Chapter 35
Riya was beginning to realise that getting Druve into her room had been much easier than getting him out of it.
He was still beside her, still holding her, and despite everything she had said since deciding that he needed to return to his own room, Druve hadn't shown even the slightest intention of moving.
She looked at the arm around her waist, then at him.
"Druve, go back to your room."
"No."
Riya stared at him.
That was how it began.
She asked him first. Then she pushed him. When pushing accomplished absolutely nothing, she tried asking again, this time almost pleading with him to just get up and leave. When even that failed, patience gave way to irritation, irritation turned into anger, and eventually she started threatening him.
Druve didn't move even a bit.
Riya planted both hands against his chest and pushed with considerably more determination. His body shifted barely enough for her to notice before settling right back where it had been.
She looked down at her hands, then slowly up at him.
"Are you seriously not going to move?"
"No."
"You have a room."
"I know."
"A perfectly good room."
"I know."
"Then why are you in mine?"
Druve's arm remained around her. "Because you're here."
Riya's expression stalled for a second before irritation returned. "That's not an answer."
"It is."
"No, it isn't." She pushed at him again. "Go."
Instead of moving away, Druve caught her wrist before she could try again and gently lowered her hand.
"Sleep."
Riya looked personally offended by the suggestion. "How am I supposed to sleep when you're refusing to leave?"
"Close your eyes."
Her mouth fell open. "That's your solution?"
Druve looked at her calmly.
Riya pulled her hand free. "Fine. I'm asking properly now. Please go back to your room."
"No."
She blinked. "I said please."
"I heard you."
"Druve!"
The complete lack of effect she was having on him was beginning to irritate her more than his refusal itself. This was the same man who had spent days appearing distant, controlled and unreadable. She had thought getting more than a few words out of him was difficult.
Apparently she had misunderstood him completely.
He wasn't distant.
He was clingy.
Ridiculously clingy.
Riya narrowed her eyes at him. "You've been pretending this whole time."
Druve's brows moved slightly. "Pretending what?"
"That you're all…" She gestured vaguely at him. "Cold and detached and difficult to approach."
"I never said that."
"You didn't have to. You walk around looking like talking to people personally inconveniences you."
The faintest change appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Riya caught it immediately. "Don't smile."
"I'm not."
"You were about to."
"I wasn't."
"You were."
Druve said nothing.
Riya pointed towards the door. "Out."
He didn't even look in that direction.
Her eyes narrowed. "I'm getting angry."
"I can see that."
"Then do something about it."
"All right."
For one hopeful second, Riya thought she had finally won.
Druve reached for the blanket and pulled it properly over her.
Riya stared at him.
He settled back beside her.
Her eyes widened. "That is not what I meant!"
"I know."
She grabbed his arm and tried to lift it away from her waist. It didn't budge. She tried again, putting considerably more effort into it, but Druve simply watched her struggle.
Riya finally released him and dropped back against the pillow.
"I hate you."
"No, you don't."
Her head snapped towards him. "Excuse me?"
Druve looked entirely certain.
Riya opened her mouth, clearly prepared to argue, then stopped. Something about the way he'd said it unsettled her—not because of the words themselves, but because he'd said them as though he knew.
She quickly abandoned that argument.
"My brother is here."
"I know."
"If he sees you here, he'll kill you."
"He wouldn't dare."
Riya went still.
She slowly turned her head towards him, staring at the absolute certainty on his face.
"You really are impossible."
Before Druve could answer, a long yawn escaped her. Riya immediately covered her mouth, blinking rapidly as though she could somehow fight off the sleepiness that had been creeping up on her.
Druve watched her.
"Sleep, Riya."
Her eyes narrowed again. "Don't tell me to sleep. I'm still angry with you."
"I know."
"And I'm not done arguing."
Another smaller yawn betrayed her almost immediately.
Druve's expression softened, which only made Riya point a warning finger at him.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm tired. That's all."
"I know."
"And you're still going back to your room."
Druve said nothing.
Riya waited.
When no answer came, she pushed weakly at his chest. "I'm serious."
