She walked fast toward the stairs, not daring to look back .
Ved paused for a moment, trying to process what had just happened.
The closeness, the pull between them… and then the sudden break.
Then a thought hit him—
She's leaving.
He ran after her.
"Aisha!" he shouted.
But Aisha didn't stop.
She had already crossed the 4th floor. Ved was just a few steps behind her.
Both were running—her out of panic, him out of something he wasn't ready to name yet.
By the time she reached the 3rd floor, Aisha fumbled with her keys and unlocked the door as fast as she could.
Ved was right behind her—just about to step in.
But before he could,
she slammed the door shut—right in his face.
Ved, feeling hopeless, started walking toward his room, muttering under his breath,
"303."
his room was on 4th floor.
He didn't take the elevator this time.
He needed the stairs.
Maybe the climb would slow down his thoughts, help him breathe, make sense of whatever the hell just happened.
But nothing was making sense.
---
Her room was dark.
Not dim—dark.
The kind of dark where even your own hands don't feel familiar.
Only the faint, flickering city lights through the window carved out her silhouette.
Aisha stood with her back against the door, chest rising and falling too fast.
She didn't move
Her body was damp with sweat.
Her heart was racing—no, thrashing, like it wanted out of her chest.
She closed her eyes.And all the traumas she'd been trying so hard to escape—
came crashing back, one by one.
She was regretting coming to Delhi.
Her thoughts were crashing.
One side of her mind kept replaying everything she had been going through these past two–three months—
And the other side—
It was stuck on that moment on the terrace.
On Ved.
How close they were.
How his fingers had touched her face.
How attractive he looked under city lights.
But the second thought…
It had more power.
Her mind started clicking through every impression of Ved—
his messy, curly hair,
that perfectly shaped jawline,
how unexpectedly pretty his eyes were,
his masculine frame, the way he moved,
and mostly—how tall he was.
Like a Greek god—but the Indian version.
Aisha threw all the thoughts away, like slamming a door inside her head.
She walked to the switchboard, pushed the key into the slot, and turned on the light.
She sat at the corner of the bed, still quiet.
Her stomach growled—
She opened Swiggy and scrolled half-heartedly before ordering a pizza.
"Your order will be delivered within the next 40minutes" the screen flashed.
She tossed the phone aside with a sigh.
To kill time—
and maybe rinse off the weight of everything—
she walked into the bathroom for a shower.
----
Ved was sitting on the chair beside his bed, staring out at the fading city lights.
His mind kept going back to the terrace.
That moment.
Aisha's half-smile.
Her soft lips.
That snatched waist—
the way his hands had crossed it, gripped it, when she was about to fall.
He could still feel her against him.
The warmth.
The tension.
As he sat there, lost in the memory, something shifted.
His trousers were feeling tight.
That low, unmistakable pressure—he was aroused.
The thought of Aisha.
Her body in his arms.
The way her breath had touched his skin.
It had stayed with him—more than he realized.
"Shit," he muttered under his breath, running a hand through his hair.
To clean up his thoughts, Ved hopped into the shower.
Maybe cold water would help him calm down—
his thoughts… and himself.
---
Aisha stepped out of the shower just as her phone rang.
"Ma'am, I'm here for your—" the delivery guy began.
"3rd floor, Room 303," she cut in, already knowing what he was going to say.
She opened the door, took the pizza, thanked him without much eye contact, and placed the box on the table.
She sat down on the chair beside it, opened the box, and took a bite.
But the room light was too bright—too harsh for her tired eyes.
Holding a slice in her hand, she walked to the switchboard.
Turned off the main light and flicked on the dim one.
For Aisha, "Big lights are just for finding things.Otherwise,they're useless ."
She sat back down in the same spot.
And for a few seconds—she was still.
Until the thoughts returned.
One by one.
Her mom—
That warming smile.
The way she made everything feel okay.
How she always stood by her no matter what.
Then Kiki—
Her tiny meows, long soft fur, her little nose, the way she curled up on Aisha's chest.
She loved them.
Loved them more than anything.
And then—
a scene snapped into her mind like a broken frame.
Red!
Everywhere Was Red.
Blood.
kiki .
mom.