The room did not feel like a room anymore.
It felt like a boundary.
A thin line between breathing and not breathing.
Between present and past.
Between what was supposed to happen and what was changed.
Aarohi's fingers were ice cold.
"Someone didn't allow me to die?" she whispered.
Riaan didn't move.
He didn't blink.
"Yes."
Arin stepped back slightly, as if the air itself had shifted.
"That doesn't make sense," he said, voice tight. "People don't just… interfere with death."
Riaan's eyes didn't leave Aarohi.
"Not people."
Silence fell heavy.
Aarohi swallowed.
"Then what?"
For the first time, something like fear passed through Riaan's expression.
"Something that wasn't supposed to be there."
---
Past – The Moment Between
The world after death wasn't white.
It wasn't dark either.
It was unfinished.
Like a half-formed space where time did not move correctly.
Riaan remembered standing in the rain that didn't touch him.
He remembered the pull trying to drag him upward.
He remembered resisting.
But then—
He saw Aara.
Not her body.
Her soul.
Faint.
Glowing softly.
Hovering just above the broken form lying on the wet road.
She looked confused.
Small.
Lost.
Her soul was beginning to rise.
The pull wrapped around her stronger than it had wrapped around him.
She was going.
He felt panic for the first time since dying.
"No," he whispered.
He tried to reach her.
His hand passed through her light.
The pull grew stronger.
The space around them distorted.
And then—
It changed.
The air thickened.
The rain stopped mid-fall.
Time froze.
The pull vanished.
Something else entered.
It didn't walk.
It didn't move like a body.
It appeared.
A presence so heavy the space bent around it.
Riaan couldn't see a face.
Couldn't see a shape clearly.
Only darkness edged in silver light.
Ancient.
Still.
Watching.
Aara's soul flickered.
The presence turned toward her.
Riaan felt something for the first time since dying.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
"Leave her alone," he said.
The presence did not respond.
It examined Aara's soul like something evaluating a fragile object.
Then—
It reached toward her.
Not violently.
Not gently.
Just deliberately.
The pull toward death disappeared completely.
Aara's soul stopped rising.
Instead—
It was pushed.
Down.
Back toward her body.
Riaan shouted.
"What are you doing?!"
No answer.
Her soul slammed back into her physical form.
The rain resumed.
Time snapped back.
Sirens screamed again.
People moved.
Shouted.
Lifted her body.
She gasped.
Alive.
Riaan stared in horror.
Because that wasn't supposed to happen.
He turned toward the presence.
"Why?" he demanded.
For the first time—
It looked at him.
And though it had no visible eyes—
He felt seen.
Measured.
Judged.
Then the presence faded.
Not disappearing.
Just stepping beyond perception.
Leaving one thing behind.
A whisper that wasn't sound.
"She is not finished."
And then Riaan understood.
She didn't survive by chance.
She was kept.
---
Present
Aarohi felt like the floor had disappeared beneath her.
"She was not finished?" she repeated faintly.
Riaan nodded once.
"You were supposed to leave with me."
Arin's breathing had changed.
This was no longer just grief.
No longer just trauma.
"What does that mean?" Arin asked carefully.
Riaan's gaze softened, but it held something darker now.
"It means her life didn't restart naturally."
Aarohi's heart began to pound painfully.
"Then what am I?"
"You are a soul that was stopped mid-exit," Riaan said quietly.
Silence swallowed the room.
Arin shook his head.
"No. This is psychological stress. Trauma memory. That's all."
But even he didn't sound convinced.
Aarohi's voice trembled.
"Why would something stop me from dying?"
Riaan stepped closer.
His form clearer now.
Less translucent.
More defined.
"Because your story wasn't supposed to end there."
Her throat tightened.
"And what is it supposed to be?"
Riaan didn't answer immediately.
His expression grew distant.
"It wasn't about saving you."
The words landed wrong.
Aarohi's pulse skipped.
"Then what was it about?"
Riaan's voice lowered.
"It was about using you."
The air went still.
Arin moved in front of Aarohi instinctively.
"Using her for what?"
Riaan's eyes darkened slightly.
"I don't know yet."
Aarohi felt something cold crawl down her spine.
"You stayed because of guilt," she whispered.
Riaan shook his head slowly.
"I stayed because I thought I could protect you."
"From what?"
His gaze shifted toward the empty corner of the room.
"As long as I remained tied to you, it couldn't take you again."
The weight of that statement crushed the air.
Aarohi's mind raced.
"So my reincarnation…"
Riaan finished quietly.
"Was not an accident."
Her breath shattered.
"Then what am I now?"
Riaan looked at her with something close to sorrow.
"You are someone who escaped death."
"And something is waiting to collect what it couldn't take."
The room felt colder than before.
Arin's hand tightened around Aarohi's.
"This ends now," he said firmly.
Riaan looked at him calmly.
"It already began long ago."
Aarohi's heart beat louder than her thoughts.
If she wasn't meant to survive…
If something interfered…
If her second life wasn't natural…
Then this wasn't just about love.
It was about unfinished destiny.
And something watching from the dark.
For the first time since remembering—
Aarohi wasn't afraid of Riaan.
She was afraid of what kept her alive.
And somewhere beyond the thin line between worlds—
Something was still waiting.