CHAPTER 7: Part 3 (NO GOING BACK)
Recap:
He looked away for a fleeting moment, a muscle in his jaw twitching. When his gaze returned to mine, it held a rare flicker of something that looked like genuine confusion.
"Hum nahi jaante. (I don't know.)" The admission was so quiet, so unexpected, it stole my breath.
"I have no answer for you. It's not a decision I made. Ek saans ki tarah, ek dhadkan ki tarah... yeh bas hai. (Like a breath, like a heartbeat... it just is.) You are an irritation. A complication I did not want. A mystery I am utterly consumed by. The question isn't 'why do I like you?' The question is 'how did I ever live without you?'"
~ ISHIKA (POV) ~
His chest rose and fell, struggling against the sheer weight of a feeling he couldn't command.
It was a bizarre, almost terrifying display of raw, unfiltered emotion, laced with a possessiveness that sent a fresh shiver down my spine.
I stood there, shocked and utterly speechless. My mouth opened, but no words came out.
The tears on my cheeks felt cold now, forgotten amidst the whirlwind of emotions.
His bewildered desperation, his pained affection for me, and the terrifying hatred he held for my family-it all swirled together, leaving me paralyzed.
How could he speak of destroying my lineage one moment and then look at me with such aching devotion the next?
The disconnect was staggering.
His intense gaze softened slightly, seeing my stunned reaction. He released my sleeve, but then his hand moved, gently tracing the line of my jaw, his thumb brushing away a lingering tear.
"Miss Jayshree," he said, his voice dropping to a low, persuasive murmur,
"There's no need for this. No need for tears, no need for doubts." His eyes held mine, earnest and unwavering, yet still filled with that unsettling conviction.
"Aap meri zindagi mein aayi hain, (You have come into my life,)" he stated, as if it were an undeniable fact of nature.
"And I know what I want. What we want. So, please... marry me. Or, if that is too soon, just... please come on the dates. Let me show you. Let me prove it to you."
He spoke with such absolute certainty, as if my consent was a mere formality, as if my feelings didn't factor into the grand scheme he had conjured in his mind.
The tenderness in his touch, coupled with the sheer force of his will, was a truly unsettling combination.
My mind was a chaotic storm.
The image of his face, contorted with hatred for the Jaiswals, warred with the raw, undeniable intensity in his eyes when he looked at me.
It was insane.
It was terrifying. And yet... his conviction was intoxicating. Every part of me screamed to run, to protect my family, to shatter this impossible illusion. But then there was him.
The magnetism was undeniable, a dangerous pull I couldn't seem to fight. My heart, against all reason, against every ounce of fear, fluttered with a strange, desperate longing.
I knew the truth was a ticking time bomb, that this could only end in disaster, but in that moment, all I could feel was him, his presence, his fierce, misguided devotion.
I was trapped, not just by fear, but by a terrifying, undeniable affection of my own.
What else could I do? The words were stuck in my throat, choked by tears and unspoken truths.
His thumb was still gently stroking my jaw, his eyes fixed on mine with an expectant, hopeful intensity.
Slowly, helplessly, I gave a small, almost imperceptible nod.
His face lit up with a triumphant, almost blinding smile. He didn't seem to notice the conflict raging within me.
My gaze, however, found his, and despite the chaos, a wave of affection, raw and painful, washed over me.
I saw not just the dangerous king, but the man who was so fiercely, completely sure of what he wanted, even if he was terrifyingly wrong about me.
I looked at him with a helpless, undeniable love.
He gently let go of my jaw, stepping back, as if a great hurdle had been overcome.
"Excellent," he breathed, a joyous relief flooding his features. He then reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone.
"And your number, Miss Jayshree? I must have it to confirm the details for tomorrow evening." He held out the phone, expecting me to key in my contact.
>>>>>>>
The grand, ancestral walls of the Jaiswal mansion seemed to close in around me, but it wasn't the opulence that suffocated me.
It was the weight of an impossible secret and a love that felt utterly, gloriously, disastrously real.
I sat on my plush bed, still replaying every word from Hukum Sa, every fierce glance, every delusional declaration. My heart thumped a chaotic rhythm against my ribs.
