Meant To Be

CHAPTER - 33

Meera's POV

My heart felt like it had been shackled, each beat sending a wave of sorrow that I couldn’t escape. I didn’t want to face him. I had spent so many sleepless nights avoiding this moment, but now… now it was inevitable.

You can do this, Meera. I repeated those words like a mantra, as if they could give me strength, as if they could patch the cracks in my heart. You have to face him one day, and that day has come.

I took a shaky breath, my hands trembling as I reached for the door. Slowly, I opened it. And there he was.

He looked as stunning as ever, as if time had not touched him at all. Arjun Malhotra stood there, commanding the space around him with that aura of authority, the same aura that once made my heart race with love, now only stirring up a storm of fear and regret within me. The crowd gathered around him seemed like mere shadows compared to his presence, and I instinctively took a step back, trying to hide behind the crowd, praying he wouldn’t see me.

But his name was being spoken, loud and clear, and the words hit me like daggers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, here he is. The famous Arjun Malhotra. I'm glad and honored to give my company into his hands."

Dada’s voice rang in my ears, but I couldn’t lift my eyes to meet his. The weight of what I had done, the destruction I had caused in both of our lives, made it impossible. I kept my head low, my hands gripping each other tightly to stop them from shaking.

All the promises I had made to myself—I will be strong, I will never look back—felt so hollow in that moment. How could I be strong when the love of my life stood before me, and I was the one who tore everything apart?

"Run, Meera, run," my mind screamed, but my feet refused to move, as if I were glued to the spot by an invisible force. The torment inside me felt like it was consuming every inch of my being.

"Meera," I heard his voice, calling me. It was soft, but it shattered me to my core. I didn’t respond, too afraid that if I opened my mouth, I would break down into a mess of tears.

The crowd around me shifted, and I could feel the air thicken. Every step he took felt like a deafening drumbeat, heavy and purposeful, each one an assault on my fragile composure. His presence… it hit me like a wave, relentless and overwhelming.

And then, our eyes met.

I wasn’t ready. I never would be. His gaze—those eyes I once knew as a home—were now cold, hard, and filled with such raw, unfiltered anger. Anger that seemed to burn through me like fire.

The love I once saw there, the gentle tenderness, was gone. In its place was something darker, something that made my heart twist painfully in my chest. The weight of it suffocated me, and before I could stop myself, I looked away, unable to bear it.

"Arjun, this is Meera, Meera Sharma, my secretary... and now yours," dadas voice sounded like it was from far away, almost distant. The words reverberated in my mind, each syllable like a hammer to my heart.

My body trembled uncontrollably, my hands shaking as if they had a mind of their own. My chest felt tight, suffocating, and my breath came in sharp, shallow gasps.

I wanted to scream, to apologize, to tell him how sorry I was, to explain how much I had been hurting too. But my throat was closed off, my words imprisoned by the weight of my shame. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Sharma," he said, his voice flat, devoid of any warmth. Those words were like a dagger to the chest, each one sinking deeper, twisting as it went.