Aarohi’s POV
The music downstairs had finally stopped.
After hours of laughter, dancing, teasing, and nonstop chaos, Chandralok Haveli had gone unusually quiet. Only the fairy lights outside still glowed softly against the old walls, flickering with the late-night wind.
But somehow—
the silence felt louder than the music had.
I stood near the balcony of my room with my arms crossed tightly against myself, replaying the same moment over and over again.
That slap.
The look on his face afterward.
God.
Why was I even thinking about him again?
I shut my eyes in frustration.
“It was his fault,” I muttered under my breath immediately, as if arguing with myself. “He deserved it.”
And yet…
something about the entire situation still felt wrong.
Yash Bhai and Vivaan had already tried explaining downstairs that it was just a misunderstanding. That Atharv never said what I thought he said.
But then why didn’t he stop me?
Why didn’t he defend himself properly?
Why did he just stand there looking at me like—
I exhaled sharply and looked away from my own thoughts.
No.
Absolutely not.
I was not overthinking some arrogant stranger at one in the night.
The haveli had grown quieter now. Most room lights were off, distant footsteps had disappeared, and even the laughter from downstairs had faded completely.
Still—
sleep refused to come.
Restlessness sat heavily in my chest, strange and unsettling.
Maybe fresh air would help.
Grabbing my shawl from the chair nearby, I quietly stepped out of the room.
The corridor outside was dimly lit. Soft golden lamps cast long shadows against the haveli walls while the cold marble floor pressed lightly beneath my feet.
Everything looked peaceful.
Too peaceful.
I walked downstairs slowly, trying not to wake anyone. The huge living hall looked completely different without people filling it with noise earlier. Decorations still hung everywhere, flower petals scattered across the floor from the sangeet.
But now—
the same haveli somehow felt unfamiliar.
As I crossed the hallway leading toward the garden corridor, I suddenly stopped.
For a second—
I thought I saw movement near the far end.
My brows furrowed.
Probably exhaustion.
I started walking again.
Then the temperature around me dropped suddenly.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
And this time—
I knew I wasn’t imagining it.
Someone was standing there.
A faint figure.
Still.
Watching.
My breath caught instantly.
The corridor suddenly felt too narrow. Too quiet.
I stepped back instinctively.
The figure became clearer beneath the dim yellow light.
An old woman.
White saree.
Blurred face.
Motionless eyes.
My throat went dry.
No.
No no no—
Not tonight.
I turned immediately, ready to run back upstairs, when a voice stopped me.
“Aarohi…”
My entire body froze.
The voice wasn’t loud.
But something about it felt deeply wrong.
Slowly, I turned back, my heartbeat rising painfully inside my chest.
The woman stood exactly where she had been before.
“You came back here…” she whispered softly.
My breathing turned uneven instantly.
“Who are you?” I asked, voice trembling despite myself. “What do you want?”
For a few seconds, the spirit said nothing.
Then—
“He’s coming back.”
The words hit me so suddenly that my mind blanked.
A strange ringing filled my ears.
“No…” I whispered automatically.
The old woman took one slow step forward.
“You were never supposed to return to this haveli.”
My chest tightened violently.
And suddenly—
everything around me started collapsing inward.
Not physically.
Mentally.
Fragments.
Broken memories.
Dark corridors.
Screaming.
Hands gripping too tightly.
A locked door.
That voice—
My breathing hitched sharply.
“No…”
I stepped backward again.
The spirit’s voice echoed faintly through the corridor.
“He remembers you.”
That was it.
Something inside me snapped.
My pulse spiraled out of control as panic crashed into me so hard I couldn’t even process what was happening anymore.
The walls around me suddenly felt too close.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t think.
The corridor blurred as old memories forced themselves violently into my mind again after years.
“No… no no no…”
My hands started shaking uncontrollably.
Air refused to enter my lungs properly.
Not again.
Please not again—
“Aarohi.”
The voice echoed again.
And this time—
I screamed.
“BHAIIIII!”
My voice shattered through the silence of the haveli.
I stumbled backward, nearly losing balance as tears blurred my vision completely.
