6

The hum of the café seemed distant now, swallowed by the tension hanging between them. Rivansh slid the contract and ring across the table once more, his piercing gaze fixed on Anvika. “If you’re done with your interrogation, maybe we can get back to business,” he said, his tone calm but laced with impatience.

Anvika’s eyebrows knitted together, her fists clenching tightly as her heart thudded fiercely against her ribs. “How do you expect me to marry a person I barely know? A person who kidnapped me, for God’s sake! And instead of answering my questions, you’re confusing me further. Why now, after a year? If you wanted to marry me so badly, you could have kidnapped me the very day you saw me.”

Her voice rose as she shoved the contract back toward him. “And besides that, I don’t want to marry you at any cost. Understand?”

Rivansh leaned back, a smirk tugging at his lips as his eyes narrowed. “Ohh, so you don’t want to marry me because you’re in love with someone else?” he asked, his tone sharper now. “Maybe… Agastya?”

Anvika stiffened, her eyes flashing with irritation. “No!” she snapped. “He’s just a friend. How do you even know about him? And what makes you think I want to marry him?”

Rivansh’s gaze darkened, his expression cold and calculated. “The way he looks at you. The way he places his hand on your shoulder, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Isn’t that enough to know he loves you?”

Her lips curled in frustration, her fists tightening. “That’s common between friends,” she retorted, her tone cutting. “You would’ve known that if you had any friends. And for the record, Agastya doesn’t like me, and I don’t like him. I neither want to marry him, nor you, nor anyone else in this world.”

Rivansh’s smirk faltered, but Anvika wasn’t done. Her voice softened slightly, yet the determination in her tone was unshaken. “Maybe—maybe—I’d consider marriage after I’ve achieved something real. Something meaningful. Like my MS degree. Until then, marriage is out of the question. For you or anyone else.”

She folded her arms, her gaze sharp and unrelenting. “Now stop changing the subject and answer me—why did you suddenly decide to marry me after a year?”

For the first time, Rivansh’s confidence wavered. His gaze flickered to the contract before meeting her eyes again. “Because I don’t want to lose you again,” he admitted quietly. “It took me a year to realize what I want. And that’s you.”

Anvika blinked, momentarily taken aback. But she quickly recovered, her expression hardening. “Fine. Then answer this—why do you think I never want to marry anyone?”

Rivansh leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, his voice low and probing. “Why don’t you?”

Anvika’s expression shifted, her eyes clouding as if she were staring at something distant. She hesitated, then exhaled slowly, her voice trembling yet steady enough to convey the depth of her conviction. “Because love always hurts.”

Rivansh frowned, his head tilting slightly as he studied her. “Love hurts? What does that even mean?”

“It means love is the most beautiful lie anyone can believe in,” Anvika said, her voice laced with an edge of bitterness. “It starts like a fairytale—perfect, enchanting. But it never stays that way. People break promises, they change, they leave. And the person left behind? They’re left to pick up the shattered pieces of themselves, alone.”

Her fingers tightened around her scarf as her voice deepened, each word charged with raw emotion. “I’ve seen what love does to people. It destroys them, piece by piece, until there’s nothing left but scars. People give their everything to love, only to watch it slip away like sand through their fingers. It’s cruel, it’s unfair, and it’s the one thing I refuse to let destroy me.”

Her eyes met Rivansh’s, unwavering yet glistening with the weight of unspoken pain. “I don’t want to trust someone, only to have that trust broken. I don’t want to depend on someone, only to watch them walk away when I need them the most. I’ve seen enough heartbreak in this world—too much to believe in love anymore. And I refuse to be part of it.”

Her voice softened but remained steady, her gaze never leaving his. “Maybe one day I’ll think differently. Maybe after I’ve achieved something real—something that can’t be taken from me. My career, my independence, my peace. But until then, marriage is not on my list. Not for you. Not for anyone.”

The silence that followed was deafening. Rivansh sat frozen, her words cutting through him like shards of glass. For the first time, he found himself at a loss. This wasn’t defiance born out of arrogance or rebellion. It was something far deeper—a fortress built around her heart, one that he couldn’t simply storm through.

And in that moment, as the distant chatter of the café continued around them, Rivansh realized that Anvika wasn’t rejecting him. She was protecting herself from a pain he couldn’t even begin to comprehend.