Four guys connected by family.
Four girls connected by friendship.
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"Dont give me that look." I say, trying to break the eye contact.
"Like what?" He steps closer.
"Like if I ask you to burn this world, you...
~Main hawaon se keh kar tera pata laaunga, Tere khwabon ko apni neend mein basa lunga, Tu agar keh de ek baar ke tu sirf meri hai, Main taqdeer se bhi tujhe chura lunga~
🕊️️🐚🪞
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Song: Tu Jaane Na
----------Flashback----------
The sea roared below like a beast kept at bay. Waves slammed into jagged rocks with a rhythm that mirrored the pounding in my chest.
The storm hadn't hit yet, but I knew it was coming. I could smell it in the salt-thickened air, feel it in the silence that hung like a loaded gun between me and Dadajaan.
This villa-Villa Nerone-was mine. Every square inch of it, from the black marble floors to the bulletproof glass walls that faced the cliffside. I bought the entire damn island-Isola Vespera-six years ago. Not for leisure. Not for some romantic notion of escape.
I bought it because sometimes the world was too loud, too cruel, too... bright. And I needed a place where no one could find me when the dark came back. Where I could fall apart without anyone watching.
But Dadajaan... he always found a way in. Even when I didn't want him to.
He sat across from me now, in the great room-if you could call it that. A monolithic space with cathedral ceilings, cold concrete walls, and a fireplace that had burned out hours ago.
The man looked like a king carved from patience and history. His wound had healed, at least on the surface. The faint pink scar that peeked through his beard was the only proof of what he'd endured. And it haunted me.
He was reading her diary-Malika's-again. Dadi's pages. Weathered leather binding. Torn corners. A part of me wanted to snatch it away and burn it. Another part clung to every word like gospel.
"I never knew she was this..." I broke off, fingers digging into the armrest of my chair. "...loud in her head."
Dadajaan's gaze remained on the diary. "She had to be quiet outside to survive, Azlan. The louder you are in a cage, the faster they clip your wings."
I stared at the dancing shadows across the polished floor, cast by the flickering storm lantern we hadn't put out even after electricity returned.
"Then why didn't you get her out?" The words slipped before I could stop them. Sharper than I intended. Harsher than I had a right to be. "You were you, even back then. People listened to you."
