The first face Riya saw clearly was her mother's.
For a few seconds, the room refused to settle around her. The ceiling was familiar, the curtains were familiar, even the faint scent surrounding her belonged to home, yet everything felt strangely distant. Her body was heavy, her throat painfully dry, and the steady beeping beside the bed seemed far too loud. None of it mattered when her mother's blurred face finally sharpened before her.
"Mom…"
Her mother froze.
One weak word was enough. Tears spilled freely as she moved closer to the bed. Her hand reached toward Riya's face and stopped halfway, trembling as though she was suddenly afraid to touch her.
"Riya…"
Riya frowned. She knew that voice. She knew those hands, those eyes, every tiny expression crossing her mother's face. What she didn't understand was why her mother was looking at her as though she had been given something back that she had already lost.
Riya slowly turned her head and found Rana standing beside the bed.
"Dad?"
Something in Rana's face broke.
Through everything that had happened, he had forced himself to remain steady because someone had to. But hearing his daughter call him Dad cracked through the control he had been holding onto. He took her hand carefully, his fingers closing around hers as though he needed the contact to convince himself this was real.
"I'm here, sweetheart."
Riya looked from him to her mother. "Why are you both crying?"
Her mother gave a broken little laugh and bent over her, pressing a kiss against her forehead. When she pulled back, she brushed Riya's hair away from her face, her fingers still trembling.
"Because you're talking to me."
"I always talk to you."
That only made her mother laugh and cry harder.
A faint smile touched Rana's face. Riya watched them both, her confusion growing. They weren't simply happy that she had woken up. She knew her parents too well for that.
Something had happened.
She tried to remember.
Something flashed behind her eyes—pain, darkness, a sensation of falling somewhere she couldn't see. It vanished almost immediately, leaving nothing she could hold onto.
Riya frowned and tried again, but the effort only deepened the ache behind her eyes.
"Where's Vikram?"
There was a small movement near the other side of the bed.
Vikram had been standing there the entire time.
Unlike their mother, he hadn't rushed toward her. Unlike Rana, he hadn't even tried to speak. He simply stood there staring, his face exhausted and his eyes fixed on his sister as though he still didn't completely trust what he was seeing.
Riya found him and frowned. "Vikram?"
He swallowed.
"Why are you standing there?"
His lips moved, but for a second no sound came out. Finally he asked, "You remember me?"
Riya stared at him.
"What kind of stupid question is that?"
Rana's quiet laugh escaped before he could stop it. Her mother covered her mouth, caught somewhere between tears and laughter.
Vikram's expression finally broke. "Yeah. That's you."
He crossed the distance between them without another thought and wrapped his arms around her.
Riya barely had time to register the movement before her entire body stiffened.
Her breath caught sharply. The monitor beside the bed quickened, its sudden beeping cutting through the room. Her palms came up between them before she even realized she had moved.
"Vikram…"
She pushed him away.
Vikram released her immediately.
For a moment, no one moved.
Riya stared at him, breathing harder than she should have been. Vikram took a step back, his hands falling slowly to his sides.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No."
The answer came so quickly that there was no doubt in it.
His brows drew together. "Then what happened?"
Riya looked at her own hands.
"I don't know."
That was the only answer she had.
She looked back at him. He had hidden the hurt quickly, but not quickly enough.
"Vikram, I didn't mean to—"
"Don't." His voice softened before she could finish. "You just woke up. I'm not starting a fight with you already."
She stared at him suspiciously. "Already?"
"Give me a few hours."
Despite everything, a tiny laugh escaped her.
"There," Vikram murmured. "That's better."
Her mother laughed with her, wiping her cheeks again. Rana's shoulders finally seemed to loosen.
For a few precious minutes, the room became theirs again.
Riya complained that everyone was staring at her. Vikram informed her that she had apparently woken up just as irritating as before. Rana told both of them to stop, which only made Riya point out that Vikram had started it. Her mother kept fussing over her, unable to stop herself from checking whether Riya was comfortable.
It was ordinary.
After everything the people around her had endured, ordinary felt precious.
Eventually Riya sank deeper into the pillows. Even a few minutes of conversation had exhausted her far more than she expected. She looked at her parents again, then at Vikram, trying to understand the exhaustion written across all three faces.
Her gaze shifted beyond them.
That was when she noticed the man standing farther away.
He hadn't joined the family around the bed. He hadn't spoken. He simply stood near the far side of the room, silent and still.
Riya's eyes settled on him.
Something moved through her mind.
Warmth.
For the briefest second, she felt fingers beneath hers. A hand she had held tightly when everything around her had seemed impossibly far away.
Then the sensation vanished.
Riya blinked.
The stranger was still there.
She studied his face, searching for some reason it held her attention. She didn't recognize the man standing before her. At least, not in any way she could explain. There was only a strange hesitation somewhere inside her, enough to make her look at him longer than she intended.
Rana noticed.
"Riya?"
She glanced at him before looking back at the stranger.
Rana followed her gaze. "This is Druve."
Riya's eyes returned to him.
"Druve…"
The name came softly from her lips.
Druve didn't move, but something in his expression sharpened.
He stepped toward the bed.
Riya's gaze followed him.
Before he could reach her, Rajveer moved.
"Druve."
Druve stopped and looked at his father.
"Come outside."
"Dad, not now."
"Now."
There was nothing loud in Rajveer's voice, but Druve knew that tone.
Riya glanced between them, sensing the sudden tension but understanding none of it. Druve looked back at her. For a moment it seemed he might ignore his father entirely, but Rajveer was already moving toward the door.
Druve's jaw tightened. He gave Riya one final look before following his father into the hallway.
