The words you spoke you will die alone did not echo.
They struck.
It felt like an execution carried out without a blade.
My body went still.
The tears dried mid-breath.
The tremor in my hands vanished as if it had never existed.
For a long, suspended minute, the room held nothing but the soft hum of artificial air and the steady, maddening rhythm of your silent chant something ancient, something I could not interrupt no matter how hard I tried.
"Die alone…" I whispered.
The words tasted foreign. Hollow. Metallic.
I pulled my hands back and sat on my heels, staring at the cardboard box that had become your fortress, your refuge, your defiance. And then something inside me clicked.
The desperation drained away.
In its place came clarity. Cold. Perfect. Terrifying.
A small smile curved my lips, not warm, not kind. Glassy. Final.
"You're right, Manu," I said quietly. "Money won't go with me. Power won't go with me. And yes… I will die. Everyone does."
I rose slowly, smoothing the silk of my dress with a ritualistic calm, as if preparing for a ceremony rather than a breakdown.
I walked to the biometric panel by the door and entered a command. The lights dimmed obediently, surrendering the room to moonlight alone silver and pale, turning everything unreal.
"But you're wrong about one thing," I continued, walking back toward you.
I didn't kneel.
I sat down beside the box instead, my back resting against it, against you joining your exile rather than fighting it.
"I won't die alone."
I leaned my head back against the cardboard and closed my eyes.
"If you're choosing to die here," I said softly, "then I am choosing the same."
There was no drama in my voice now. Only decision.
"You want to go to your Radha?" I whispered. "Fine. But I told you, I don't lose. If you starve, I starve. If your heart stops, mine won't be far behind. I have enough pills to make sure of that."
My fingers traced the edge of the box, barely touching, reverent, almost tender.
"Imagine it, Manu. When your sight fades. When your breath weakens. I'll be the one holding your cold hand. And when you finally leave this world… you'll have to step over my body to reach her."
A quiet, broken laugh escaped me.
"I will haunt the very path to your heaven."
This was no longer obsession.
This was resolve.
"Go on," I murmured into the dark. "Chant. Pray. Hide. I'll be right here with you. Let's see who is more patient, your silent Goddess, or the woman willing to turn this palace into our tomb."
I unclasped the silver locket from my neck the only thing I had ever kept for myself and placed it gently on top of the box.
"I'm done talking about money. I'm done talking about power."
My eyes opened, reflecting moonlight and madness in equal measure.
"From now on, there is only silence. Hunger. Time."
"And us."
"If you won't live for me," I finished quietly, "then we will rot together."