"I know."
"Then say you'll go."
"No."
Her tired eyes widened with renewed irritation. "You are the most stubborn person I've ever met."
Druve remained completely unaffected by the accusation.
Riya tried to sit up again, but exhaustion had taken most of the determination out of her. Druve simply drew her back against him and pulled the blanket higher around her.
"This doesn't mean you won," she muttered.
"All right."
"And don't say 'all right' like you won."
"All right."
"Druve…"
There was barely any warning left in her voice now.
Her hand rested against his chest, the same hand that had spent so much time trying to push him away. Her eyelids lowered before she forced them open again.
"You're too clingy…"
Druve looked down at her.
"For someone who…" Another yawn interrupted whatever accusation had been coming next. Riya frowned sleepily, apparently annoyed even with her own body for refusing to cooperate.
She made one final attempt to lift her head.
"You're going back…"
Her eyes closed.
"…to your room."
The words faded into sleep.
Within moments, the tension slowly left her body. Her fingers remained loosely curled against his shirt, her breathing gradually becoming soft and even.
Druve didn't move.
Not even a little.
He looked down at her sleeping against him, his arm remaining securely around her.
She could ask him for anything.
Any wish. Any demand. Anything that would make her happy. He could give in to her without a second thought. If she wanted something simply because she wanted it, he would find a way to give it to her. If she wanted to win every pointless argument between them, he could let her win.
But this?
Never.
She could push him, beg him, get angry with him or threaten him. She could wake up tomorrow and start the entire argument again.
He would listen to every word.
He would give in to everything else.
But he would never leave her side again.
Seven years had already passed with her beyond his reach. Too much had happened during those years, and now he knew someone had tried to take her life.
He wasn't going to willingly put distance between them again.
His arm tightened slightly around her as his gaze remained on her sleeping face.
Everything else she asked of him could be hers.
But if she asked him to leave her, his answer would always remain the same.
No.
Never again.
After making sure Riya had finally fallen asleep, every trace of ease left Druve's face.
The faint softness that had remained while she argued with him disappeared completely. His eyes stayed on her for a few moments, watching the slow rise and fall of her breathing. He waited until he was certain she wouldn't wake, then carefully reached for his phone without disturbing the arm around her.
Before doing anything, he looked down at her again.
Riya hadn't moved.
Druve watched her for another few seconds, double-checking that she was truly asleep. Only then did he unlock his phone and make the call.
The call connected almost instantly.
Rajveer had been awake the entire time.
Sleep had left him long ago, but he hadn't dared call Druve back. He knew his son too well. Whatever had happened tonight had shaken Druve badly enough for him to break down completely, and Rajveer knew that calling again before Druve had gathered himself would only intrude on whatever he was trying to process.
So he had waited.
He had known Druve would call him back once his head was clear.
He just hadn't expected it to be this soon.
The moment Druve's name appeared on his screen, Rajveer answered, the anxiety he had been holding back immediately tightening in his chest.
"Druve?"
There was no answer for a second.
Rajveer's grip tightened around the phone.
If his guess was right, Druve hadn't been alone after their earlier call.
He had been with Riya.
Druve looked down at her once more before speaking.
"Tell me what you know."
There was nothing unsteady in his voice now. The breakdown Rajveer had heard earlier was gone. Druve sounded controlled again, but Rajveer knew his son well enough to understand that the calmness meant very little.
Rajveer remained quiet for a second, gathering his thoughts.
"What happened to Sruthi and Riya is something the Master described as a cosmic anomaly," he began carefully. "Their souls were split before birth."
Druve's eyes moved immediately to Riya.
She remained asleep against him, completely unaware of the conversation taking place.
Rajveer continued. "Two bodies. Two separate lives. Different families, different memories, different experiences. But the soul within them was never truly two."
Druve's hold around Riya tightened slightly.
"Sruthi and Riya were never different people, Druve. Not in the way we believed."
His eyes remained fixed on her sleeping face.
"They were one."
Rajveer let the words settle before continuing.
