✨CHAPTER 3 – The Announcement That Broke Them✨

The conference hall glittered with chandeliers and the warmth of successful business families gathered under one roof. It was supposed to be a normal meeting—formal, predictable, forgettable.

Poornima walked in with her usual calm grace, files in hand, eyes sharp and professional. Veeresh was already there, surrounded by a circle of businessmen, his presence commanding the room effortlessly.

They exchanged the same look they always did—cold, distant, unreadable.

But fate had other plans.

When the meeting ended, Poornima’s parents stepped forward with practiced smiles. Rehan, Veeresh’s elder brother, stood beside them. And then… the announcement dropped like a bomb.

“We are pleased to announce,” Poornima’s father said proudly, “the wedding of our daughter Poornima with Rehan Rathore.”

The hall erupted in applause.

But Poornima froze.

Her heartbeat stopped.

Her breath vanished.

Her entire world tilted.

What?

Wedding? With Rehan? From where did this come?

She stared at her parents, her throat tightening. They never discussed marriage with her. They didn’t even ask for her opinion. Why would they? She wasn’t someone whose wishes ever mattered to them.

Her eyes slowly lifted—and met Veeresh’s.

He looked equally stunned, the first crack in his usual composed expression. Something flickered in his eyes—confusion, disbelief… and something else he didn’t understand.

Poornima tried to speak, her voice trembling.

“I—I don’t—this is—”

But the words refused to come out.

Years of being silenced by her parents choked her all over again.

She felt eyes on her. She felt the walls closing in.

And before anyone could stop her, Poornima walked away—then faster—then ran out of the hall.

She got into her car and drove blindly to her penthouse, her vision blurring with tears she had held back for years.

As soon as she closed the door behind her, she collapsed onto the floor.

She cried for her childhood.

She cried for the love she never received.

For the parents who only remembered her when she was useful.

For the life she built alone.

And now—now they wanted to decide her marriage too?

“No,” she whispered brokenly. “Marriage should be my choice… my wish. Why does nothing in my life belong to me?”

Her sobs echoed off the quiet walls of her penthouse.

Meanwhile, across the city, Veeresh walked into his own penthouse and shut the door harder than he intended.

He loosened his tie, paced the room, and ran his hand through his hair.

Why was he affected?

It was Poornima. His childhood enemy. The one he always fought with.

Her marriage shouldn’t matter to him.

So why did his chest feel tight?

Why did that announcement hit him like a punch?

He sat on his couch, staring into the empty room.

Why does this feel wrong?

Why does it bother me?

Two people, sitting alone in their penthouses…

feeling the same confusion, the same ache,

thinking about each other without knowing why.

And neither of them realized—

this was the moment everything began to change.