The Blazing Heiress

42|| Roka - I

"I would rather swim stormy seas with you, than sail calm waters with anyone else." —J Střelou

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Avni couldn't understand why people felt the need to fill the voids. Where does this desperate desire to fill the emptiness come from if you are completely hollow from the inside?

Like others, she had spent most of her life filling her voids, tirelessly chasing the wholeness without pausing to question herself why she desperately craved it. She went too far in doing so. Even committed sins to understand what being complete felt like. Yet, she never felt whole. For there was always something missing, something incomplete, something broken.

At times, she felt she was a vessel glutted with hollow crevices and dark caverns rather than a living being made of flesh, blood and a beating heart.

Then, Viransh stepped into her life like a first glint of dawning light piercing the velvet midnight sky. Taught her to gather the scattered chunks of her soul. Gently kissed away her unseen wounds. Made her feel better about herself.

He completed her in a way that nothing, no one else could ever. It was as if he was the missing piece of her soul, the final note in an unsung symphony that had been left incomplete. As if he was a divine, golden elixir existing solely to fill every gap and crevice of her being. And as if he were the guiding light sent to cast its gentle warmth upon the darkest cavern of her heart.

It was in his presence that she felt a sense of completeness.

With him, she was whole.

And how did she repay his affection, care, and concern? By massacring the other part of her soul, his heart, for the sheer greediness that burned within her like an inferno, keeping her warm and alive for the past three years.

Ashamed to meet her own eyes, she looked away from the mirror.

Memories of yesterday afternoon unfurled before her like a pair of black wings, draping a veil of melancholy upon her mind and wrapping her heart in a hardened silk of remorse.

She shouldn't be sitting here, adorned in the finest jewels of allure.

Had she not accepted Deven Malik's agreement, she would've been with her man—perhaps sitting on the concrete roof of an abandoned building, appreciating the expanse of the clear sky above them. The distant murmur of the city below would've been a musical backdrop as they bantered, teased each other and exchanged whispers of kisses. She would've been hiding the bloom on her cheeks behind a veil of her long hair, scolding her traitorous heart for beating at an abnormal pace in his presence. He would've worn his trademark grin, his golden ambers twinkling with satisfaction and affection for the changes he brought in her, adoring her shy acceptance towards the subtle shifts between them, towards the small steps they were taking ahead.

After exiting Viransh's apartment yesterday, she dared to hope he would understand her plight and quest for vengeance. Yet, the memory of the gold-flecked eyes stricken with disappointment and hurt, his anguished voice that promised to conquer the entire world for her, everything continued to haunt her. By the time she reached home that evening, she had resolved to call off the agreement with Deven.

However, it seemed as though the sly man knew she would try to back off from the deal. His backup plan was already in motion. He freaking involved the two families.

Avni did not understand Deven's plan. How did this marriage benefit him in any tangible way? From her perspective, she was the only one holding the bigger end of the stick in this arrangement. Neither he nor his sons appeared to gain anything significant from this arrangement. What hidden agenda was driving him to manipulate her into this deal?