I Don't Plan to Fall for You Again
Aarav stepped in front of Aanya, shielding her with his body. "Aanya, look at me."
She looked. Through the terror and the betrayal, she saw the boy she had met in college. The one who had shared his umbrella with her.
"The 06:15 AM train," Aarav whispered. "The ticket is under the silk lining of the box. If I stay here, I can hold them off. But you have to break the link. You have to stop loving me, Aanya. Right now. You have to make your heart go cold, or the signal will never turn Green."
"How do I do that?" she cried, clutching his shirt. "How do I stop loving you in the middle of a nightmare?"
Aarav leaned in, his lips brushing her ear. "Think about the crosshair. Think about the tracker. Think about the fact that I am the man who was sent to kill you."
He pulled back and raised his gun, pointing it directly at Aanya's forehead.
"Run, Aanya. Before I decide to finish the job."
The Cliffhanger
Aanya stared into the barrel of the gun. Behind Aarav, Vikram was screaming something, and the Director was laughing.
She looked at the box. The light was pulsing faster now. Blink-blink-blink-blink.
The orange spark at the café grew into a small flame.
Aanya took a step back toward the exit, her heart shattering into a million jagged pieces. But as she turned to run, she felt something strange. The microchip in the box wasn't just humming—it was vocalizing.
A tiny, synthesized voice, audible only to her, whispered:
"Aarav's pulse detected. Heartbeat synchronization: 100%. If Target Aanya leaves the 10-meter radius, Agent Aarav's internal nanites will self-destruct."
Aanya stopped dead.
The tracker wasn't on her. The tracker was on them. If she ran to save herself, Aarav's heart would stop. If she stayed to save him, the city would burn.
She looked back at Aarav, who was screaming at her to run, his finger tightening on the trigger to scare her away.
"You're a liar, Aarav," Aanya whispered, a terrifyingly beautiful smile touching her lips. "You didn't put the bomb under the café. You put the bomb inside yourself."
In the distance, the clock tower began to chime.