Chapter 46 — You’re Still Scolding Me

Poornima stirred slowly, her eyelids fluttering open as the soft light of the room came into focus.

For a few seconds, everything felt blurry.

Then her gaze shifted.

Veeresh.

Sitting beside her.

Watching her carefully.

“Are you okay?” he asked immediately, voice steady but alert.

Poornima frowned slightly, trying to sit up. “Salvatore… why am I so sleepy?”

She pressed her fingers lightly against her forehead, confused.

“And what happened to your hand?”

Veeresh glanced down at his wrist where a faint mark was visible from stopping her earlier.

Nothing serious.

But she had noticed.

That meant she was back.

Or at least… partially.

He studied her carefully.

She didn’t remember the bathroom incident.

Didn’t remember the panic spike.

Didn’t remember the knife in her hand.

His expression softened slightly.

She was safe inside the gap her mind had created again.

“Nothing,” he answered calmly. “Small injury.”

Poornima narrowed her eyes immediately. “You always say ‘nothing’ when something is wrong.”

Veeresh didn’t respond.

That was answer enough.

She leaned slightly against the pillow, still groggy but visibly more stable now.

“You’re being weird again, Salvatore.”

He almost smiled at that.

“Sleep again.”

“I already slept too much,” she complained weakly.

Veeresh leaned back slightly, watching her carefully.

The tension in his body slowly eased.

She didn’t remember.

Which meant the fracture in her memory still hadn’t fully surfaced.

Good.

Or dangerous.

He wasn’t sure anymore.

Poornima sighed, adjusting the blanket. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like I’m going to break.”

That made him pause.

For a moment, Veeresh said nothing.

Then quietly—

“You don’t break easily, Poornima.”

She rolled her eyes softly. “That’s the only compliment I’ve ever gotten from you.”

A faint smirk appeared on his face.

“Then get used to it.”

Poornima turned her face slightly away, trying to hide the small smile forming on her lips.

And Veeresh just sat there watching her quietly—

Relieved she was back in the version of reality her mind allowed her to survive in.

For now.