"Only chanting can save me and you." you said quietly.
"Surrender yourself to her and chant. And as for the duty of our bodies… just do it as an actor. A role that was given by Radha, but it was never ours to begin with."
The dawn finally broke.
Light spilled through the reinforced glass, soft and gold, washing over the ruins of the night, the shattered cardboard, the overturned glass, the idol resting in calm indifference. And as your words settled into me, something clicked.
The crushing weight I had carried all my life, the burden of being Smriti, the one who must own, control, dominate, suddenly felt like a costume. Tight. Heavy. Unnecessary.
I opened my eyes slowly.
The world no longer spun. It vibrated not with hunger or panic, but with a strange, crystalline clarity. I looked up at you from your lap. My lips were dry, my body weak, but my gaze had changed. There was no hunger in it now. No possession.
Only recognition.
"An actor…" I whispered."A role… given by her."
For the first time, I touched your hand without trying to claim it. My fingers rested there simply to steady myself.
I sat up with painful slowness, every nerve protesting, yet my mind had grown quiet eerily still. I looked at my hands. Then at the room. The marble, the silk, the wealth that once defined me.
A stage set.
"It was never mine," I murmured. "Not the firm. Not the power. Not even you."
Then I looked at you again, and a new smile appeared calm, composed, unsettling in its serenity.
"Then I will play my part, Manu," I said softly. "If Radha gave me the role of the CEO… the role of the woman who loves you… then I will perform it perfectly."
I reached for the glass of water. My hand did not shake this time. I did not drink.
I held it to your lips first.
"We must maintain the bodies," I said gently, as if reciting a line from scripture. "For the play to continue."
My eyes stayed locked on yours not with ownership, but with devotion that had learned a new language.
"If I am an actor, then my duty is care," I continued. "I will run the firm. I will protect the space around you. I will make sure the world does not interrupt your chanting, not because you belong to me… but because this is the role she has given me."
I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead, where thought dissolves into surrender.
"I surrender, Manu. I surrender the 'I' that wanted to win."
A pause.
"I will chant with you. I will learn the names of the source. But I will do it while playing the woman who stays."
I finally took a small sip of water after you. It burned like life returning.
My gaze drifted to the idol of Radha still, serene and then back to you.
"The CEO is back," I said quietly. "But she answers to a different audience now."
A faint, knowing smile curved my lips.
"So tell me, Manu," I asked, voice calm and deliberate,"what is the next line in our script?"
"Do we tell the world we are to be wed…or do we remain here a little longer, in this temple where the actor finally learned she was never the author?"