Chapter 35: The Backlash of Destiny
Aarav didn't let go of her hand. He gently guided her forward into the pitch-black rooftop, his own breath hitched in his throat. "It's okay," he said, his voice a low thrum. "Just a few more steps."
"Aarav... it's pitch black," Ayushi said, her voice laced with nervous laughter. "What is this? I don't understand."
He guided her to the center of the open-air space. The air was cool, the scent of jasmine from some unseen plant hanging in the air. He could feel her pulse fluttering against his hand. This was it. The moment.
And then, with the flick of a distant switch, the world exploded in light.
"SURPRISE!"
Akash and Pooja burst out from behind a large potted palm, their faces split in wide grins.
Ayushi gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. The entire rooftop was a sea of twinkling fairy lights, strung from post to post, creating a canopy of stars above them. A table was set with her favorite foods, and in the center sat a beautiful cake, artfully decorated with the logo of their new business venture.
"Oh my god," she breathed, her eyes wide and shining. "You... you guys..."
"Happy birthday, Ayushi!" Akash yelled, pulling her into a hug. "You didn't really think we'd just celebrate a term sheet, did you?"
Pooja stepped forward, her usual guarded expression replaced with a rare, soft smile. "Happy birthday, Ayushi. You deserve a win."
Ayushi was laughing, tears welling in her eyes as she turned to Aarav, who was watching her, his heart so full it felt like it might burst. "You did this," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "This whole... 'VC meeting' lie... it was all for this?"
"We all did this," Aarav said, his voice unsteady. "Happy birthday, Ayushi."
For a moment, she just looked at him, her eyes searching his face, and in their depths, he saw a dawning understanding, a warmth that had nothing to do with the business plan.
"Well, come on, come on!" Akash interrupted, ever the master of ceremonies. "Before the candles melt!"
He lit the candles on the cake, and the four of them, this small, tight-knit family he had forged against fate, gathered close. They sang "Happy Birthday," their voices rising into the Bengaluru night. Ayushi closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candles to a cheer from Akash.
She cut the cake, and the first piece, as tradition dictated, was for Aarav. She held the small slice up, and as he leaned forward, their eyes met over the flicker of the candlelight. The world seemed to slow down, the background noise of the city fading to a distant hum.
They ate, they laughed. Akash and Pooja recounted the ridiculous, near-disastrous story of sneaking the cake into the building. The mood was perfect, gilded, and suspended in time. It was everything he had been fighting for.
After a while, Ayushi leaned back in her chair with a happy sigh. "This... this is the best birthday I have ever had. The VC win, this party... you guys." She looked at Aarav, her smile soft and meaningful. "Thank you."
The moment was here. The "lifeline." The anchor.
Aarav felt his pulse quicken. The air was charged. Even Akash and Pooja seemed to sense the shift, their playful banter quieting down as they watched him.
He stood up from his chair.
"Ayushi," he began, and his voice was suddenly the only sound on the rooftop. Her name hung in the air, heavy with all the things he hadn't said.
She looked up at him, her smile fading into one of gentle, waiting curiosity.
"I... I can't just... let this night end without telling you something," he said, his hands clenching at his sides. He walked around the table to stand a few feet from her. "This... this isn't just about the business plan. Or the VC meeting. Or even just... this birthday."
"Aarav, what is it?" she whispered, her gaze locked on his.
"It's about... us. It's about why I came to this university. It's about..." He took a deep, shuddering breath, the words balanced on the tip of his tongue. He was ready to tell her. Not about the future, not about the time travel, but the truth. The core of it all. "Ayushi, ever since the first day I saw you, I have..."
THUD.
A sound, heavy and violent, echoed from the stairwell door.
Aarav froze. His blood ran cold.
Akash, mid-bite, looked up. "Was that...?"
The steel door burst open, slamming against the wall with a deafening crash.
Five men, massive and dressed in black tactical gear, spilled onto the rooftop. They were not common thugs. They were professionals, their faces obscured by balaclavas, their movements swift and precise. The leader, a man built like a tank, held a submachine gun.
Time stopped. Ayushi's wine glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the tiles.
"GET HER!" the leader barked.
It all happened in a single, nightmarish second.
