Aarohi did not sleep.
The word echoed in her mind all night.
Correction.
Not love.
Not destiny.
Correction.
Her second life was not mercy.
It was delay.
And something had returned to finish what was interrupted.
Arin stayed with her until morning.
Riaan did not disappear.
He stood near the far wall, quieter now, dimmer somehow.
Weaker.
Aarohi noticed.
"You're fading," she whispered.
Riaan gave a faint smile.
"I was never meant to stay this long."
Arin looked between them.
"What does that mean?"
Riaan didn't answer him.
He looked only at Aarohi.
"When it comes again… I won't be able to stop it."
Her chest tightened.
"You said you stayed to protect me."
"I did."
"And now?"
"Now it knows I interfered."
Silence.
Arin clenched his fists.
"This is insane. We need a doctor. A therapist. Something real."
Aarohi turned to him slowly.
"This is real."
Her voice was different.
Not trembling.
Not confused.
Steady.
That steadiness scared Arin more than her fear ever had.
"If something kept me alive for a reason," she said quietly, "then I need to know why."
"No," Arin said immediately. "You don't chase something that tried to take you."
"It didn't try to take me," she replied.
"It tried to finish something."
Arin's expression cracked.
"Why are you talking like this?"
Because something inside her was shifting.
Not gently.
Not slowly.
Breaking.
The innocence she carried since reincarnation — the soft hope that this life was simple — was dissolving.
"If my survival wasn't accidental," she said quietly, "then I've been living on borrowed time."
Riaan watched her carefully.
"That's not what this is."
She looked at him.
"Isn't it?"
Silence.
For the first time—
He had no answer.
---
Later
Aarohi stood alone in front of the mirror.
She studied her reflection.
Her eyes looked older.
Heavier.
Like someone who remembered dying.
"I was supposed to leave," she whispered to herself.
"But I didn't."
She touched her chest.
"I was pushed back."
A strange calm settled inside her.
Not peace.
Clarity.
"If I was kept… then I'll decide what that means."
The balcony air felt colder tonight.
The distortion returned.
Not as strong.
Not as loud.
But present.
"You are adapting."
The voice was thinner now.
Observing.
Aarohi did not flinch.
"What was interrupted?" she asked directly.
Silence stretched.
Then—
"A fracture."
Her heart beat once.
Hard.
"What fracture?"
"Choice."
Riaan stepped forward weakly.
"Don't answer it."
But Aarohi didn't look at him.
"What choice?"
The air pulsed faintly.
"You were not meant to die that night."
Her breath stopped.
Riaan's expression shifted.
"That's not true," he said sharply.
The voice ignored him.
"His death altered the sequence."
Aarohi felt the ground tilt.
"What are you saying?"
"You were meant to survive."
The words landed like ice.
Riaan's form flickered.
"No."
The presence continued.
"His interference created imbalance."
Aarohi's mind raced.
"He saved me."
"Yes."
"And that wasn't supposed to happen?"
Silence.
Then—
"He was not required."
The words cut through the air.
Riaan staggered slightly.
Aarohi's chest tightened painfully.
"What do you mean he wasn't required?"
"His attachment altered probability."
Arin stepped forward.
"Speak clearly."
The presence responded only to her.
"You were designed to continue."
Riaan whispered hoarsely:
"Stop."
Aarohi's heart pounded violently.
"Designed?"
The air trembled faintly.
"Your path extends beyond one life."
Her breathing grew shallow.
"And his didn't?"
Silence.
And in that silence—
She understood.
Riaan was not supposed to die for her.
He died because he chose her.
Because he loved her.
Because he interfered.
And his choice disrupted something larger.
The presence spoke one final time:
"Correction restores balance."
Then it faded.
Not threatening.
Not violent.
Just patient.
Riaan looked at Aarohi with something close to devastation.
"It's wrong."
She whispered:
"Is it?"
Arin grabbed her shoulders.
"Don't even think like that."
But something inside her had cracked fully now.
If she was meant to live…
If her life extended beyond that night…
If Riaan's death was not part of the "design"—
Then his love had cost him existence.
Because of her.
Her chest hollowed out.
"I was the one who was meant to continue," she whispered.
Riaan stepped toward her.
"That doesn't make his choice meaningless."
But Aarohi's eyes were changing.
Not softer.
Colder.
"If his death wasn't required… then it was waste."
Arin froze.
"Don't say that."
She looked at him slowly.
"I ruin people."
The old sentence returned.
But this time—
She didn't sound afraid of it.
She sounded certain.
Riaan shook his head.
"You didn't ruin me."
She met his eyes.
"You weren't required."
The words echoed back at him.
He flinched.
And for the first time—
Aarohi didn't reach out to comfort him.
She stepped back.
Away from both of them.
Away from the girl who once cried in the rain.
"If something kept me alive," she said quietly, "then I'll find out why."
Arin's voice broke.
"At what cost?"
Her gaze hardened.
"At whatever cost it takes."
Riaan watched her in silence.
And something in his expression shifted.
Fear.
Not of the presence.
Of her.
Because the girl who once begged him not to disappear—
Was beginning to look like someone who could.