MYRA'S POV

3 MONTHS LATER

Life had thrown many merciless storms at me, but none ripped me apart the way walking away from Adhvay did.

Every night I cried myself into an exhausted sleep and every morning I woke with the same hollow ache. Only my pillow knows the burden I'm carrying now.

Rudra Mama and I settled in Vizag, close to a quiet beach that felt like the only peaceful thing my life had left.

I opened a small karate school for kids, mostly girls, and the number of students grew slowly.

I never moved on from him.

I had wounded him brutally, but there is no place for me in that palace where people whispered me as a whore as if I had trapped him when all I ever did was love him with everything I had.

I hadn't smiled since that day, and though Rudra Mama kept his silence for weeks, he eventually asked, and I told him everything.

The loud news telecast jolted me awake-"The former king of Amarvathi, Shri Veerendra Varman, 82 years _ passed away, today at 7 a.m."-and I ran to the hall where Rudra Mama stood frozen, watching the live visuals.

It is a live telecast .My eyes searched desperately for Adhvay and only found Sreehan; his absence felt like a punch to my chest.

"Myra... I have to go... are you okay with that?" Mama asked softly.

"Go, Mama. They need you... stay there if you want, with Adhvay he needs you now. I'm used to living alone," I whispered.

He turned to me with a father's gentleness, touched my head, and said, "No, Myra. I'll come back in three days... this time, I choose you."

TWO months later

"Kiara... why are you crying?" I asked as one of my youngest students dropped to her knees, trembling and struggling to speak through harsh breaths.

"My father... he said no to karate classes, akka ( akka = sister) ... I want to learn... and he beats me, and when my mother stops him, he beats her too," she sobbed, collapsing into my arms.

Fury shot through me like fire. "Take me to that bastard. Where is your house?" I lifted her up, and we walked two narrow streets until we reached a small roadside shack

Her father-a fat, drunk brute-stumbled out and grabbed Kiara by her hair. "You little slut, you brought help?" he growled.

I didn't waste a second; I twisted his wrist until it cracked and shoved his arm behind his back, forcing him to his knees as he screamed. "If you ever raise your hand on your child or your wife again, I swear you won't lift it for the rest of your life," I hissed, kicking him hard .

Pulling Kiara closer, I said, "Call me if he tries to do anything. You have my number, right?"

She nodded, wiping her tears, but as I turned to leave, his arm suddenly wrapped around my neck, choking me with surprising strength.

Instantly, Kiara grabbed a thick wooden beam and slammed it onto his head; he collapsed, bleeding. That's my girl.

I called the ambulance and police, and with the neighbours confessing his daily torture, it was easy to send that monster straight to jail.

Two days later, Kiara came running to me again, crying harder than before. "Akka... my father... he committed suicide in jail, but I don't believe it akka, someone killed him," she choked.

I pulled her into a hug.

My mind strangely snapped back to the day Adhvay told me he had killed my trainer after I confessed the man forced himself on me.

No. It can't be him.

There had been no contact from Adhvay since the day I left-no call, no message, nothing. It was as if I had never been his wife and he had never been my husband.

_____

SEVEN MONTHS LATER

I walked into my house from the market, the vegetables still cold in my hands.

There were five cars parked right in front of our small house.

These... these were the royal cars.

The ones that belonged to Adhvay.

Guards saluted me with their stiffened backs and fists on their chest.

Did he... did he come to see me?

My heart lunged out of my chest as I ran inside, breath shaking, my entire body desperate... aching... to see him.

But instead, to my surprise, Sreehan stood up-white shirt, black pants, his smile soft but painfully sad.

"Vadinamma..." he breathed out slowly.

I couldn't stop the single tear that slipped from my eye.

"Sreehan? How are you? What are you doing here?" I asked, wiping my face quickly as I sat opposite him, trying to look composed even when my heart was falling apart.

He extended a card toward me.

A wedding invitation.

Varman's Wedding Invitation

My heart started beating so fast it hurt.

