The world was silent, yet my mind screamed.
The night carried a weight so suffocating it felt like the air itself was choking me.
I stared at my reflection in the glass window of my room.
The city lights glittered beneath me, mocking me with their artificial peace.
Inside me, there was only chaos.
"How long can you keep this from her, Vihaan?"
My conscience hissed, but I silenced it.
She couldn't know.
Because if Shreya remembered that night… she'd never look at me the same way again.
And if she turned away from me…
I'd burn the entire world down — just to have her back.
----
It was 2:12 a.m.
Thirst drove me out of my room — until I noticed her room's light still on.
I stood there for a long moment, staring at it.
My chest felt heavy — anger simmering beneath my ribs, concern gnawing at me.
Finally, I knocked. A soft, hesitant sound, betraying none of the chaos raging inside me.
The door creaked open.
Shreya stood there.
Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair a messy cascade, lips trembling as though she'd been biting them to stop herself from screaming.
Her hands… they shook as she held the edge of the door for balance.
My heart clenched violently, but my face remained an unreadable mask.
Shreya: "…What do you need?"
Her voice was broken, like a fragile thread ready to snap.
Vihaan: "Nothing."
My tone was calm — too calm.
"Just checking on you."
She nodded mechanically, forcing a brittle smile.
Shreya: "I'm fine. You don't need to worry, Vihaan. Just… go back to sleep."
She moved to close the door.
I barged in, my palm slamming against the wood, pushing it wide open.
The sound reverberated like a gunshot.
Shreya froze, wide-eyed, fear and confusion mingling in her gaze.
Without a word, I grabbed her trembling hands and guided her to sit on the edge of the bed, lowering myself to my knees before her.
I looked up, my storm meeting her chaos.
Vihaan: "Look at me."
She avoided my eyes, tears streaming silently down her cheeks.
Vihaan, sharper: "Shreya. Look. At. Me."
Her gaze snapped to mine, and in those eyes, I saw it — pure terror, not of me… but of everything she'd endured tonight.
Vihaan : "Tell me what happened."
Her lips quivered. She opened her mouth but no sound came out — only a choked sob.
Then, without warning, she threw herself into my arms, clutching at me as though I were the only thing tethering her to this world.
Shreya : "Don't leave me alone, Vihaan! Please! I… I'm scared! So scared!"
Her desperation shattered me.
A blade of guilt sliced through my soul — because I hadn't been there soon enough to stop this.
I wrapped my arms around her with bone-crushing strength, as if I could shield her from every nightmare, every threat. My hands trembled as they ran down her back.
Vihaan :"I won't. Not now, not ever."
She sobbed harder, her tears soaking into my shirt.
Her body was shaking uncontrollably, and with every tremor, my rage multiplied tenfold.
I pulled back just enough to cup her face in my hands.
Her skin was cold, her lips pale, but her eyes… God, her eyes were drowning in pain.
Vihaan : "Whoever did this to you, whoever dared to make you feel like this…"
My thumb wiped away her tears, my jaw clenched.
"…I will hunt them down and tear them apart piece by piece. I'll burn their world to ash and make them watch."
Her lower lip trembled.
Shreya : "Vihaan… you're scaring me…"
I froze.
Her fear wasn't for herself — it was for me.
A bitter laugh escaped my throat, dark and broken.
Vihaan: "You should be scared, Shreya. But not of me."
I leaned closer, my forehead resting against hers.
"Be scared of what I'll do to them. Be scared of the devil I'm about to unleash for you."
Her breath hitched, and fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.
I kissed them away, tasting the salt of her sorrow, my hands framing her face like a vow.
Her sobbing slowed, replaced by a fragile silence.
Exhaustion dragged her under like a tide, and she collapsed against my chest, murmuring faintly.
Shreya : "Don't… leave me…"
My throat tightened.
I carefully laid her down on the bed, brushing her hair back tenderly.
As I turned to go, her fingers clutched mine desperately, even in sleep.
Vihaan : "I'm not leaving. Not now. Not ever."
The room was drowning in silence.
Only Shreya's slow, uneven breaths broke through the heavy stillness, as though even the walls were holding their breath around us.
She was curled against my chest, trembling even in her sleep, her delicate fingers gripping my shirt so tightly they felt like shackles around my soul.
Her body screamed fragility, but her presence… her existence… was the very thing keeping me tethered to this world.
I didn't dare move.
Because the moment I shifted, the fragile illusion of safety I'd wrapped her in might shatter, and she'd fall apart all over again.
My gaze fell on her face.
Her cheeks were damp, lashes clumped from tears.
My angel.
My destruction.
The one thing in this entire damned world that could turn me into both a devoted savior and an unforgiving monster.
And tonight… the monster inside me had been set free.
