Unedited!!
Author's Pov:
The tires crunched against the gravel, echoing in the silent night. The car slowed to a halt before a massive iron gate that creaked open as if stirred awake from years of stillness. Beyond it stood a house too large, too quiet... walls stretching into darkness, tall enough to swallow sound.
Inside the car, Sayeera was still asleep ... her head tilted slightly to the side, a faint shadow cast across her face by the passing lights. She hadn’t said much throughout the journey. Just one failed attempt at conversation before exhaustion took over again.
Reyaksh glanced at her once, then looked away. He hadn’t slept in two days. The silence between them was heavy, filled with questions neither wanted to ask.
When the car stopped, Laksh got out first, murmuring a few words to the guard. The doors opened, and the night air rushed in ... cold, sharp, smelling faintly of rain and rust.
Reyaksh turned to her, his voice quiet but firm.
“Hey… wake up.”
No response.
He tried again..still no response. He tried to shake her from shoulder...and that worked.
Her lashes fluttered, confusion clouding her half-dreaming gaze. She looked out the window ... vast walls, shadows of trees, an unfamiliar stillness.
“Where are we?” she asked, voice barely audible.
“Somewhere safe,” he said simply, stepping out without another glance.
Sayeera opened the door and stepped out. They moved towards the entrance...Laksh trailing behind.
The night air brushed her face, cool and scented faintly with sandalwood and rain. The place looked grand, alive but quiet.
When they stepped inside, Sayeera’s eyes widened despite the dim light. The interior was nothing like she expected. The house was enormous, but not in a way that screamed luxury ... it was silent, old, and strong. Every wall held a story she couldn’t read.
Tall ceilings arched above, their wooden beams polished to a muted shine. The faint smell of incense lingered in the air. To her left, a long corridor stretched into darkness, lined with closed doors.
She trailed behind him, her soft footsteps echoing on the marble floor. A chandelier hung overhead, half-lit, throwing long shadows across the walls. Portraits she couldn’t recognize watched her quietly, their painted eyes following as she passed.
Reyaksh moved with purpose, every stride certain, like he had memorized every corner of this place. He didn’t look back to see if she followed. The servants who appeared bowed slightly to him before disappearing again into the silence. It felt like everyone in this house already knew what not to ask.
A maid approached hesitantly, eyes flicking from Reyaksh to the girl beside him. “Sir, the rooms are ready,” she said softly.
He gave a curt nod. “Show her to the east wing.”
Sayeera hesitated, unsure if she should follow. His expression left no space for questions. Clutching her shawl tighter, she walked behind the maid, her steps light and uncertain.
Reyaksh watched her go, the echo of her footsteps fading down the long corridor. Something about her silence pressed against him ... a quiet reminder he didn’t need right now.
Laksh came to his side. “Should I place guards around her wing?”
Reyaksh’s answer was immediate. “Yes. Two outside her door, one at the corridor’s end. I want no slip-ups.”
Then he turned toward the staircase, his voice low but final. “And no one is to speak to her unless I say so.”
"Also..." he added turning towards the maids standing at side, "Bring her food, clean clothes, or anything she needs.”
The maid nodded quickly and gone within a moment to finish the task.
Whereas,
Sayeera reached to the room given to her,
She entered the room, clutching her shawl tighter around her shoulders.
Inside, the room was simple but warm ... a large bed, a large window covered with sheer curtains, and a lamp glowing near the nightstand. It looked... lived in, yet untouched.
For a moment, Sayeera stood there silently, trying to process everything. She didn’t know where she was, or why he brought her here. All she knew was that for the first time in months, the air didn’t smell like fear.
The room was far more beautiful than anything she had expected. Soft golden light spilled from the lamp near the bed, painting the walls in warm hues. It wasn’t a lavish space ...it was elegant in a quiet, comforting way. The faint fragrance of sandalwood hung in the air, mingling with the freshness of rain drifting in from the open balcony.
A large bed stood in the center, draped in clean white sheets that looked impossibly soft. To its right, near the window, a smaller couch-bed rested ...neat and simple, perhaps for a maid or guest. She traced its outline with her eyes, feeling a strange ache in her chest at the thought of sleeping somewhere so peaceful.
