The steady beep of a heart monitor echoed in the dim hospital room. White walls, fluorescent lights, and the sterile smell of antiseptic created a kind of silence that didn’t feel peaceful — it felt hollow.
Ishani Malhotra stirred, her lashes fluttering open. Her head pounded and her throat felt dry. The last thing she remembered was the call — the call that changed everything. The voice at the other end. The scream. Rhea. Her cousin. Her sister in every way that mattered.
And then — black.
She tried to sit up but winced at the sharp tug in her ribs. That’s when she noticed the man sitting beside her bed.
Dressed in black, with his sleeves rolled up and jaw set like stone, he looked like he didn’t belong in a place like this. Yet he sat there — still, silent, staring at her with eyes filled with something between pain and restraint.
“You’re awake,” he said, his voice low, steady.
Ishani blinked at him. “Who… are you?”
He stood slowly, like he’d been waiting for that question. “I’m Advit Singh Rathore.”
The name was unfamiliar, but something about him felt deeply connected to the storm that had swallowed her life.
“I was with Rhea,” he added. “When the accident happened.”
Her stomach dropped.
“No.” The word slipped out, quiet and full of disbelief. “No, that can’t be true…”
“I tried to save her,” he said, and for the first time, his voice cracked — just slightly. Enough to feel real.
Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Why were you with her? Who are you to her?”
He paused. Looked away.
“She was my friend,” he said carefully. “And... she made me promise something.”
Ishani stared at him. Everything inside her screamed to get answers, but her body was still too weak to fight.
“I promised her I’d protect you,” he said finally. “Even if I wasn’t the one she loved.”
The silence that followed wasn’t peaceful. It was filled with grief, secrets, and something Ishani didn’t understand yet — something that would change everything.
Who was this man?
And why did his presence feel like both a warning and a beginning?
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