Ruin In Royals (Royal #1: Book 2) | ✔

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A/N: to the Watty readers who ask paid readers for spoilers or PDFs, please don't. I've received a few complaints. The paid readers are annoyed now. They don't wish to be bothered.

-• i'm here to stay •-

Atharva was a regret I never considered a mistake. Meeting him so unexpectedly was never in my wishlist, but now that it happened, walking away didn't feel right, neither I wanted to.

He has changed.

A lot.

He always had that mature charm in the way he behaves, but now it reflects in his looks. But I'm glad there's still the boyish hint to the way he expresses himself. His grin is still the widest, and the dimples deeper than what I remember. I'm more taken aback by the fact that he can speak again, it's a deep, rich tone, firm and levelled, it's not whispered anymore, neither strained or broken.

And I find myself loving the way he speaks. It's calm, composed, and patient. We often overlook the kind of men who don't strike us as an enigma, who don't walk around like an alive mystery, who are open and honest, who may not have anything interesting to say, and they may not be a risk that makes your adrenaline rush, but they are safe, stable, and while they might have a dead-end, it wouldn't be like standing at the edge of the cliff, but reaching the end of the road that opens to a new one. And now as I stand between the two clear differences, it makes me realise how grounded Atharva makes me feel, very contrasting to the way Shourya or Rudra did, like I had to walk on eggshells around them.

I'm glad I let him go when I was sure my feelings about him weren't changing. I can't imagine myself hurting him more than I already had. He deserves someone special.

"You can speak again," I say in awe.

"Yes," he chuckles, and I'm still not able to wrap my head around it completely. It feels like a dream. When we were dating, I so badly wanted him to speak above a whisper, to flirt with me using cheesy lines, to talk to me on phone calls for hours long. And now that it's no longer a wish, but a reality, we're facing the opposite directions of life. "I was in speech therapy for the last two years. It helped me greatly."

I nod. "That's great to know."

His eyes flicker to Shourya, then back to me. "Are you guys together-"

"No."

"Yes."

I glare at Shourya. Did he forget he has a fiancee?

"Isn't this what being together means?" He refers to us standing next to each other.

I hold back a scoff. He's not fooling me with that crap. "We bumped into each other. I'm here with Janet." I clarify.

Atharva nods.

"And you? Are you here with someone?" I inquire.

"Yeah, I'm with Anagha. She's in the bookstore." He points over his shoulder. "She saw a dress on a display so she sent me to check the price."

"Reader's Heaven?" I guess.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Atharva frowns.

"Janet and I just came from there. She wanted to buy some books. But the silly girl forgot her phone on one of the shelves so she went back to get it." I explain.

"So," he trails, licking the corner of his lips and looking at me nervously. "Are you still single?"

I stop myself from tucking the free lock behind my ear. "I am."

His lips tilt at the corners. "Good to know."

"And you?" I query.

He rubs his nape. "I still think of you sometimes."