The balcony doors were half-open, curtains swaying gently with the night breeze. Beyond them, the garden stretched out, its wet leaves glinting under the faint moonlight. She could hear the quiet hum of insects outside and the soft rustle of trees moving in rhythm with the wind.
A small table stood near the window, scattered with books and a ceramic vase holding fresh jasmine. The scent was faint but grounding. There was even a couch in one corner, upholstered in deep brown fabric, facing the balcony ... like a place meant for long silences and thoughts too heavy to speak.
The room wasn’t just beautiful. It felt alive, like someone had cared enough to make it peaceful.
Sayeera stood there for a long moment, unable to move. The softness of the light, the warmth of the sheets, the delicate order of things ...it all felt too gentle for someone like her.
She ran her fingers over the edge of the couch before sitting down carefully. Her reflection caught in the mirror across the room ... pale, tired, eyes hollow yet restless. She looked away.
For the first time in what felt like forever, she wasn’t in danger. And that safety... scared her more than anything.
Past the dim hallways and closed doors, another door stood half-open ... faint steam curling out from within.
While Sayeera tried to make sense of the room she had been placed in, Reyaksh stood beneath the running water, lost in a silence of his own.
The shower hissed softly, filling the tiled room with a low echo. Steam curled around the edges of the mirror, blurring his reflection into a faceless shadow.
Reyaksh stood still under the water, eyes closed, letting it run over him ... down his hair, his shoulders, the length of his back. The warmth seeped into his skin, tracing every line of tension that hadn’t left him in days.
For a few moments, there was nothing but the rhythm of water hitting the floor. No gunfire. No orders. No ghosts whispering from the past. Just silence… and the faint memory of her voice breaking it.
His mind, however, refused to stay still.
Laksh’s words from yesterday kept circling back, louder each time.
“Sir, I think she’s connected… not directly, but somehow. The night it happened ... there were unmarked vehicles around the perimeter. Someone wanted a distraction.”
A muscle tightened in his jaw. He remembered the report spread across his desk, the pictures, the coordinates. Too many loose ends. Too many coincidences.
“Keep digging,” he had told Laksh then, his tone flat, detached. But even as he said it, a quiet unease had settled in his chest.
He ran a hand through his hair, water dripping down his temples. Sayeera wasn’t supposed to matter ... just another variable, another unknown to manage. But the way she looked at him earlier, wide-eyed, uncertain yet calm... it had stayed.
He pressed his palms against the cool tile, head bowed slightly.
If she really was connected to what they were tracking… then she wasn’t just a victim. She was a thread ... one that could either unravel everything or lead him straight to the core.
The water turned cooler. He exhaled slowly, opening his eyes. Drops clung to his lashes, trailing down the sharp planes of his face.
He reached out and turned off the tap. The silence that followed was heavy, pressing.
As he reached for the towel, his gaze caught the faint reflection of his own eyes in the mirror ... calm on the surface, but beneath them... a storm quietly forming.
He stepped out of the shower, towel slung around his shoulders, hair damp and clinging to his temples. The house was quiet — too quiet for a place that held so many people. He glanced toward the desk where his phone vibrated once, a soft, persistent hum against the wood.
The caller ID made him pause for a second. "Mom"
He exhaled through his nose, reaching for the phone and answering it.
“Reyaksh?” Her voice came soft but firm, carrying that familiar mix of affection and command. “You haven’t called in weeks”
He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing the towel against his hair. “I’ve been busy.”
“You’re always busy,” she sighed. “You think I don’t know what that means by now?”
He didn’t answer. The quiet stretched between them.
“I spoke to your father,” she continued, her tone shifting slightly. “He says you’re out again. Something important?”
He looked toward the window, watching the faint trail of moonlight fall across the floor. “Everything’s important, Mom.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Her voice softened after a moment. “You’re still my son, Reyaksh. You can’t keep living like this… running from one shadow to another. You need to come home.”
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Home isn’t the same anymore.”
There was silence on the other end ... the kind that said she wanted to argue but didn’t know how.
