Aarya never liked this part of the city. The streets felt like they were holding their breath, waiting for something to break the silence. Neon signs buzzed overhead, their sickly glow reflecting in the puddles from the evening rain. It was the kind of place where footsteps seemed louder than they should be, where eyes lingered too long in the dim corners of forgotten alleyways.

She pulled her coat tighter around herself as she walked past closed shops, the air thick with the scent of damp pavement and distant cigarette smoke. Then, she felt it—that prickling sensation at the back of her neck. Someone was watching her.

Her pulse kicked up a notch, but she forced herself to keep walking, her fingers gripping the strap of her purse like it was a lifeline. She had lived in this city long enough to know when she was being followed.

Aarya dared a glance over her shoulder. That’s when she saw him. Eyes. Watching. Leaning against the entrance of an old bookstore, a man stood half-hidden beneath the flickering streetlight. His presence was effortless—like he belonged in the shadows. His dark hair was unruly, damp from the rain, and his gaze held the kind of intensity that sent chills skittering down her spine.

She should have kept walking. Should have ignored the way the city seemed to shrink around them, how the air felt heavier in his presence. But something about him was magnetic, unsettling in the way lightning was—beautiful and dangerous all at once.

He smirked, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Aarya swallowed. “Do I know you?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.

The man tilted his head slightly, amusement flickering in his storm-colored eyes. “Not yet.”

Not yet.

Something about those words sent a thrill of unease racing through her.

She was going to walk away. She was going to leave him standing there in the rain, never looking back.

Run. The thought surfaced, sharp and insistent. But she didn’t.

Instead, she stepped closer.

Unraveling the tension between Aarya and Veer, layering mystery into the city itself, and letting their fates entwine.

~TO BE CONTINUED