“He can’t come back…” I whispered brokenly. “No… no…”
Footsteps thundered from upstairs immediately.
“Aarohi?!”
Vihaan.
The moment I heard my brother’s voice, something inside me broke further instead of calming down.
“Bhai…” My voice cracked violently. “Please—”
I couldn’t even finish properly.
My body had stopped cooperating entirely.
By the time Vihaan reached the corridor, I was already sitting on the floor, struggling desperately to breathe.
Sweat clung to my skin despite the cold air around me.
My hands had gone numb.
Everything sounded distorted.
“Aarohi!” Vihaan crouched beside me immediately, panic written across his face. “What happened?!”
I grabbed his sleeve tightly.
“She said he’s coming back…”
“What?”
“No…” I shook my head frantically, unable to explain anything properly anymore. “No no no…”
More footsteps approached rapidly.
Yash.
Meera.
Rhea.
Vivaan.
Elders. Everyone.
Their voices blurred together around me.
“Aaru, look at me.”
“Aarohi breathe slowly—”
“What happened?”
“Water lao!”
But nothing helped.
Because I wasn’t fully there anymore.
I was stuck somewhere between the present and memories I had spent years trying to bury.
My breathing became harsher.
Sharp.
Painful.
And then suddenly—
someone touched my shoulder.
I flinched violently.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!”
The scream tore out of me before I could stop it.
Everyone froze.
Even Meera.
Fear flashed across my mother’s face as she rushed downstairs a second later.
“Aaru—”
I backed away immediately.
“No!”
The corridor spun around me.
I couldn’t stop shaking.
The old woman was still standing there at the far end of the hallway.
Watching silently.
Nobody else could see her.
That terrified me more.
“Please…” I whispered helplessly, staring toward the spirit. “Please just leave me alone…”
Meera’s expression changed slightly.
Not confusion.
Concern.
Careful observation.
Like she was trying to understand something that still didn’t fully make sense to her.
“Aaru…” she said softly, slowly kneeling beside me again. “Listen to my voice, okay? Just breathe.”
But breathing felt impossible.
The panic had become unbearable now.
My chest hurt.
My vision blurred completely.
And when I tried standing—
my legs gave up beneath me.
For one terrifying second, I felt myself falling—
before strong arms caught me instantly.
Everything around me blurred faintly as familiar tension settled around me.
Atharv.
I realized it a second too late.
His grip tightened automatically to stop me from collapsing completely.
And strangely—
despite the chaos around me—
his voice remained calm.
“Careful.”
That single word somehow felt distant through the noise in my head.
My body still trembled violently, breaths uneven against the fabric of his black kurta.
For half a second, our eyes met.
Mine terrified.
His unreadable.
But there was something else there too.
Something sharp.
Disturbed.
Before I could process it—
darkness swallowed everything.
Author’s POV
The entire haveli had fallen into chaos.
Madhura rushed toward Aarohi immediately as Atharv carefully helped steady her unconscious body.
“Aaru!” her mother cried shakily.
Vihaan reached them within seconds.
“Atharv,” he said quickly, trying to stay calm despite the panic in his voice, “give her to me.”
Atharv nodded silently.
The moment Vihaan carried Aarohi upstairs toward her room, something slipped quietly from her wrist onto the marble floor.
A bracelet.
Atharv’s gaze lowered automatically.
And the second he picked it up—
his expression changed.
He had seen this before.
That silver bracelet.
The mall.
That girl.
His grip around it tightened unconsciously.
A strange realization settled heavily inside him.
Aarohi.
The girl from that day—
was her.
Behind him, the voices around the corridor continued anxiously.
“What happened suddenly?”
“She got scared again…”
“Maybe she saw something…”
Atharv looked upstairs toward Aarohi’s room.
But for the first time that night—
his thoughts were no longer focused on the slap.
Or the misunderstanding.
Instead—
he couldn’t stop thinking about the fear in her eyes.
Not ordinary fear.
The kind that comes from remembering something terrible.
And somehow—
that disturbed him more than he wanted to admit.
That wasn’t just fear anymore… so what exactly is Aarohi hiding? 👀
Okay be honest —
whose side are you on after this chapter? Aarohi or Atharv?
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