Aanya remained quiet.
Her fingers were still wrapped around Sagnik's.
She could feel him there.
That was the only thing that seemed certain.
Everything else was beginning to feel strangely unstable.
She looked at him again.
He was watching her carefully.
Not like someone watching a patient.
Like someone afraid that if he looked away for even a second, she might disappear again.
Aanya swallowed.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
She hesitated.
"Why was I here?"
Sagnik didn't answer immediately.
His thumb moved once across her hand.
"You were brought here after an accident."
Aanya frowned.
"An accident?"
"Yeah."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
She stared at him.
Something about those words bothered her.
Not because she didn't believe him.
Because somewhere inside her, a different memory was beginning to stir.
Three years ago.
She closed her eyes.
Nothing.
Then—
a flash.
A road.
A steering wheel.
Her hands.
She opened her eyes again.
"Where?"
"I don't know if you remember."
"Tell me."
He took a breath.
"You were driving."
Aanya's brows drew together.
"Why?"
Sagnik looked down.
"You were upset."
Her expression changed.
"Why was I upset?"
He remained silent.
Aanya stared at him.
"Sagnik."
"I'll tell you."
His voice was quiet.
"Just... let me explain."
She nodded.
He looked at her for a moment.
Then began.
"Three years ago, I called you."
Aanya's eyes flickered.
Something moved behind them.
"You called me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Sagnik swallowed.
"I asked you to meet me."
Aanya stared at him.
"Where?"
He told her.
The name of the place.
She didn't react immediately.
Then her breathing changed.
She knew it.
Not because he had told her.
Because she remembered being there.
A room.
People.
A table.
Someone handing her something.
Her own hands trembling.
She looked at him.
"Why did I come?"
Sagnik's eyes dropped.
"I needed to give you something."
"What?"
He didn't answer.
Aanya's heart began beating faster.
"What did you give me?"
His jaw tightened.
Then, slowly:
"An invitation."
She frowned.
"To what?"
He looked at her.
The silence stretched.
Aanya waited.
Then she whispered:
"Your wedding?"
Sagnik's eyes closed for a moment.
When he opened them again, there was no way around it.
"Yes."
Aanya stopped breathing for a second.
The room seemed to tilt.
"Your..."
Her voice broke.
"Wedding?"
He nodded.
Aanya stared at him.
"No."
Sagnik didn't move.
"No."
She shook her head.
"I don't..."
Her eyes searched his face.
"Why would you give me your wedding invitation?"
He didn't answer.
She looked down at their hands.
Then back at him.
"Who?"
His lips parted.
"Aanya..."
"Who were you marrying?"
He looked at her.
"Araadhya."
The name seemed to pass through the room without making a sound.
Aanya stared at him.
Something inside her recoiled.
She didn't know the name.
Or perhaps—
She did.
A strange familiarity.
A photograph she couldn't place.
A face she couldn't remember.
Then another fragment came.
A cream-colored card.
Gold lettering.
Her fingers holding it.
Her vision becoming blurred.
Her chest tightening.
She looked at Sagnik.
"The wedding..."
He nodded.
"When?"
"Two weeks after I gave you the invitation."
Aanya's lips parted.
"Two weeks."
"Yes."
She looked away.
Her mind was trying to fit the pieces together.
She had come to meet him.
He had given her an invitation.
His wedding invitation.
And then—
What?
She closed her eyes.
A flash.
Her leaving.
The sound of a door.
Her feet moving too quickly.
Tears.
She opened her eyes.
"I left."
Sagnik went still.
"Yes."
"I left without saying anything."
He nodded.
"I was crying."
His eyes softened.
"Yes."
Aanya looked at him.
"You saw me."
"I saw you leave."
Her breathing became uneven.
"And then I drove."
Sagnik didn't answer.
She didn't need him to.
The memory was beginning to come back.
The steering wheel.
The road.
The lights outside.
Her vision.
She could feel the tears again.
But this time they weren't from the dream.
They belonged to a memory.
"I couldn't see properly."
Sagnik's expression tightened.
"You were crying."
"I remember."
Her voice was barely audible.
"I kept wiping my face."
She looked down.
"I was driving."
He nodded.
"You shouldn't have been."
"I know."
A pause.
"Did you call me?"
Sagnik looked at her.
"Yes."
Aanya's eyes widened slightly.
"You called me."
"Many times."
She remembered.
The phone.
Vibrating.
