✨CHAPTER 2 – Parallel Lives, Crossing Hearts✨

Years rolled by like pages in a book neither of them wanted to read.

School ended.

College came and went.

Life moved forward—but Veeresh and Poornima remained exactly what they had always been:

Two people with the same surname, the same bloodline, the same childhood wounds…

Yet worlds apart.

They never bonded.

Never sat together.

Never shared a secret.

If anything, the distance only grew.

Veeresh Rathore rose like a storm.

By twenty-six, he had turned his father’s failing company into a powerhouse. People called him ruthless, brilliant, unstoppable. His name carried weight. His presence commanded silence. His decisions changed markets.

But behind all that power, he was simply a boy who grew up without a mother’s warmth and lost his father too early.

Poornima saw him on magazine covers sometimes—sharp suit, colder eyes, confident smile.

The golden boy of the business world.

She should’ve been proud of her cousin.

Instead, she simply felt… nothing. Or so she told herself.

Meanwhile, Poornima carved her own place in the corporate world. Despite her parents’ neglect, she fought her way into becoming the CEO of her father’s company. Calm, smart, strategic—she built herself quietly, far away from the spotlight Veeresh lived in.

Her staff respected her. Clients admired her.

She was everything she promised herself she would be—independent, capable, unbreakable.

Their lives ran parallel.

Never touching.

Never clashing.

Never connecting.

Until one afternoon, during a business meeting, Poornima overheard two colleagues whispering.

“Did you hear? Veeresh Rathore is dating Priya Singh.”

“She’s gorgeous, and rich too. Perfect match for him.”

Poornima froze mid-step.

Veeresh… in a relationship?

She shouldn’t care.

She didn’t care.

Why would she? He wasn’t a friend. He wasn’t someone she talked to. He was just… Veeresh.

But for some strange, ridiculous reason, her stomach tightened. An uncomfortable warmth rushed through her chest—annoyance? jealousy? irritation? She couldn’t even name it.

She muttered under her breath, “This guy and his relationships…”

Her tone was casual.

Her face was calm.

But something inside her shifted—something she didn’t want to acknowledge.

Why did the news bother her?

Why did her mind suddenly go back to that day in school…

the day he tied his sweater around her waist…

the only day he ever showed softness?

She shook the feeling away immediately.

No. Absolutely not.

There is nothing between us. Never was.

But her heart…

for the first time in years…

whispered otherwise.