GLIMPSE

(1) The empty road stretched ahead, swallowed by darkness, the only sound of the hollow whistle of the wind and the faint echo of footsteps. The chill in the air seeped into her bones, and as the footsteps drew closer, her body froze. She quickly hid behind a large tree, her breath shallow, her heart pounding in her chest.

After a tense few minutes, the footsteps faded, easing some of the terror gripping her. She felt a small surge of relief, but the oppressive darkness still filled her with unease. Gathering her courage, she decided to look for a safer place to shelter for the night.

Just as she took a step forward, she felt a presence behind her. Before she could react, a deep, husky voice breathed into her ear, “Were you waiting for me, sweetheart?”

A shiver ran down her spine as her body betrayed her, limbs turning to stone. She struggled to move, to run, but it was too late. Two powerful arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into a solid chest, and a heavy fog of drowsiness began to consume her senses.

As she drifted into unconsciousness, the last words that reached her ears were a chilling whisper: “You can’t escape this devil, sweetheart.”

(2) YUVRAJ'S PROPOSAL>>>>>

"I' am not the best at flowery language, so I'll keep it simple, I never believed in love. Never wanted it. I didn't see the practical value and, to be honest, I was doing just fine without it.

But then I met you. Your smile, your strength, your innocence, your intelligence and compassion. You filled a part of my soul I always thought would be empty, and you healed scars I never knew existed. And I realised, it's not that,

I didn't believe in love before.

"It's that I was saving it all for you".

    "Ishita, will you marry me?"

(3) I stood there —

a breathing corpse,

shattered beyond any hope of repair.

It felt like hell itself was screaming at me,

mocking me for believing in dreams,

for daring to hope in love again.

The world around me faded —

its sounds, its people —

all of it drowned under the deafening silence of my own breaking heart.

Only one thing remained:

Me.

My ruined soul.

And him —

the man standing in front of me,

the man who once swore he would set the world on fire at my single tear.

Now?

Now he looked at my tears the way a king looks at a fallen beggar —

cold, unmoved, disgusted.

That same deadly aura he reserved for his enemies...

he wore it for me now.

As if I was just another stranger.

Another casualty.

I swallowed the pain slicing my throat, my voice a ghost of itself as I whispered,

"So... everything we had... meant nothing to you?

You never loved me?"

My heart begged him.

Begged for a lie.

Begged for anything but the truth I already saw in his dead, merciless eyes.

His lips curled into a half-smirk — cruel, pitiless.

"Love?"

He laughed under his breath, the sound like knives against my skin.

"You were just a pawn, Ishita.

A tool.

Information wrapped up in a naive little girl."

His words lashed me harder than any whip could.

"You were nothing but a silly fantasy," he went on, voice razor-sharp.

"A girl who thought some prince would fight her demons for her.

Fairytales are for fools, sweetheart.

And you... were the biggest fool of all."

Every word he spoke ripped into my flesh, my bones, my soul.

I felt my chest caving in, like something was crushing me from the inside out.

"I warned you..." I rasped, barely audible, "I warned you not to come near me..."

"And you were right," he said with an eerie calm,

like he was discussing the weather.

Something inside me — the last fragile thread — snapped.

I collapsed.

Right there.

Shattered into a thousand silent, invisible pieces.

The girl who had loved him beyond reason, beyond logic —

reduced to a heap on the cold, uncaring floor.

Tears blurred my vision but I forced myself to look up.

One last time.

One last desperate prayer.

"Yuvraj..." I cried, the words broken beyond recognition,

"You... you really never loved me?

Not even for a heartbeat...?"

Maybe he would flinch.

Maybe he would blink.

Maybe there was a soul hidden somewhere inside that icy shell.

For a fleeting second, I thought I saw something flicker in his eyes —

a crack in the frozen armor, a ghost of something he killed long ago.

But then, just as quickly, it was gone.

Sealed shut.

Dead.

He only tilted his head slightly, as if pondering, before saying:

"The only thing real between us...

was your delusion."

And with that —

the last flame inside me flickered and died.

I shattered fully, sobs tearing out of my chest,

my hands digging into the cold floor for support I would never find.

Through the tears, through the pain,

through the ruins of my soul,

I whispered so brokenly I wasn’t even sure he heard:

"I would have loved you... even if it destroyed me.

And you...

you didn’t even love me enough to lie properly."

He said nothing.

He just watched me —

like a predator admiring the ruin he had created.

And then, with the grace of a king standing over a conquered battlefield,

he slowly straightened, towering over my broken form.

His eyes lingered on me —

empty, cold, merciless —

for a heartbeat that felt like an eternity.

He didn't turn.

He didn't move.

He just stood there —

facing me, watching me drown in my own devastation —

his gaze as unfor

giving as the death sentence it was.

Leaving me to crumble completely...

in the ashes of a love that was never real.