Holding my breath, I asked,

"Is... is Adhvay getting married?"

Sreehan let out a small scoff.

"No, vadinamma. It's me. I'm getting married."

The crushing weight pressing on my chest lifted instantly, and I finally inhaled again.

"Congratulations, Sreehan... I'm so happy for you. Who is the lucky girl?"

"She's my childhood friend. We always had feelings for each other, and now we're taking the next step."

"Oh... that's really sweet, Sreehan. But you never mentioned her before."

"That time we were having some clashes, vadinamma. But now everything is sorted. She'll be mine in a month."

His whole face lit up with excitement.

"I'll bring coffee for both of you," Rudra Mama said, standing and walking to the kitchen.

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

I am dying to ask.

"How is Ad-Adhvay?" My voice trembled, completely betraying me.

"He is dying slowly, vadinamma," Sreehan said, staring at the floor.

"What? What happened to him?"

"He drowned himself in alcohol after you left. He barely eats. He doesn't sleep. He spends all his time locked inside his drawing room."

Sreehan exhaled sharply.

"He had almost ten panic attacks after you left."

My vision shook, "Sreehan... I didn't leave because I don't love him-"

"We know, vadinamma. Grandfather confessed , what he said to you feeling bad after seeing Adhvay like that___One day before he died. That's why Adhvay refused to attend his funeral."

The knife stabbed deeper.

He didn't even see his grandfather's body one last time... because he insulted me?

"He loves you more than you think. More than even he understands. You took his life with you," Sreehan whispered, and everything around me faded.

He suddenly stood and joining his hands

in front of me.

"I'm begging you... please come back. The man who disrespected you is gone forever. But my brother... my brother will die if you stay away any longer."

I stood too and held his hands, tears streaming before I could stop them.

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought he hated me. After the all those hurtful things I said...after I compare him with another man, I thought he would hate me with his whole life..." I cried.

"He never left you alone. Even here-did you think you can hide from Adhvay Prathap Varman?"

His words made my heart pound painfully.

"Do you really think that father of your student committed suicide?"

Sreehan's jaw clenched.

The tension crawled up my spine as soon as I heard his name.

Almost a year... and yet hearing Adhvay felt like reopening a wound that never healed.

"He killed that psycho for laying a hand on you," Sreehan said through gritted teeth.

"You got me followed here?" I whispered, shocked.

Sreehan dragged me to the window, holding my wrist,

"See that tall man at the end of the street?"

"Yes..."

"Our guard. Now look there-see the man with black glasses?"

"Yes."

"Our man too."

"But I never saw them before..."

"The staff changes every day. You're too smart-if we kept the same men, you'd find out, we have our men all over vizag..."

Sreehan smirked lightly.

"Even when you are far away from him... you are always under his protection."

"But why didn't Adhvay come to me if he knows the truth? It's... it's unlike him," I whispered, completely confused.

Sreehan's face fell again, the sadness returning heavy and sharp. "He ran to the car the moment Grandfather confessed what he said to you... he was going to bring you back."

For a second, the entire room fell silent.

My heart stopped.

"Then?" I asked, barely breathing.

"Then," Sreehan continued, voice breaking, "he said-

'Sreehan... what if she thinks I'm using her again? What if she yells at me again that I only want her body, not her love? What if she thinks I'm dragging her back to cage her in this palace without her will?'"

My breath shook violently.

"No, Sreehan... she deserves to live her life..."

"And then he just... just dropped to his knees and cried," Sreehan whispered, pain in every word. "Everyone watched him break."

Every word stabbed me, ripping through every scar I had.

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't even breathe.

My Adhvay-my ruthless, fierce, unstoppable man-had let me go because he was terrified of hurting me again.

How foolish... how cruel... how blind I had been.

My mind finally snapped back in its place, everything becoming unbearably clear. I am so selfish....

" I'm coming with you, Sreehan," I whispered, then louder with a shaking chest, "Take me to my Adhvay."

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