Aarohi woke up with her head resting on Arin's shoulder.
Her body was weak.
Her throat was dry.
Her eyelids felt swollen from crying.
But the worst part?
She felt his presence again…
not in the room…
not outside…
But inside her memory, like fingers brushing the edges of her mind.
Arin noticed her waking and pulled her closer instantly.
"Aarohi… you fainted last night," he whispered, trying to keep his voice steady. Trying to sound strong.
"Are you okay? Are you dizzy? Do you feel cold?"
Aarohi couldn't answer.
Her voice cracked when she tried.
All she could do was nod weakly.
Arin exhaled shakily and hugged her tighter, rubbing her back slowly.
"You scared me," he whispered. "You really scared me…"
Aarohi closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered.
Arin pulled back and held her face gently.
"No. Don't you dare apologize for something you didn't cause."
But Aarohi looked down, guilt filling her eyes.
Because inside her — in the places she couldn't touch — she felt the boy's loneliness again.
His pain.
His fear.
His desperation.
He wasn't leaving her alone.
Not in darkness.
Not in daylight.
Not even in her sleep.
Arin brushed her hair back and whispered:
"Aarohi… what did you see before you fainted?"
Her lips trembled.
"I saw him," she whispered.
Arin stiffened instantly. "Where?"
Aarohi looked at the darkest corner of the room.
"There."
Arin's blood ran cold.
He turned his face slowly toward that corner…
Nothing.
But the absence felt like a lie — like something invisible was standing there, listening to them breathe.
Arin grabbed her hand.
"Don't look at the corner," he whispered fiercely. "Look at me."
Aarohi slowly turned her eyes toward him.
And whispered:
"He came closer last night."
Arin swallowed hard.
"How close?"
Aarohi's voice broke:
"I could feel him breathing against my neck."
Arin's entire body went rigid.
His hand tightened on hers.
"Aarohi… if he comes again—"
"He will," she whispered.
Arin looked like someone had punched him.
Aarohi lowered her gaze.
"He's not angry. He's… hurt."
Arin shook his head quickly.
"Aarohi, stop empathizing with something you can't even see. Stop feeling his pain. It isn't yours."
Aarohi looked up with tearful eyes.
"But what if it is mine, Arin? What if our pain was shared? What if he—"
Arin cut her off sharply, voice trembling:
"He is dead."
Aarohi flinched at the harshness, and pain flashed across Arin's face instantly.
He softened, took her hand again, and whispered:
"I didn't mean it like that, Aarohi… but you're alive now. This is your life. And he—"
Aarohi finished the sentence with a whisper:
"—was part of my old life."
Arin shut his eyes tightly, breath shaking.
Aarohi continued:
"And maybe… he never left."
Arin pulled her against his chest so suddenly that it startled her.
He held her tightly, chin resting on her hair.
"Aarohi… listen to me."
She stayed still in his arms.
"Whatever he was to you… whatever you were to him… that life is gone. It's gone. And I'm here now."
Aarohi's voice trembled in his shirt.
"I know…"
Arin gently stroked her hair.
"So please… stay with me. Don't drift away to memories that hurt you."
Aarohi's fingers clutched his shirt, shaking.
"I'm trying…"
She finally pulled away a little, looking at him closely.
"Arin… why are you doing all this for me?"
He blinked.
He hadn't expected that question.
His throat tightened.
"Because you're my sister," he said shakily.
Aarohi looked into his eyes.
Her voice was soft.
"But it feels like more than that."
Arin froze.
A second of raw vulnerability slipped through his eyes before he looked away.
Aarohi whispered:
"You care too much… you get scared too fast… you get angry when I talk about him… why, Arin?"
Arin swallowed hard.
He didn't answer.
Couldn't answer.
His hands trembled slightly.
"Aarohi… don't ask me that," he whispered.
Her heart dropped.
"Why?"
Arin finally looked at her.
His eyes were broken — full of pain he had tried to hide for so long.
"Aarohi… if I tell you the truth… I might lose you."
Aarohi's breath caught.
"Lose me?" she whispered.
Arin nodded slowly.
"Because there are things you don't remember about your past… but I remember something from mine."
Aarohi blinked in shock.
"What… do you mean?"
Arin looked down at their intertwined hands.
"You reincarnated into a new life with new memories. But some of us…"
He inhaled sharply.
"…some of us carried pieces from our old lives too."
Aarohi's heart froze.
"Arin… what are you trying to say?"
He lifted his eyes slowly.
Painful.
Hesitant.
Breaking.
"Aarohi… I've known you longer than you think."
Aarohi stared at him, breath gone.
Her heart raced.
Her vision blurred.
"Arin… how?"
Arin's voice was barely a whisper:
"Because… I was there too."
Aarohi's world stopped.
Her lips parted.
Her voice trembled:
"Th-There…? Where?"
Arin swallowed hard.
"With you… at the end of your first life."
Her blood turned cold.
Her hands shook violently.
"What… what are you saying?" she whispered.
Arin looked at her with eyes full of a pain she had never seen before.
"I remember the night you died, Aarohi."
Aarohi's heart dropped so fast she gasped.
"And I remember…"
Arin's voice cracked.
"…the boy who died with you."
Aarohi's breath stopped.
Everything around her spun.
And then Arin said the words that shattered her world:
"Aarohi… I wasn't just your brother in this life."
He took her trembling hand in his shaking one.
"In our first life… I was someone else."
Aarohi's eyes widened, tears filling them instantly.
Her voice cracked:
"Arin… who were you?"
Arin's eyes darkened with a truth he had held alone for too long.
And he whispered:
"I was the one who saw you every day…
the one who stayed behind you quietly…
the one who followed you home every night…"
Aarohi's breath caught painfully.
Her heart dropped.
Arin's voice softened — terrified, raw, breaking:
"Aarohi… in our past life…
I was the boy who died with you."
---