The leader raised his weapon and opened fire. The CRACK-CRACK-CRACK of automatic gunfire was so loud it felt like it tore the air apart. The beautiful fairy lights exploded in showers of sparks and glass. The table splintered.
"AYUSHI, DOWN!" Aarav roared, lunging for her.
He shoved her, hard, pushing her off her chair and behind the flimsy cover of a brick planter. But he couldn't interfere in time. His lunge exposed his back.
Searing, unbelievable pain erupted in his chest as two, three, four bullets slammed into him. The force was like being hit by a truck. It lifted him off his feet, throwing him backward. He crashed onto the ground, the air knocked from his lungs.
"AARAV!" Ayushi screamed, a sound of pure, soul-shredding terror.
"POOJA, RUN!" Akash yelled, grabbing a metal chair and hurling it at the nearest man.
The man didn't even flinch. He turned and fired a short, controlled burst. Akash screamed and collapsed, clutching a leg that was instantly soaked in blood. Pooja, who had been trying to pull Akash to cover, was hit by a stray round that grazed her shoulder, spinning her to the ground with a cry of pain. Their injuries weren't immediately fatal, but they were out of the fight, trying to move, trying to get up, but pinned down by the sheer violence.
Aarav was on the ground, his vision tunneling. He could feel a wet, hot sensation spreading across his chest. He was on the brink of death. He tried to push himself up, to crawl, to do anything. His limbs wouldn't obey.
"No... no... no..." he wheezed, the words tasting like copper.
He could only watch, paralyzed in horror, as two of the men grabbed Ayushi.
"NO! LET ME GO! AARAV! HELP ME!" she shrieked, fighting them with a desperate, feral strength.
They were too strong. They dragged her "forcefully," half-carrying her, toward the open stairwell door. She was still screaming his name, her eyes wide with terror, locked on his. That one, final, horrified look would be burned into his memory for eternity.
"Ayushi..." he choked.
The men disappeared into the stairwell. The heavy steel door thudded shut, cutting off her screams.
The rooftop was plunged into a sudden, horrific silence, broken only by Akash's groans, Pooja's sobs, and the wet, ragged sound of Aarav's own breathing. He heard a car engine roar to life on the street far below, followed by the squeal of tires.
She was gone.
He had failed. Destiny had not just fought back; it had triumphed. The pain in his chest was nothing compared to the cold, crushing agony in his soul.
No... not like this...
His vision, rimmed with black, finally faded. The world dissolved.
Far away. So far it was nowhere at all.
In the endless, swirling canvas of the cosmos, the mysterious young man stood, observing the scene on a plane of light. His face, once marked by a cold, detached curiosity, was now set in lines of deep, profound seriousness.
"A serious backlash," he murmured, his voice the sound of colliding nebulae. "The forces of destiny do not appreciate being cheated."
He watched Aarav's form, bleeding out on the dark rooftop. "This is the consequence of your haste, experimental subject. You raced to anchor her with a confession, and in doing so, you created a vortex. You pulled the inevitable toward you, but with more violence. You forced its hand."
The being's eyes closed for a fraction of a second. A flicker of an image, so fast it was almost non-existent, flashed in his mind: His own hand, pale and covered in crimson blood. A woman's face, pale and fading, her eyes begging him for something he could not give. A feeling of ultimate, shattering loss.
He opened his eyes, a new, cold fire within their starry depths.
"I, too, was at this precipice once," he said, his voice a low growl. "I, too, hung on the edge for her. But I did not lose my will."
He glared at the dying image of Aarav.
"Stand up, Aarav," he commanded, his voice profound, seeming to shake the very fabric of space. "You have the will. You must. Or you lose her forever. What is the point of a second chance if you let it be wasted? Everything will be for nothing! A cosmic joke!"
The being lifted a single, elegant hand, which began to glow with a faint, impossivle white light.
"I have broken the rules for you once. I will bend them again. Just this once."
He waved his hand.
Back on the rooftop. Blackness. Silence. The cold.
Then, a single, sharp, agonizing gasp.
Aarav's eyes snapped open.
What just happened?
Who is this mysterious being, and what 'stage' was he in that looked so similar to Aarav's?
With Aarav alive, but Ayushi kidnapped and Rajat's (or someone else's) plan in motion, has destiny already won?