Chapter 29: When Love Met Fear

Poornima couldn’t hold it in anymore.

Her hands shook as she dialed the number she had been forbidden to touch. Hope—thin, fragile—clung to her chest like a last prayer.

Her mother answered.

The words that followed didn’t sound like her parents. They sounded like strangers wearing familiar voices.

“You brought shame to this family.”
“Don’t call again.”
“You chose this. Live with it.”

The call ended.

So did something inside Poornima.

She slid down against the wall, the phone slipping from her hand. That hurt—more than Veeresh’s betrayal, more than being cut off—because this was blood. This was home.

Veeresh knew.

He always knew.

When he walked in and saw her tear-streaked face, his expression hardened instantly.

“You went against me,” he said coldly. “I told you not to contact them. I don’t need someone who doesn’t follow what I say.”

“Veeresh, listen,” she pleaded, standing up. “They’re my parents. I can’t erase them from my life. They have every right to scold me, even to slap me—”

His hand came down.

Once.

Then again.

The sound echoed, sharp and final.

She didn’t scream.

She looked at him, stunned, tears spilling freely. “So you can slap me too?” she whispered. “This is the truth you don’t want to face. You can’t erase my parents just because it suits your revenge.”

She gathered whatever strength she had left.

“I don’t even know what really happened between our families. I don’t know the whole truth. But try to understand—both sides. Don’t be blind with revenge, Veeresh. Please.”

The third slap came harder.

Something in him snapped.

He started throwing things—glass, frames, anything within reach. Rage poured out of him like poison finally finding air. Poornima tried to stop him, reaching out, but she was too small against the storm he had become.

A sharp sound.

He clenched his fist too hard. Blood bloomed across his knuckles.

She rushed to him instantly, fear overriding pain.

“You’re hurt,” she cried, pulling a cloth, her hands trembling as she tried to bandage him. “Please… don’t hurt yourself. I’ll listen. I promise. Just don’t do this. I’m scared.”

He looked at her then.

Really looked.

In her eyes, he didn’t see defiance.

He saw fear first.
Love second.

And that broke something he didn’t know how to fix.

Without a word, he pulled his hand away.

“Veeresh, please—let me bandage it,” she begged.

He turned and walked out.

The door slammed.

The sound of his car leaving echoed through the empty penthouse.

Poornima’s legs gave out. She collapsed onto the floor, sobs finally tearing free—raw, uncontrollable, devastating.

She cried for her parents.
For the man she loved.
For the girl she used to be.

And somewhere on the road, Veeresh drove fast, anger and guilt battling violently inside him—knowing he had crossed a line he could never justify… and terrified that this time, he might have lost her for real.