The faint beep from the wristband echoed through the silent room, soft enough to feel unreal… yet loud enough to punch the air out of my lungs.
Riyan and I stared at the small plastic band sitting inside the wooden box.
Old.
Worn.
Cracked on the edges.
Yet somehow… alive.
"Why is it making that sound?" I whispered.
"It shouldn't," Riyan said quietly. "The battery should've died years ago."
Another soft beep pulsed through the room.
Like a heartbeat.
Like something waking up.
Riyan reached into the box, hands steady but tense, and lifted the wristband carefully. He turned it over—slowly—until a tiny metal button became visible on the inside.
A button no hospital wristband should have.
"What is that?" I murmured.
He didn't answer.
He pressed it gently.
The wristband vibrated.
Then—
A tiny LED light blinked blue.
A distorted crackle filled the room, like an old device struggling to breathe after years of silence.
My heart thundered.
A soft static hiss.
Another crackle.
Then—
A voice.
A young, gentle, trembling voice.
"Riyan… if you're listening to this…"
My breath caught so violently that tears spilled from my eyes before I could stop them.
The voice wasn't mine.
Or Riyan's.
Or anyone else's.
It was Arjun.
Alive.
Soft.
Tired.
Riyan froze.
His fingers clenched around the wristband so tightly his knuckles turned white.
The recording continued, uneven and broken:
"…I don't have time to explain everything. Please don't be angry. Please listen completely… before you decide anything."
Riyan's chest rose and fell sharply.
He was shaking.
Really shaking.
I stepped closer without thinking—but stopped myself. I didn't know if touching him right now would break him or hold him together.
Arjun's voice cracked again:
"Aarvi didn't do anything wrong."
A shockwave went through me so violently I had to hold onto the desk to stay upright.
Riyan's eyes widened.
He looked like someone had punched the air out of him.
Arjun's voice grew weaker:
"She didn't lie to me. She didn't cheat me. She didn't betray me. What happened… wasn't her fault."
My tears fell faster.
I covered my mouth to hold back a sob.
Riyan staggered back a step, as if the floor beneath him had shifted.
"No…" he whispered. "No, that can't be—"
The recording continued, now hurried, frightened:
"If something happens to me… please don't blame her."
Riyan's face twisted in disbelief—raw, heart-splitting disbelief.
His breath broke.
And then—
the part that froze both of us entirely:
"The truth is… I never told Aarvi who I really was."
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Riyan's head snapped up, eyes locking onto mine.
Shock.
Confusion.
Fear.
Pain.
All swirling wildly in the space between us.
The recording flickered again, weaker now:
"…she thought I was just some boy who liked her. She didn't know I was a Malhotra. She didn't know anything…"
Silence.
My pulse pounded in my ears.
Arjun…
Arjun had hidden his identity from me?
Why?
For what reason?
What had he been afraid of?
The recording sputtered, a final burst of static:
"Please, bhai… don't hate her. It was never her fault. I—"
Static swallowed the words.
The light blinked once…
Twice…
And then went out.
The wristband fell silent forever.
Riyan stood there, not moving, not breathing, staring at the dead device in his hand.
His lips parted—barely.
"He… he protected you till the end," he whispered, voice breaking. "Even when he—"
He couldn't finish.
I stepped toward him slowly, tears burning my face.
"Riyan… I swear, I didn't know him. I didn't know he was your brother. I didn't know anything."
He squeezed his eyes shut, pain twisting every feature.
"My entire family blamed you," he said softly. "I blamed you. I built my hatred on something he never wanted."
My heart broke for him.
Not for his anger.
For his grief.
He wasn't a monster.
He wasn't cruel by nature.
He was a man drowning in a wound that had never healed.
"Riyan…" I reached out, hesitating, but he didn't step away.
His voice came out low, shattered:
"I don't know what to believe anymore."
I swallowed hard.
"Then believe him," I whispered. "Arjun left this message for you. Not me. He wanted you to know the truth."
Silence.
Heavy, trembling silence.
His eyes lifted to mine—dark, pained, confused beyond measure.
"Aarvi… if you didn't hurt him…"
He swallowed.
"Then who did?"
Before I could answer, a loud crash echoed from the hall.
Both of us jerked toward the door.
Someone was running.
Fast.
And from the West Wing.
Riyan's expression hardened instantly.
"Stay here," he ordered.
"No—" I grabbed his wrist — the first time I had ever touched him intentionally.
"Not alone. Someone is watching us. Someone doesn't want the truth to come out."
He stared at my hand on him…
but didn't pull away.
For a moment, something unspoken passed between us—
Fear.
Confusion.
A fragile thread of trust.
Then he nodded.
"Stay close," he whispered.
We stepped out of Arjun's room together—
into the shadows of the hallway—
toward the intruder who had been one step ahead of us all along.