Chapter 64 — What You Broke in Me

Veeresh didn’t think before he moved.

He reached the restaurant within minutes.

Aurum Table was busy as usual—customers, staff, the familiar warmth of her world. But his eyes found her instantly.

Poornima.

She was standing near a table, talking to a man and actually smiling.

That smile hit him harder than anything else that day.

Before he could process it—

He walked straight in and punched the man.

Hard.

The man staggered back in shock.

Poornima’s eyes widened instantly.

“Salvatore! Stop!” she rushed forward. “Leave him!”

Veeresh grabbed the man by his collar again, anger flashing in his eyes.

“How dare he touch you?” he snapped.

Poornima immediately stepped between them. “Leave him! He’s my friend—Sanjay!”

That name made Veeresh pause slightly, but only for a second.

He let the man go reluctantly, his breathing still sharp.

Then he turned toward Poornima.

His voice dropped, dangerous and hurt at the same time.

“You don’t have even one percent feelings for me, right?”

That question broke something loose.

Poornima stared at him for a second.

Then—

SLAP.

Veeresh froze.

Poornima’s eyes were red now, not with fear—but with anger, pain, and everything she had been holding in.

“What feelings?” she said sharply.

Her voice cracked slightly.

“I did have feelings for you.”

Silence.

“But you never saw them.”

Veeresh didn’t speak.

Poornima stepped closer, her voice rising now.

“Everything was fake, right? That’s what you think of me anyway.”

A pause.

“Why do you think I gave myself to you that night?”

Veeresh’s expression changed slightly.

Poornima’s hands trembled.

“Because for once… I felt like someone was better than what I had.”

Her voice broke slightly, but she didn’t stop.

“I felt safe in your arms. I forgot my panic. My nightmares. Everything.”

She shook her head.

“But I was wrong.”

Silence in the restaurant now.

Everyone had stopped watching.

Only them remained.

Poornima’s eyes burned as she continued.

“You never asked me anything.”

“You just decided I was involved in your sister’s death.”

Veeresh’s jaw tightened.

“You could have asked me,” she said softly now, but painfully.

“You could have trusted me enough to ask.”

A pause.

“But instead you showed fake concern…”

Her voice dropped.

“…and broke it.”

Silence fell again.

Heavy.

Unforgiving.

Poornima stepped back slightly, wiping her face quickly, refusing to cry in front of him.

“I don’t know your sister,” she said firmly.

“And I never did anything you think I did.”

She looked at him one last time.

“But you still chose to destroy what we had before even knowing me.”

Veeresh stood there frozen.

For the first time since everything started—

Salvatore Dreewan didn’t have a reply.