MADDY'S POV
The second the call ended, my phone slipped from my fingers.
It hit the floor with a crack—the sound too loud in the suffocating silence of my room.
She knew.
Diya had heard me. Heard me say the words I never should have thought, let alone spoken out loud.
"I need a break."
A ragged breath tore from my chest as I pressed my palms into my eyes, trying to erase the image of her face—composed, steady, already pulling away.
Fuck.
I'd done this.
Me.
The guy who swore he'd never hurt her. The guy who knew what it felt like to be left questioning, to be the one waiting for answers that never came.
And yet—
I'd become exactly what I hated.
My hands fisted in my hair as I replayed her words, each one a blade twisting deeper.
"Hurting me slowly… hurts more."
She was right.
I'd been pulling away for days, too much of a coward to admit why. Too scared to voice the truth even to myself.
That night—our night—had wrecked me.
Not because I didn't want her.
But because I'd never wanted anything more.
Holding her afterward, skin to skin, her heartbeat under my palm… it had hit me like a fist to the throat.
This was it.
No going back. No pretending this was casual. No hiding behind jokes or half-truths.
I was in love with her.
And that?
That terrified me.
Because love wasn't just soft whispers and tangled sheets. Love was risk. It was handing someone the power to destroy you and praying they didn't.
And Diya?
She could ruin me.
So I'd done the one thing I knew how to do—
I'd tried to outrun it.
And now?
Now I'd lost her.
My phone buzzed—Aarav's name flashing on the cracked screen.
Aarav: You're a fucking idiot.
A humorless laugh escaped me.
Yeah.
I was.
But it wasn't too late.