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Abhi's POV
They always called me the golden boy.
The boy with the perfect smile, perfect grades, perfect future.
But no one asked me if I wanted any of it.
Falling for Ruhi was like tasting rebellion. She didn't act like the rest-at least, that's what I believed. She challenged me, played hard to get, and for once, I thought I was choosing something for myself. Something real. I mistook her cunning for charm, her silence for depth.
And I was too proud to see the cracks.
But when she laughed behind my back-when her mask slipped-I didn't break. I just... woke up.
Then came Ishika.
The girl my parents thought was made for me. And in many ways, she was. But I couldn't see it at first, not beyond the expectations tying us together. She walked like she had a thousand rules stitched into her spine, smiled like she was afraid to slip.
And yet, she understood me.
Not the version the world praised, but the boy behind the shine.
The tired boy. The caged bird.
She never tried to fix me. She stood beside me. And slowly, I began to do the same for her.
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Ishika's POV
They taught me to sit straight, speak softly, smile politely.
To never argue. To never fail.
To be a Malhotra.
I did everything right. I was everything they raised me to be. And yet, it never felt like mine.
Then they told me I was going to marry Abhi Rathod.
He was the dream, the prize, the perfect match. And I hated how fake it all felt. How trapped we both were, standing side by side with practiced smiles.
But then... I saw him.
Not the golden boy the world adored, but the man quietly grieving something he never truly had.
He didn't pretend. He didn't perform. Not with me.
And in that honesty, I found something terrifying and beautiful.
Freedom.
We weren't perfect. But we were real.
Not love at first sight, not some grand fairytale.
We found each other in the quiet.
In the broken places.
In the truth neither of us could say out loud, until now.
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Together
They put us in a golden cage.
But we turned it into a home.
Not because we were chosen for each other-
But because we chose each other anyway.
.....