Finally, she said, “At least promise me you’re safe.”
“I’m fine.”
“I don’t believe that,” she murmured, her voice trembling faintly. “I know when you’re not.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, letting her words settle. She had always known too much ...seen too much. Maybe that’s why she never asked for the truth anymore.
“I’ll call again soon,” he said quietly.
“Soon means what, Reyaksh?”
“Soon,” he repeated, softer this time.
A sigh came from the other end, tired but affectionate. “At least eat properly. You sound… cold.”
“I’ll try.”
“Hmm.” Her tone warmed, almost teasing. “Try harder, my son.”
The call ended with a faint click. Reyaksh stared at the phone for a few seconds before placing it aside.
He sat there in the stillness of the room, the scent of rain still lingering in the air. Outside, the night stretched endlessly ... a reminder that for people like him, “home” was never a place... just a memory that refused to fade.
After the call, the silence returned ... heavier than before. Reyaksh leaned back on the bed's headrest, eyes fixed on the ceiling, thoughts slipping toward a place he rarely let himself go.
Ashvay.
The name came with a quiet ache, like an old wound reopening. His brother’s laughter used to fill the same halls that now echoed with absence. Once, they were inseparable ... two halves of the same storm, different in every way but bound by blood and loyalty. Until that day everything changed.
Ashvay’s words still lingered ... sharp, cutting through the years. “You took everything from me.”
He had tried to explain, again and again, that it wasn’t what it seemed. He never explains to someone what he does but when it is about his baby brother, he did. He explained that what he did was never meant to hurt him. But Ashvay had already built walls too high to climb, walls of anger and betrayal. And Reyaksh, with all his strength, couldn’t break through them.
Now, when he thought of home, he didn’t think of comfort. He thought of quiet dinners where no one spoke, of a mother trying to keep peace where none remained.
The house that once felt alive had turned hollow ... a place filled with ghosts of what they used to be.
He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly.
He missed his brother.
He missed the simplicity of before ... when loyalty meant everything, and love didn’t have to survive through lies and secrets.
But things had changed. He had changed.
And now, the distance between him and Ashvay wasn’t measured in miles… but in everything unsaid.
Next morning,
Soft rays of morning light slipped through the sheer curtains, brushing against her face. Sayeera stirred, her lashes fluttering open to the quiet unfamiliar ceiling above her. For a moment, she didn’t remember where she was. The faint scent of lilies from the vase on the side table, the muffled ticking of the clock, the smooth sheets beneath her ...everything felt too refined, too far from her world.
She sat up slowly, her body still heavy from exhaustion. The events of the past days hovered at the edge of her mind like a fog. She looked around ... the large room with its soft beige walls, the balcony that opened to a wide stretch of trees, and the small bed near the window that looked almost like it was waiting for someone smaller, gentler to rest there. The air felt warm but strange, not the kind that comforted, rather the kind that reminded her she didn’t belong here.
Her bare feet touched the rug on the floor as she stood, wrapping the shawl from the couch around herself. She goes towards the washroom attached to the room and splashed her face with water, staring at her reflection in the mirror. The faint scars on her temple had started to fade, but the look in her eyes hadn’t ...wary, searching, unsure. She combed her fingers through her hair and whispered softly to her reflection, as if reminding herself, You’re safe. For now.
After completing her morning businesses , she took a shower and went to the closet attached to bathroom and got dressed in a simple yet elegant floral white kurti having blue flowers, paired with white plazo loose pants. She applied a little lotion only from dressing table as she don't know much about makeup and have no heart to do it even if she did know. The only jewellery she wore ,were the anklets, the ones she bought with her own money.
After getting dressed, she stepped out of room, the corridor greeted her with silence. The house was awake in its own quiet way3 the distant clatter of utensils, footsteps of maids somewhere below, faint hum of morning chores beginning. She hesitated, her hand still holding the edge of her door. For a few seconds, she stood there, unsure of where to go or what she was supposed to do in this place that wasn’t hers.
