Ruaan’s hand lifted slowly from her mouth, as if releasing a spell he had cast, and the moment hung in the air like a held breath. Kiara blinked, stunned, her mind scrambling to process the reality before her. And then their eyes met. Just like that—no words, no preamble—eyes locking like magnets, drawing her in against her will.

Her heart began hammering, each beat deafening in her ears. Memories—sharp, vivid, impossible to ignore—rushed back in a tide she hadn’t realized was building beneath her calm, controlled exterior. The corridor of their childhood played before her eyes: the way he had leaned casually against the classroom doorframe while she passed by, the quiet teasing during cricket practice, the way he had caught her eye and held it a second too long, as if daring her to notice. The laughter, the jibes, the secret competitions—they all came rushing back, like old friends barging into a room uninvited, leaving Kiara dizzy and breathless.