Chapter 44 – Her Heart Ached For Him

Veeresh eventually fell asleep.

After everything he had finally told her, exhaustion had taken over.

He lay quietly on the bed, his breathing steady.

Poornima, however, couldn't sleep.

She turned toward him and looked at his face.

For the first time, she saw the man behind the coldness.

Not the businessman.

Not the powerful man everyone respected.

Not the man who always seemed to have control over everything.

Just Veeresh.

A man who had been hurt deeply and had carried that pain silently for six years.

Poornima's eyes filled with tears.

She remembered everything he had told her.

Riya.

The betrayal.

The photographs.

The anniversary.

The words that had destroyed his trust.

The baby he never got to know.

The hospital.

Almost a year unconscious.

And three friends who had stayed beside him when he had nothing left.

She slowly looked down.

Her own heart remembered Rishi.

She knew what betrayal felt like.

She had trusted her husband.

She had believed in her marriage.

And when she discovered his infidelity, it had broken something inside her too.

But she had people.

Her parents had stood beside her.

Her in-laws had supported her.

Arman had fought for her.

Lakshmi had stood with her.

She had never been completely alone.

Veeresh had been.

That realization hurt her more than she expected.

A tear rolled down her cheek.

Poornima whispered,

"Veer..."

He didn't wake up.

She looked at him again.

Poornima thought about how he had told her that he couldn't trust her.

At first, those words had hurt.

She had wondered why he couldn't simply believe her.

But now she understood.

He wasn't comparing her to some random person.

He was fighting six years of memories.

Six years of believing that love could only end in betrayal.

Six years of believing that nobody would stay.

Poornima wiped her tears.

Her own betrayal had hurt her deeply.

But at least someone had held her when she broke.

Veeresh had been lying in a hospital bed, unconscious, while the world outside continued moving.

And when he woke up, he had carried everything silently.

He had gone back to work.

Built his company.

Smiled when necessary.

Told everyone it was simply a compatibility issue.

And nobody knew what had really happened.

Poornima looked at him with tears in her eyes.

Poornima: "You carried all of this alone..."

Her voice trembled.

Poornima: "How did you do it, Veer?"

She gently reached out and moved a strand of hair away from his forehead.

He remained asleep.

Poornima: "I had my family."

She swallowed.

Poornima: "You had nobody."

Another tear fell.

Poornima felt a strange ache in her heart.

She wasn't feeling pity for him.

She didn't want to pity him.

She wanted to stand beside him.

She wanted him to know that what happened to him wasn't proof that he was unlovable.

Poornima quietly whispered,

"You're not alone anymore."

She looked at his sleeping face.

Poornima: "I don't know if I can heal six years of pain."

She smiled through her tears.

Poornima: "But I'll be patient."

She gently placed her hand over his.

Poornima: "You don't have to forget her."

Her voice became softer.

Poornima: "Just don't let her become the reason you lose yourself."

Veeresh moved slightly in his sleep.

His fingers instinctively closed around hers.

Poornima froze for a moment.

Then she smiled.

She didn't move her hand.

She simply stayed there beside him.

And eventually, with tears still in her eyes, she whispered one last thing.

Poornima: "You had nobody then, Veer... but you have me now."

She leaned closer and rested her head beside him.

That night, Poornima didn't sleep because she was afraid of Veeresh's past.

She couldn't sleep because her heart ached for the man who had survived it.