"That is why so much about them is the same. Their characteristics, their behaviour, their likes, their dislikes—the things that come naturally to them. Their lives shaped them differently, but at the core, they came from the same soul."
Druve said nothing.
"Riya is Sruthi," Rajveer said quietly. "And Sruthi is Riya. Neither one is less real than the other. They lived as two people because they were born into two bodies and experienced two different lives. But they were always two halves of one existence."
Druve looked down at the woman in his arms.
So many things that had made no sense before suddenly did.
Rajveer's voice came through again.
"According to the Master, souls born this way aren't meant to survive for long. Neither body would normally live past their twenties."
Druve's expression hardened.
"But something happened that shouldn't have happened. Both bodies died at the same time."
His fingers stilled against Riya.
Rajveer continued carefully. "Under circumstances that rare, something like this can happen. Both halves returned as one. What happened to Riya wasn't simply one person surviving while the other disappeared. Sruthi and Riya came back together."
Druve was silent for several seconds.
"And the memories?"
"They belong to her. Both lives do."
Druve's eyes remained on Riya.
There was more Rajveer could have told him.
There were words from the Master that still sat heavily in his mind—about one half of that soul having no will to live, about what had held it there.
Rajveer deliberately left them untouched.
Instead, he moved to the warning Druve needed to understand.
"But the merging isn't complete."
Druve's attention sharpened immediately.
"What do you mean?"
"The two halves are together, but they haven't completely accepted each other yet. The Master said they have two years."
Druve went utterly still.
"Two years for what?"
"For both halves to recognise and accept each other completely. Riya and Sruthi have to become one—not simply exist together inside the same body."
Druve's jaw tightened.
"And if they don't?"
Rajveer hesitated only briefly.
"We lose them both again."
Druve's arm tightened instinctively around Riya.
Rajveer's voice became heavier.
"The Master said the universe will always try to erase the existence of its imperfection. As long as the merging remains incomplete, this anomaly still exists."
Druve looked down at Riya again.
The murder attempt.
Everything he'd discovered tonight.
Suddenly the warning carried a very different weight.
"She'll remain in danger?"
"Yes."
Rajveer didn't soften it.
"Until both halves accept each other and become one completely, Riya will continue to be in danger. The merging has to become perfect. Until then, the universe will keep trying to erase what shouldn't exist."
Druve said nothing.
His face had become unreadable.
But his arm remained firmly around Riya.
And Rajveer had very deliberately told him everything he needed to know—
except one half of that soul had no will to live.
Rajveer's voice lowered.
"And this is where you play the biggest role, Druve. Sruthi's half needs you. You are her strongest support. That's why I wanted you near Riya. Both halves have to accept each other completely, and having you beside her will help Sruthi's half more than anything else."
"I understand."
Rajveer fell silent.
Druve had heard enough.
"Dad."
"Yes?"
"Riya and I are getting married the day after tomorrow."
For a moment, Rajveer genuinely thought he had heard him wrong.
"The day after tomorrow?"
"Yes."
Rajveer stared ahead, completely caught off guard. He had expected things between Druve and Riya to move forward once Druve understood the truth. He simply hadn't expected forward to mean marriage within two days.
"When did this happen?"
"A few minutes ago."
Rajveer's eyebrows went up.
A few minutes ago?
Before he could even decide which question to ask first, Druve continued.
"Keep it between the two families. There's already enough danger around her. I don't want unnecessary attention. Prepare everything."
Rajveer was still processing the fact that somewhere between Druve's earlier breakdown and this phone call, his son had apparently managed to propose, get an agreement and decide on a wedding date.
"Does Riya know you're planning it this fast?"
"She agreed to the day after tomorrow."
That silenced him again.
Rajveer opened his mouth, but Druve was already finished.
"Only the families, Dad. Take care of everything."
The call disconnected.
Rajveer slowly lowered the phone and stared at it.
A few hours ago, he had been worried about whether Druve could handle the truth.
Now he had two days to prepare his wedding.
Rajveer leaned back, still holding the phone, trying to understand how the night had moved quite this fast.