What we were never meant to be

Only if forgetting you was easy

Anam barely remembered how she got home.

By the time she reached her room, her legs could hardly carry her.

The silence of the house was deafening, almost cruel in contrast to the chaos still ringing in her ears.

She pushed open her door and stepped inside, her hands trembling.

The weight of everything hit her at once. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't even stand straight. With unsteady steps, she reached the center of her room and fell against her bed, her body collapsing as though it had carried the burden of centuries.

Tears poured freely, unstoppable. Her throat burned from the sobs she had tried to contain on the way home.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, demanding answers, demanding relief.

But there was none.

"Why..." she whispered into the air, her voice hoarse.
"Why does it always have to
be me?"

Her mind betrayed her with memories every word, every glance, every promise.

She remembered the stolen silences, the tension, the way her name on his lips had always felt like a dangerous prayer.

And then she remembered the necklace the one he had given her

She had told herself it meant nothing, that it was just a gift.
But she had cherished it like it was everything.

Dragging herself to her dressing table, she stood before the mirror.

Her face was unrecognizable eyes swollen and red, lips trembling, cheeks streaked with tears.

She stared at herself as if searching for the girl she once was, the girl who hadn't been pulled into Dev Malhotra's orbit, the girl who hadn't learned what it felt like to burn.

"Isn't this what you wanted, Anam?" she spat bitterly at her reflection, voice breaking.

"You wanted him to move on. You begged yourself to let go, to escape his darkness. And now he has. He found someone else."

Her reflection wavered in the mirror as fresh tears blurred her vision.

With shaking hands, she reached for the drawer, pulled it open, and brought out the small velvet box. The sight of it nearly broke her all over again.

The necklace.

Delicate, silver, with a tiny engraved pendant that only she and Dev understood.

She remembered the way he had slipped it into her neck, his tone casual, but his eyes anything but.

"Just Don't lose it," he had said.
As if it meant more than he would ever admit.

Her knees gave out, and she sank to the floor, clutching the necklace against her chest.

Her sobs turned raw, almost violent. The air felt heavy, suffocating. She cursed her fate, cursed herself for ever letting her heart betray her.

"Why me, God? Why do I have to love him?"

She pressed the necklace against her lips, then hurled it across the room with sudden rage.

It hit the wall and fell to the floor with a sharp clink, the sound echoing in the silence. But even as it lay far from her, she felt its weight heavier than ever.

Her reflection in the mirror looked back at heartbroken, hollow, yet still tied to him.

She whispered, almost to herself: