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Chapter Three — And He Walked In

Avika’s POV

The mansion was unusually quiet for a Friday evening.

No music, no casual hum of Trisha’s brushes against canvas, no distant phone calls from Harsh Papa's office.

Just silence. And expectation.

Avika sat on the staircase, one leg dangling through the carved railing, the other tucked beneath her. She had changed her outfit three times — not because she cared, of course. It was just… warm. Yes. That was it. The weather.

Finally, she settled on a loose mint-green co-ord set, cropped just enough to hint at confidence, but not enough to say look at me. Her hair was half-tied. Her journal rested beside her, but she hadn’t written a word since morning.

She heard the car before she saw it.

Sleek. Black. Expensive. Of course.

Trisha stepped out of the front door, half breathless with excitement, smoothing her kurta. Harsh Papa followed, phone in one hand, a rare smile on his usually stern face.

Then the door opened.

And he stepped out.

Dev.

Tall. Broader than she remembered. No glasses. Sharp jawline, a trimmed beard, and that lazy way of walking that made it feel like the ground just adjusted to him.

He wasn’t the boy from her memories.

He looked like someone who belonged on the cover of a magazine she wasn't allowed to read.

Avika's throat went dry.

He glanced up at the house, his eyes scanning the pillars, the balcony, the window boxes — and then they landed on her.

Just for a second.

His gaze didn’t linger. But it hit her like cold water.

She stood up quickly, heart thudding in her ears. "Dev bhaiya," she said, the title sounding suddenly… wrong in her mouth.

He gave a small nod. Polite. Unreadable. Like he didn’t know her at all.

Like he wasn’t the boy who used to hand her juice boxes and ignore her art with equal indifference.

"Hi," he said, voice deeper than she expected.

“Hi,” she echoed, her smile a little too bright.

Trisha wrapped him in a hug, and Harsh Papa patted his shoulder. They were beaming. For them, this was a perfect family picture.

But Avika…
Avika felt like the only one who knew something had shifted.