Marriage, they said, was sacred. But for Gauryansh Trehan and Vamika Sehgal, it was anything but simple. Born from a promise between old friends, one now gone and the others left behind holding onto memories. This marriage was arranged long before either of them had even been born. Gauryansh never asked for this alliance. Stoic, emotionally restrained, and haunted by expectations, he grew up knowing Vamika would one day be his but knowing it didn't mean accepting it. And certainly not welcoming it. So he pretended and acted like she didn't matter, like her presence didn't mess with the order he had created around himself but Vamika had always been there. Laughing a little louder than the rest. Lingering in every corner of his life. Trying too hard to be seen. Hoping too deeply to be loved. She never confessed, but her eyes and actions did. Her silences screamed it. Her every attempt to make him acknowledge her was drenched in an ache she tried desperately to hide. While Gauryansh, cold and controlled, kept pushing her away. Perhaps to protect himself, perhaps to punish them both for a love he refused to name. They were engaged when they were twenty-one and then everything collapsed soon afterwards. After a bitter argument, Vamika had done what Gauryansh never thought she'd do. She'd set him free and walked away. She'd called off the wedding and broken the engagement quietly. She'd left and with her, the version of her that used to chase after him, that waited for him and that believed in him were gone too.