Again.
Again.
Again.
She hadn't wanted to answer.
She had been angry.
Heartbroken.
Humiliated.
She remembered looking at his name.
She remembered finally answering.
Her fingers tightened around Sagnik's hand.
"What did you say?"
"I asked where you were."
She stared at him.
"You knew I was driving?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"I thought you had gone home."
Aanya swallowed.
"You kept calling."
"Yes."
She looked away.
"And I answered."
"Yes."
The memory sharpened.
His voice through the phone.
Her own voice shaking.
She had been crying.
He had been asking her to stop somewhere.
She had told him she was fine.
She wasn't.
Aanya's breathing grew faster.
"What happened then?"
Sagnik's face changed.
He knew she was getting close to it.
"Aanya..."
"What happened?"
"You lost control of the car."
She froze.
"I..."
"You were still on the phone."
Her eyes widened.
"I was talking to you."
"Yes."
"What did you say?"
"I don't remember every word."
His voice became quieter.
"But I remember hearing the sound."
Aanya stared at him.
"What sound?"
He looked down.
"The crash."
Silence.
Aanya's face went completely still.
She remembered.
Not everything.
Just fragments.
A horn.
Lights.
The sudden movement of the road.
The phone slipping.
Sagnik's voice becoming louder.
Her own hands tightening around the wheel.
Then—
nothing.
Her eyes filled.
"I crashed."
Sagnik nodded.
"You crashed."
"Because I was crying."
He didn't correct her.
"Because I couldn't see."
He looked at her.
"Yes."
Aanya closed her eyes.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"And then?"
"You were unconscious when they found you."
"How bad?"
He hesitated.
"Bad."
She opened her eyes.
"How bad?"
"You had serious injuries."
She waited.
"And you didn't wake up."
Sagnik's voice dropped.
"For three years."
Aanya looked at him.
The words were finally beginning to connect.
The invitation.
The wedding.
The drive.
The phone call.
The crash.
The hospital.
Three years.
She swallowed.
"And the wedding?"
Sagnik didn't answer.
She already knew.
But she needed him to say it.
"Did you..."
Her voice trembled.
"Did you marry her?"
He looked at her.
There was no easy answer.
No version of the truth that would hurt less.
"Yes."
Aanya's eyes closed.
The word seemed to echo.
Yes.
She had just spent what felt like an entire life with him.
She had watched him kneel.
She had heard the beginning of a question.
She had felt his hands around hers.
And now she was being told that, in the life that actually existed—
he had married someone else.
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Aanya opened her eyes.
"How long after the accident?"
"Not long."
Her face crumpled.
"You were married while I was..."
She couldn't finish.
"In the hospital?"
He nodded.
"I didn't know if you'd ever wake up."
Aanya stared at him.
"How could you..."
She stopped.
There was no accusation in her voice.
Only confusion.
"You had a life."
Sagnik's eyes became wet.
"Yes."
"You got married."
"Yes."
"You..."
She looked at him helplessly.
"You kept living."
He looked down.
"I had to."
Aanya looked away.
The room suddenly felt too small.
She had lost three years.
Not in some abstract sense.
She had lost them.
The world had continued without her.
People had grown older.
Lives had changed.
Someone had married.
Someone had waited.
Someone had stopped waiting.
And she had remained in the same place.
Unmoving.
Unaware.
Aanya whispered:
"Did you think I would never wake up?"
Sagnik was quiet.
Then:
"Yes."
She looked at him.
"Sometimes."
Aanya nodded slowly.
Her eyes were fixed somewhere beyond him.
"And today?"
Sagnik's expression finally broke.
"Today you did."
He laughed once, quietly.
It wasn't really laughter.
More like disbelief escaping him.
"You opened your eyes."
He looked at her.
"I can't explain what that felt like."
Aanya looked at him.
For the first time, she noticed how exhausted he was.
How much older he seemed than the person she remembered.
The faint lines around his eyes.
The tiredness in his face.
The way his hand still refused to let go of hers.
He smiled through it.
"I'm just happy you're here."
Aanya stared at him.
"Even after everything?"
"Especially after everything."
Her lips trembled.
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Sagnik wiped it away.
Neither spoke.
Because there were too many years between them now.
Three years that Aanya had never lived.
Three years that Sagnik could never give back.
And somewhere inside that impossible distance was a wedding invitation—
a crash—
a coma—
And a life that had continued while she slept.