Raha walked out of the hospital.
Just walked.
No destination. No plan. Just forward.
Subin followed. "Raha—"
She didn't turn around.
"Raha—"
He ran and caught her hand.
She pulled.
He held.
She pulled harder — no expression, no words, just the desperate need to be free of everything including him—
He wouldn't let go.
Something broke inside her.
She turned.
And slapped him.
Hard.
Subin's hand flew to his cheek. His eyes — wide, wet, completely unprepared.
"What—"
"Raha, what are you doing?" he said, his voice cracking.
Raha's hands moved — fast, shaking, tears streaming down her face —
You said you loved me. But when I needed you most — you left. You just left. And now you're back?
Subin stood completely still.
He understood every word.
Her hands kept moving —
I'm not going anywhere with you.
I hate you.
She shoved him.
Hard.
And walked away.
Subin stood in the middle of the road and watched her go.
"Raha—"
Just her name.
Nothing else left.
The rain started.
Heavy. Cold. Relentless.
Subin stood in it and didn't move.
Raha walked into the downpour — bandaged head, soaked through within seconds, crying so hard her whole body shook with it.
She didn't know where she was going.
She didn't care.
A car pulled up beside her.
"Hey. Get in."
A man's voice. Flat. Serious.
Raha stopped.
She turned to run—
The door opened. Two men stepped out.
She fought. Pushed. Shoved with everything she had left.
It wasn't enough.
They put her in the car and drove.
Subin searched for her in the rain.
Up and down the same stretch of road, calling her name with his hands, looking everywhere—
She was gone.
He stood in the downpour, chest heaving.
Where did she go?
She woke up in a room.
A familiar room.
She looked down at herself — dry clothes, clean, warm.
Where am I?
"Raha."
She knew that voice.
She turned.
Rohan.
Something in her chest loosened — just slightly.
"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly.
Raha grabbed the notebook on the bedside table.
Why did you bring me here?
Rohan read it.
"Where else would you go?"
Raha stood up immediately.
Walked to the door.
"Where are you going?"
She didn't answer.
She walked out.
The maids in the hallway looked up as she passed.
"Isn't that the girl who was in the accident?" one of them whispered.
The front door opened.
Bella walked in.
She caught the whisper. Followed the maid's gaze.
Her eyes landed on Raha.
Raha.
Here.
"What is she doing here?" she asked, her voice dropping low.
"We don't know, miss," the maid said, head bowed.
"Raha — stop! Where are you going?"
Rohan burst out of the room behind her.
Raha walked straight into Bella's path.
Bella moved to block her. "Where do you think you're going? It's pouring outside. It's the middle of the night—"
Raha looked at her.
Just looked.
And everything that had been sitting in her chest since the hospital — since the accident — since the moment she had stood in that cold room and pulled back a white cloth — rose up all at once.
Her whole body burned.
She shoved Bella out of the way.
Walked out the front door into the rain.
Rohan looked at Bella for exactly one second.
Then he followed Raha.
"Rohan—" Bella called after him.
He didn't look back.
The street was dark.
Empty.
Rain coming down in sheets.
Raha walked with her eyes half blind from crying, one hand wiping her face uselessly, the bandage on her head soaked through.
"Raha."
Rohan caught her arm.
"Where are you going? Where is there to go?"
She shoved him away.
And then — her hands started moving. Signing. Desperately. Her mouth opening and closing, trying to force out sounds that wouldn't come, that had never come, that she had lost in a car accident a long time ago along with her father and her voice and the life she was supposed to have—
Rohan watched her hands.
He couldn't follow all of it.
But he understood enough.
She was trying to say something.
She was trying to say everything.
And she couldn't.
She couldn't.
Her knees buckled slightly. Rohan reached out and steadied her without thinking.
She was crying so hard now that her whole body shook with it — silent, violent, the way she always cried, the way she had always been forced to cry—
And then — through all of it — one sound.
The only sound she had ever been able to make.
"Maa—"
Just that.
Just one word.
Broken and small and absolutely devastating.
Rohan's eyes filled.
The rain fell harder.
"I know," he said quietly. "I know what it feels like. To lose someone you love."
Raha turned to look at him.
His face was wet — rain or tears, impossible to tell.
Rohan stepped forward.
Slowly.
Carefully.
And pressed his lips against hers.
From across the street —
Subin stood.
Medicine in his hands.
He had found her.
He had finally found her.
And he was too late.
He stood completely still in the pouring rain and watched — Raha and Rohan, the dark street, the storm — and said nothing.
Did nothing.
Just stood there.
With the medicine in his hands.