The hallway stretched long and bright, polished floors reflecting the soft sunlight. She could hear voices faintly ...two, maybe three people speaking somewhere far off ... but she didn’t recognize any of them. Pulling the shawl tighter, she took a few slow steps forward, her mind still caught between confusion and curiosity.
Would he be awake already? What should i do? Should I ask him?
Every thought circled back to him only.
Sayeera stood at the threshold of her room, lost in thought, when a firm yet respectful voice broke her daze.
“Ma’am, do you need something?”
She turned slightly. Two guards stood a few feet away from her door ... both dressed in dark uniforms, their posture straight, their eyes sharp but not unkind. One of them, the taller one, had spoken.
She hesitated for a moment, fingers tightening around the edge of her shawl. “I… I want to meet him,” she said softly. The word felt strange on her tongue. She didn’t even know his name. The man who had helped her, scared her, and confused her all at once.
The guard understood and gave a short nod and gestured for her to follow. They walked together down the long corridor. Her steps were slow, cautious, the sound of her anklets faint against the polished floor. The walls were adorned with framed photographs ... soldiers in uniforms, distant landscapes, and one picture of a young boy standing beside an older man with medals across his chest. Something in that photo made her pause, but the guard’s glance urged her to keep walking.
As they descended the wide staircase, the faint scent of coffee reached her. The hall below opened into a large space ... high ceilings, tall windows spilling morning light, and the air thick with quiet authority.
He was there.
Reyaksh sat on one of the couches near the window, his back straight, a phone in his hand. His brows were furrowed as he scrolled through the screen, thumb moving with precision. The faint glow of the phone reflected against his sharp features, the morning light cutting across his jawline.
For a moment, she stopped at the edge of the hall, unsure whether to approach or wait. He hadn’t looked up yet. The stillness in his posture spoke more than words ... focused, detached, as if his mind was miles away from this room.
The guard gave a light nod in her direction, signaling her arrival. “Sir,” he said quietly, “Ma'am wanted to meet you.”
Reyaksh’s fingers stilled. He looked up slowly, the calmness in his eyes almost unreadable. The phone still in his hold as he leaned back, gaze settling on her.
Reyaksh’s gaze lingered longer than he intended.
She stood a few feet away, hesitant, the morning light spilling from the tall windows and wrapping around her like a quiet blessing. Her clothes were simple ... a plain white kurti, her hair loosely tied with strands falling across her cheek. There was nothing deliberate about her appearance, nothing crafted to impress... and yet, it held him still.
For a moment, the world around him ... the hum of the air conditioner, the faint ticking of the clock ... dulled into silence. He found his mind tracing the faint curve of her jaw, the way her eyes moved across the room, absorbing every detail as if she were afraid to touch anything. There was a calm fragility in her presence ... not weakness, but something gentler... like someone who had seen too much and still chose to stand.
She looked up just then, her gaze meeting his, and for a second something unspoken passed between them ...something that neither of them knew how to name. He felt it, the unfamiliar pull beneath the surface, the flicker of warmth he hadn’t allowed himself in years.
She shouldn’t look like this... not after everything, he thought, his jaw tightening. Not this calm. Not this... alive.
He blinked once, forcing the thought away. This wasn’t the time to be distracted. She was a part of something bigger now ... unknowingly connected to a chain of events that could burn everything he’d built. He reminded himself of that, again and again. Yet the longer he looked at her, the harder it became to believe she was just another piece of the puzzle.
When she took a small step forward, her eyes lowered in quiet politeness, the faint scent of sandalwood drifted in the air ... a reminder that despite everything she had endured, she hadn’t lost the part of her that was human, soft, unguarded.
He exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing slightly, masking whatever stirred within him.
“Sit,” he said again, his voice quieter this time, almost gentler.
And as she moved to obey, he realized...for the first time in a long while ...that something inside him was shifting... and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stop it.
She sat down slowly, careful not to make a sound. Her hands rested on her lap, fingers interlocked, the tension visible in the way her knuckles turned pale.
The hall around them was vast ...tall ceilings, muted walls, and sunlight filtering through sheer curtains that danced with the wind. The silence between them was heavy, like a thread stretched too thin, waiting to break.
Reyaksh leaned back on the couch, eyes still on his phone though he hadn’t read a single word in the last few minutes. He was aware of her presence ... every shift, every shallow breath ... the room felt different with her in it.
After a moment, she spoke, her voice soft but steady.
“Why... why did you bring me here?”
He looked up slowly, his expression unreadable. “You needed a place,” he said simply, his tone flat, controlled.
Her brows drew together slightly. “You could’ve left me anywhere else... that village, or...”
“I don’t leave unfinished things,” he interrupted, setting the phone aside. His gaze locked with hers ... steady, cold. “You were safer here.”
Sayeera lowered her eyes, staring at the floor, her voice almost a whisper. “But... what will I do here?”
Reyaksh’s gaze lingered on her for a moment longer than necessary before he replied, his tone calm but distant. “You’ll rest. Recover. That’s all you need to do for now.”
She hesitated, fingers twisting the edge of her dupatta. “I don’t like sitting idle... I can help, do something...”
“You’ve done enough,” he cut her off quietly, his voice carrying a quiet authority that left no room for argument. “You’re here because it’s safer this way. Nothing more.”
The way he said it... detached, precise, as if every word had been measured before it left his lips, made her chest tighten. She wanted to ask why he was helping her at all, but something in his eyes ... that sharp, shadowed stillness ... kept her silent.
After a long pause, she murmured, “You... you saved me twice.”
His expression didn’t change, but for a fleeting moment, a faint crease appeared between his brows. “Don’t mistake it for kindness,” he said quietly. “I do what I have to.”
She looked at him, trying to read the meaning behind those words, but his face was unreadable ... calm, collected, distant. Like he had built walls so high no one could see past them.
A small nod escaped her, “Thank you... for everything,” she said softly.
Reyaksh without any response shifted his gaze back to the phone's screen.
For a long moment, neither spoke. The air between them was thick with the weight of things unsaid ... questions she wanted to ask but didn’t dare, truths he wasn’t ready to share.
Finally, she looked up, her eyes uncertain. “You... haven’t told me your name.”
He met her gaze again, a flicker of hesitation crossing his features before he replied, “You don't need to know.”
His tone was even, but the air between them shifted — heavier, quieter. She looked at him for a long moment, her lips parting as if to say something, then closing again. Finally, in a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “Then... can I call you Ray.”
He stilled.
Something in that word ... simple, soft, and so unlike the names he’d ever been called ...seemed to reach somewhere deep, somewhere he didn’t want anyone to touch. “Ray,” she repeated, this time with a faint, trembling smile. “Because you were the only light I saw that night... when everything else had gone dark.”
Reyaksh’s jaw tightened, his eyes flickering away from her. He wasn’t used to hearing things like that. Not from anyone. And especially not from someone who looked at him like that ... as if he was something good, something worth holding on to.
“You shouldn’t say things like that,” he said quietly, almost under his breath. “You don’t know who I am.”
She smiled faintly, though her eyes held sadness. “Maybe I don’t... but I know what you did. And that’s enough.”
For a moment, neither spoke. The air between them was laced with unspoken weight ... her gratitude, his discomfort, and something else neither could name.
He looked at her again, really looked ... the tired eyes, the faint scars that marred her softness, the quiet strength that hadn’t been there before. Something inside him stirred, uneasy and unfamiliar.
Reyaksh finally turned away, his voice low and clipped. “Rest now. You’ll need it.”
She nodded slowly, still watching him as he walked past her toward the door. The faintest smile tugged at her lips when she whispered softly, “Have a good day... Ray.”
He paused for the briefest second ... just enough for her to notice ... before walking away, his expression unreadable.
Outside, sunlight filtered through the wide glass windows, spilling pale gold across the marble floor. Reyaksh exhaled slowly, the sound of her voice lingering in his mind, unwanted yet inescapable. Ray.
He had been called many things in his life... ghost, weapon, shadow... but never that. Never something that sounded so human, so undeservedly warm.
For a moment, the morning light touched his face, softening the edges of his usual severity. Then, with a low breath, he straightened his shoulders and walked on ... back into the world that didn’t have space for warmth, or names that felt like hope.
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