Aryan's POV – but mostly Reyza's voice and Aarohi's story
She changed in front of me.
Not with screams or shaking.
Not like the movies.
It was subtle—like a different person slipped into her skin and simply… took her place.
Her spine straightened. Her fingers stopped fidgeting. Her gaze turned sharp—unblinking.
And when she smiled, it wasn't Aarohi's uncertain softness.
It was Reyza's knowing smirk.
"Well," she said, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the piano. "You wanted to meet me. Here I am."
I swallowed, my heartbeat steady—but alert.
She tilted her head. "You're not afraid."
"No."
She chuckled. "You should be."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not here to be loved."
I leaned forward. "Then why are you here?"
She paused, eyes flicking up to the ceiling like she was looking for the right words. Or maybe fighting for control.
Then her voice changed again—softer, layered.
And it was Aarohi.
Faintly.
Fighting through the fog.
"She didn't start as Reyza," Aarohi said. "At first, she was just a whisper."
I stayed quiet.
"She showed up when I was ten," she continued, her voice wobbling faintly beneath Reyza's calm surface. "When things got… too much."
"What happened?" I asked gently.
Her eyes glazed—like she was seeing something far away.
"I was trapped in a room," she whispered. "Locked. For hours. My father thought I was lying about something stupid. I wasn't. But he didn't believe me."
Reyza's smirk faded.
"He said silence would make me think. But it only made me break."
Her fingers gripped the edge of the bench now.
"I screamed until my throat bled. I begged. But no one came."
She swallowed.
"And then she did."
A pause.
"She told me to stop crying," Aarohi said. "Said no one was coming. That I needed to stop being weak. That if I kept breaking like this, I'd vanish."
I listened, not interrupting.
"I didn't even know I'd created her," Aarohi went on. "But from that moment… I stopped begging. I stopped sobbing. I sat in the dark, quiet. Still. That was the first time I disappeared… and she took over."
Reyza's voice bled in now—smooth and dry. "I got us out eventually. Smashed a vase. Cut the lock. He never knew."
"You protected her," I said, voice low.
"I am her," Reyza snapped. "The version that fights back."
"And the version that kills?" I asked.
Her smile was cold. "Sometimes fighting means destroying. You think the world's kind, Aryan? You've seen it. You know better."
I nodded. "I know it's cruel. But not everyone becomes Reyza."
"Not everyone survives long enough to."
Silence stretched again.
Then Aarohi's voice broke through—faint, fragile.
"She didn't want to hurt people at first. But the more she came out… the more I lost track. She started doing things I didn't remember. And when I did remember—it felt like watching a stranger move inside my body."
I could see the war in her eyes.
The guilt.
The fear.
The deep, aching loneliness of living with a version of yourself you don't understand.
"Aarohi," I said softly. "You don't have to carry her alone."
"She's not going anywhere," Aarohi replied. "She's part of me."
"Then let me be part of both of you."
Reyza's laugh was bitter. "You sure about that, lover boy? I'm not cute when I'm angry."
I smiled faintly. "Neither am I."
That made her blink.
She looked at me—really looked.
And for the first time…
She didn't threaten.
Didn't tease.
Just stared, silent.
As if she was wondering what it meant to not be alone anymore.
They both were silent for sontime and then they heard footsteps of someone . They turned to see who was that person. They both were shocked because it was
Ratan Malhotra - Arohi's father