Vihaan's POV – Inner Monologue
"This isn't the first time I've seen her like this…"
The thought stabbed me like a thousand poisoned knives.
Images flashed through my mind, violent, chaotic — pieces of a puzzle no one else would ever see.
FLASH — MEMORY 1: THE FIRST BLOOD
A young Shreya, barely eight, sobbing in the darkness.
Her tiny hands clutching a broken doll, her dress torn, her knees scraped raw.
The stench of blood and fear thick in the air.
Men's laughter echoing in the distance — until it was cut off by screams.
A boy — me — stood there, barehanded and feral, his knuckles split open and dripping.
Bodies lay scattered around like broken puppets.
Shreya looked up at me, terrified yet trusting, never knowing I was both her guardian and the monster who had just bathed in sin to protect her.
Back in the present, my fists clenched so tightly my nails dug into my palms.
But before the pain could anchor me, another, darker memory surged forward — one that clawed at my sanity.
FLASH — MEMORY 2:
Rakshit's voice had been trembling when he called me that night.
Rakshit : "Vihaan! You need to come NOW. It's Shreya… Kabir's drugged her! He—he's—"
A pause.
"He's trying to strip her, man, and he's recording it! They've locked the doors!"
My vision had gone red.
The next few minutes were a blur of animalistic rage.
I didn't wait for weapons. I was the weapon.
I'd stormed that place like a storm from hell itself, tearing through Kabir's men with my bare hands.
Every scream fueled me.
By the time I reached the room, Shreya was barely conscious, her clothes disheveled, her skin covered in bruises.
Kabir stood over her with a camera, smirking.
Kabir : "Ah, the famous Vihaan Raj Mishra. Late to the party, aren't we?"
I didn't answer.
I just lunged.
When I was done, Kabir was bleeding and gasping, crawling backward like the coward he was.
I didn't kill him — not then.
That would've been too merciful.
I gathered Shreya into my arms, whispering,
Vihaan : "Angel… I'm here. You're safe now."
But fate wasn't done tormenting me.
As I carried her out, Harsh stumbled into the carnage, just in time for Kabir to begin his masterstroke.
He screamed for help, pointing at Harsh, painting him as the monster while slipping away like a serpent.
Shreya was so heavily drugged she couldn't recall a thing.
And later, she remembered nothing.
Nothing of Kabir's betrayal.
Nothing of what he tried to do.
I made sure of it.
BACK TO PRESENT –
I closed my eyes, teeth grinding as I relived that hell.
I'd erased Kabir from her world.
I'd told her he went abroad, didn't want her anymore.
She cried… she broke… and slowly, painfully, she moved on.
Until that day in the police station, when Kabir slithered back like a ghost from the past.
She had run into his arms, hugging him, sobbing.
And I had stood there, frozen, fury roaring through my veins.
That moment…
It became the darkest flame inside me, burning endlessly, whispering for vengeance.
Vihaan : "You'll pay for every touch, Kabir.
Every tear she shed because of you will be carved into your flesh."
Shreya stirred against me in her sleep, whimpering softly.
Shreya :
"Vihaan ... please… don't hurt him…"
And then, the name slipped out, breaking me.
Shreya : "…Kabir…"
For a heartbeat, the world went silent.
Then my rage detonated.
I leaned close, lips brushing her temple, voice soft and terrifyingly calm.
Vihaan : "Oh, angel… I won't hurt him."
A chilling pause.
"I'll destroy him. Piece by piece.
He'll beg me for death, and I'll deny him that mercy.
Because men like him don't deserve to die. They deserve to suffer."
I kissed her forehead with a reverence only devils possess.
Vihaan : "You are mine, Shreya. My first sin. My salvation. My curse.
And this city will burn before I let anyone take you from me."
But deep inside, another fear clawed at me:
What would happen if she ever remembered?
Her eyes would no longer look at me with love…
Only horror.
She tightened her fingers around the fabric of my shirt and, in sleep, muttered a small, desperate sound: "Don't… leave me." I did not move. I had no intention of ever leaving.
If the truth ever sat up and opened its eyes if the memory I had buried came back and found purchase in her — the look in hers would be the kind that kills a man more thoroughly than any blade. That thought terrified me more than the hatred I felt for Kabir. For now, I would carry the darkness alone. For now, I would be the monster she needed, because monsters keep the worst things at bay.
The vow had weight. It settled over me, cold and absolute.
"Sleep, angel," I said, my voice a promise and a threat folded into one. "Forget the darkness. Let me carry it for you… even if it kills me."
Outside, the city slept on—unaware, unworthy. Inside the room, quiet returned. I sat with her until the first breath of dawn, and the shapes of plans began to form in my head like maps of war. When morning came, the hunt would begin anew.