Aarohi hadn't stopped shaking.
Arin was still holding her shoulders, but his hands felt distant — like they belonged to someone outside the room.
Because the room was no longer normal.
It felt… divided.
Between living and not.
Riaan stood near the window.
Clearer now.
Still faint — like smoke shaped into a person — but unmistakable.
Arin swallowed.
He couldn't see him.
But he felt something.
A pressure in the air.
A presence too heavy to ignore.
"Aarohi," he whispered carefully, "what is he doing?"
She didn't answer immediately.
She was staring at Riaan.
"He's not angry," she whispered.
Riaan's expression softened.
"I never was."
Her throat tightened.
"Then why are you here?"
The question broke something in the air.
Riaan didn't answer quickly.
He looked… tired.
Not like someone waiting for love.
Like someone stuck.
"Aara," he said quietly, "I didn't move on."
Her pulse stuttered.
"Because of me?"
He shook his head.
"Because of you… and because of what happened after."
The room felt smaller.
Arin's voice was tight.
"What happened after?"
Aarohi's fingers trembled.
"He says there's more."
And then—
The world shifted again.
Not violently like the accident.
But like a curtain pulling back.
---
Past – After the Impact
Darkness didn't come instantly.
Pain did.
Aara remembered the rain on her face.
The taste of blood.
The sound of sirens.
People shouting.
Hands pulling her away from him.
"No!" she screamed, clawing toward Riaan.
"Stay down!" someone yelled.
She tried to move.
Her body wouldn't listen.
Her head spun.
Through blurred vision she saw them lifting Riaan.
His hand slipped from hers.
His fingers dragging against the road.
And that was the last physical touch they shared.
Then—
Black.
But death wasn't silence.
It wasn't sleep.
It was awareness.
Confused awareness.
Riaan opened his eyes first.
Not in the hospital.
Not in heaven.
Not anywhere bright.
He was standing in the rain.
But the rain wasn't touching him.
The world was moving.
Cars. Ambulance. People.
But no one saw him.
He turned.
And there—
On the road—
He saw himself.
Still bleeding.
Still being lifted.
He looked down at his own hands.
No wounds.
No blood.
No pain.
Just weightless.
"I'm… dead?" he whispered.
The word felt wrong.
Because he didn't feel gone.
He felt unfinished.
Then he saw her.
Aara.
Being pushed into the ambulance.
Barely conscious.
Calling his name.
That was the moment something inside him refused to accept it.
"No."
The world around him blurred.
A strange pull began.
Like something trying to drag him upward.
Forward.
Away.
He resisted.
"I'm not leaving."
The pull grew stronger.
The world began fading.
But her voice—
Even unconscious—
She whispered it.
"Riaan…"
That whisper anchored him.
The pull weakened.
The fading stopped.
He stood there in the storm of the in-between.
And he chose.
"I'm not leaving her alone."
The world didn't argue.
It didn't punish him.
It simply… let him stay.
But staying had a cost.
He wasn't alive.
He wasn't fully gone.
He was tied.
To her.
To the moment.
To the unfinished promise.
---
Present
Aarohi's breath came uneven.
"He chose to stay," she whispered.
Arin's expression hardened.
"That's not how death works."
Riaan's voice was steady.
"It's not how it's supposed to."
Aarohi looked at him, tears burning.
"You could have moved on."
He smiled faintly.
"And leave you thinking you ruined me?"
Her heart clenched.
"I told you you'd regret loving me."
"And I didn't," he replied calmly.
Arin's fists clenched.
"Aarohi, this is not healthy."
She looked at him.
"I didn't let him go," she whispered.
Riaan's eyes softened.
"You couldn't. You were dying too."
The room felt colder.
"Wait," Arin said, confusion creeping in, "you both died."
Riaan's gaze shifted.
"Yes."
Silence.
Then—
Aarohi's pulse stopped.
"But she survived."
Riaan didn't answer.
And that silence was worse than anything.
Aarohi's mind raced.
"I died that night," she whispered.
Riaan nodded slowly.
"You both did."
Arin's voice shook.
"Then how—"
Riaan looked at Aarohi.
"You were supposed to leave too."
Her stomach dropped.
"What?"
"The pull came for you," he said. "I saw it."
Her body went cold.
"But something interrupted it."
The air thickened.
Arin whispered:
"What interrupted it?"
Riaan's expression darkened slightly