The sky had been brooding since morning, clouds rolling in like slow-moving thoughts too heavy to hold. By late afternoon, the first drops began to fall—soft, hesitant, the kind of rain that makes the city pause.
Kavya had forgotten her umbrella. Again.
She stood under the awning of a small bookstore, watching the rain curtain the streets. People hurried past with jackets pulled overhead, cars splashing through puddles, the scent of wet earth rising like an old memory. She smiled faintly—of course it would rain today. It always did when her thoughts were full of him.
And then, as if summoned by the thought itself, Aryan appeared across the street.
He wasn’t rushing like the others. He simply walked—calm, unbothered, rain drenching his hair and shoulders. In one hand, he held an umbrell