Rajveer pulled the bedroom door mostly closed behind them.
The moment they were alone, Druve turned to him. "Why did you stop me?"
"Because you were about to question her."
"That's why I'm here."
"And she opened her eyes barely minutes ago."
Druve's jaw tightened. "Dad, I've waited seven years. Don't ask me to stand outside that room when the first person who may actually have an answer is lying right there."
Rajveer knew that tone. The anger was easier for Druve to show than everything underneath it.
"I'm not asking you to walk away."
"Then don't stop me."
"I'm asking you to give her time to come back to herself. You rush her now, you may get nothing from her at all."
Druve looked toward the closed bedroom door. Every part of him wanted to go back inside, say Sruthi's name and finally ask the questions that had followed him for seven years.
"A few hours," Rajveer said.
Druve's eyes returned to him. "That's all I'm giving you."
Rajveer nodded. "A few hours."
"Then I ask."
"Then you ask."
Druve exhaled slowly and turned toward the door.
Rajveer stopped him with two words.
"There's more."
Druve looked back. "What?"
"I want you to protect Riya."
The answer came immediately.
"No."
Rajveer had expected nothing else.
"Rana has people," Druve continued. "Let him increase the security."
"So did he before someone tried to kill her."
Druve's expression changed slightly.
Rajveer continued, "Someone got close enough to try to finish her while she couldn't even defend herself. I'm not assuming they won't try again."
"Then Rana increases security."
"He will."
"Problem solved."
Druve started to turn away.
"I don't think it necessarily began with the attempt in this house."
That brought his attention back.
"What do you mean?"
"I've been thinking about her accident."
Druve studied him. "You think it wasn't an accident."
"I think someone trying to kill her afterward gives us a reason to question whether the first incident was really an accident."
"Do you have proof?"
"No."
"Then it's a guess."
"A suspicion."
Druve said nothing.
"Maybe I'm wrong," Rajveer continued. "I hope I am. But someone wanted her dead badly enough to come back and make sure she never woke up. Now whoever did it knows they failed."
"And now she's awake."
"Exactly."
Druve glanced toward the bedroom.
"Rana knows what you think?"
"He knows what I'm considering."
"Then let him increase his security."
"He will."
"Good."
Druve turned away again. "Then you don't need me."
"And if they fail again?"
Druve stopped.
Rajveer watched him carefully. "You waited seven years to get this close. Are you really going to leave the only person who might give you an answer in someone else's hands?"
Druve turned back, irritation flashing across his face. "Dad—"
"I'm not asking you to care about Riya."
That silenced him.
Rajveer's voice lowered. "I'm asking you to think about what happens if whoever wants her dead succeeds before she tells you what she knows."
Druve's expression slowly changed.
"You lose Riya," Rajveer continued. "And whatever she knows about Sruthi dies with her."
Druve looked toward the bedroom door.
Rajveer let him.
"You can spend another seven years following guesses," he said after a moment. "Or you can make sure the one real lead you finally have stays alive long enough to give you an answer."
Druve's jaw tightened.
"Rana will protect his daughter," Rajveer continued. "But that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking whether you are willing to trust your only lead to someone else's protection."
This time Druve didn't answer immediately.
From inside the room came the faint sound of Riya's voice, followed by Vikram's reply. Druve stared at the closed door.
"Are you?" Rajveer asked.
Druve's answer was quiet.
"No."
Rajveer nodded once.
"I'll protect her," Druve said. "Until she tells me what she knows about Sruthi, no one gets near her."
"Good."
"But the moment she's ready, I talk to her."
"When she's ready."
Druve gave his father a warning look. "Don't turn a few hours into a few days."
Rajveer's mouth shifted faintly. "I know better."
Druve reached for the door.
"You really enjoy making simple things difficult, don't you?"
Rajveer looked at him. "You've been making my life difficult since the day you learned to walk."
For the first time since they had stepped into the hallway, some of the tension left Druve's face.
Only some.
Rajveer touched his shoulder once before releasing him.
"Keep her alive first."
Druve didn't argue.
They returned to the bedroom.
Rana looked up when they entered but didn't ask what had been discussed. Vikram was sitting near his sister now, close enough to talk to her but carefully avoiding touching her. Riya's mother remained beside the bed, still watching her daughter as though she couldn't bear to look anywhere else for long.
Riya looked toward the door.
Her eyes found Druve almost immediately.
He noticed.
This time he didn't approach her.
He moved to the far side of the room and stopped there. Every question he had carried into Rana's house was still there, but for now he kept them to himself.
Riya turned back to Vikram, but only for a moment.
Her eyes wandered toward Druve again.
She still didn't know why she kept looking at him.
Her mother asked if she wanted water. Rana told her not to tire herself by talking. Vikram immediately informed Riya that their father had finally discovered a way to make her stay quiet, earning an irritated look from her.
For a few moments, familiar voices filled the room again.
Riya smiled, but exhaustion was beginning to pull at her. Her eyelids grew heavier, and the voices around her softened as she sank further into the pillows.
Then the strange fragment returned.
A hand.
Warm beneath hers.
Her own fingers wrapped tightly around it.
Nothing before it.
Nothing after.
Riya opened her eyes.
Across the room, Druve was still there.
Her gaze dropped briefly to his hands.
Something tightened inside her chest.
She didn't know why.
Before she could hold onto the feeling, it disappeared.
Riya turned her face toward her mother and slowly closed her eyes again.
Across the room, Druve watched her settle into sleep.
He had promised his father a few hours.
Nothing more.
For seven years, every path he had followed toward Sruthi had ended in silence.
This one had led him to Riya.
And until she told him why, he would make sure no one took his first real answer away from him.