follow yo read the chapters daily. All writer friends are suggesting that I should post only 2 or 3 times a week, if the targets are achieved. Because according to them many of you take it for granted that I will post one chapter daily anyway so there is no need to press the vote button.

And sometimes I think that they are right. So I might take their suggestions. So if you want to read everyday, please vote, share, follow and comment.

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Roohi's POV

By the time my shift ended, I was exhausted, but not from the work. The weight of everything had drained me. I just wanted to go home, to collapse into my bed, to forget about the pain for a little while. But when I walked through the door, my phone buzzed.

A message from Vihan.

*' Hey, Roohi. Are you free tonight? Thought we could grab dinner, just the two of us'

My heart skipped, then dropped. Just the two of us?

I stared at the screen, feeling my breath catch in my throat. For a fleeting moment, I let myself hope. Maybe this was it. Maybe tonight would be different. Maybe he finally saw me, finally realized that I was the one he wanted.

But then reality hit, cold and sharp. This wasn’t some grand romantic gesture. His date probably stood him up, and now he was offering me the leftovers. This was just Vihan being Vihan—casual, friendly, and completely unaware of the storm he was causing inside me.

I should have said no. I should have told him I wasn’t interested in being his second choice.

But I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

*' Sure. Where do you want to meet?'

His response was almost instant, and I found myself getting ready, my mind swirling with a storm of emotions. I told myself not to expect anything, not to read into it. But deep down, a small part of me couldn’t stop hoping that maybe tonight, just maybe, he’d see me.

But as I stood in front of the mirror, adjusting my hair and putting on just a little makeup, I realized the truth. It didn’t matter how much I prepared. It didn’t matter how hard I tried to make myself into something he would want.

Vihan didn’t love me.

And no matter how many circles he traced on my back, I couldn’t make him.

But still, I went. I went because a part of me was too weak to say no, too broken to let go.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I saw him immediately. He was standing by the door, looking around for me, his usual carefree charm in full force. But as soon as I walked in, he seemed distracted, his eyes lighting up as his phone buzzed.

It was her.

The girl he’d been on a date with the night before.

She had finally decided to show up, and Vihan’s face lit up with that same boyish excitement that made my chest tighten.

“Roohi, I... I can’t stay. She invited me,” he said quietly, his hand hovering near the door, clearly torn.

I felt it. The anger, the hurt, the humiliation—all of it rising in me. But my voice came out soft, barely a whisper.

“Don’t go, Vihan.”

He froze, looking back at me, the hesitation in his eyes almost imperceptible. It was enough to break me.

Vihan stood there, his hand on the door, hesitation flickering in his eyes. For a moment, I thought I saw something—something deep, something real. But it was gone as quickly as it came. His lips pressed into a thin line, and he looked away, breaking whatever fragile thread had tether

And just like that, he walked away.

The sound of the door swinging shut echoed louder in my mind than it had any right to. For a few seconds, I stood there, frozen, my heart a battlefield of emotions I couldn’t even begin to untangle. Anger, hurt, humiliation—each fought for dominance, but what lingered the most was the ache of disappointment. Not in Vihan, but in myself.

I should have expected this.

I did expect this.

But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

The waiter approached cautiously, his polite smile faltering when he saw me standing there alone. “Ma’am, would you like to be seated?”

For a second, I considered staying. Ordering something, pretending that I wasn’t just stood up—not really, not officially, but enough to sting. But the thought of sitting there at a corner table, staring at the empty chair across from me, was unbearable.

“No, thank you,” I murmured, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ll be leaving.”

I turned on my heel and walked out, keeping my head high even as my chest tightened with every step. The cold evening air hit me like a slap, but I welcomed it. I needed something to ground me, to pull me out of the haze of emotions swirling inside me.

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Here is my today's chapter I hope you liked it please let me know.

Take good care of yourself and have a great day.

Thanks

Chhavi.