I knew, with chilling certainty, that he wanted to destroy my family. And yet, when he looked at me, when he spoke to me as 'Miss Jayshree', I felt seen, cherished, undeniably wanted. And I, against all reason, against generations of family feuds, loved him.
Deeply.
Madly.
The kind of love that made you do incredibly stupid, life-threatening things. Like agreeing to a date with a man who thought your very name was anathema.
The chaotic symphony of my best friends breaching security (again) jolted me from my reverie.
Anika, Saanvi, and Mehak burst into my room like a perfectly choreographed, slightly unhinged emergency response team.
Anika, ever the dramatic one, dramatically fanned herself with a velvet cushion, already looking faint.
Saanvi, surprisingly for a doctor, looked pale enough to be her own patient, her sensible bun threatening to unravel.
Mehak, the lawyer, looked like she was already drafting an injunction, her eyes narrowed to furious slits.
"Okay, Ishika, spill!" Anika demanded, collapsing onto my chaise lounge.
"My phone nearly combusted with the news alerts about the King getting married, and then your name popped up! Are you moonlighting as a royal consort now? What in the name of all that is shiny and expensive is going on?!"
I took a shaky breath, the words a confession I both dreaded and desperately needed to share. "He... he saw the news. About 'Ishika Jaiswal' and the marriage proposals for him."
Saanvi paused, tea in hand, her face paling. Mehak gasped softly.
"And he just... he started saying... he hates the Jaiswals." My voice was barely a whisper, the raw pain of those words cutting deeper than any threat.
"He said he'd destroy them, every single one of them, before marrying 'that' Ishika Jaiswal." A tear escaped, tracing a lonely path down my cheek. "He doesn't know. He still thinks I'm 'Jayshree'."
Anika let out a small, strangled sound, half-gasp, half-whimper.
Saanvi sank onto a nearby chair, looking utterly dazed. Mehak's eyes were filled with a horror that mirrored my own.
"But then," I continued, my voice gaining a strange, dreamy quality despite the tears.
"Then I asked him why he likes me." My lips curved into a small, wistful smile.
"And he... he looked so lost. He said he didn't know why." The memory of his raw, bewildered desperation was intoxicating.
"He spoke with such a pained sincerity that it wasn't a choice, it was an inevitability. That I was his only truth, and he had no words to explain it." My heart swelled, a foolish, dangerous warmth spreading through me.
"And then he... he asked me to marry him. Or to just go on dates. And I... I said yes."
The collective groan from my friends was almost comical.
Mehak threw up her hands, the legal pad slipping to the floor.
"Oh, for the love of all that is legally sane! Ishika, he just threatened to decimate your family - our best friend's entire lineage! - and you're swooning because he doesn't know why he likes you? This isn't love, darling, this is a very elaborate, very expensive, and very risky game of 'who's going to find out first'!"
Saanvi pinched the bridge of her nose, looking genuinely distraught. "My medical opinion, Ishika, is that you are suffering from a severe case of 'delusional prince charming syndrome' complicated by 'inherited feud amnesia'. There's no cure for this, only therapy and perhaps a very fast car to the nearest border! But seriously, he said you were that beautiful? Wow. Still, the Jaiswals, Ishika! This is a disaster in designer wear!"
Anika, ever the event planner, had already moved past the initial shock to the logistics of disaster. "So, let me get this straight. The King, who despises the Jaiswals, is utterly smitten with 'Jayshree' because she's 'perfect'. And 'Jayshree' is actually Ishika Jaiswal, who is completely infatuated with the King, despite his genocidal tendencies towards her family. This is the kind of drama that would make my next royal wedding client flee! You literally just said 'yes' to dating a walking, talking family vendetta!" She paused, then grinned mischievously.
"Okay, but if we're going, we're definitely crashing this date to supervise. I need to see this 'perfection' that has him this unhinged."
I looked at their incredulous faces, the tears replaced by a mix of a helpless, bewildered smile and a deep blush.
"I know, I know," I sighed, the admission heavy yet oddly freeing.
"It's insane. It's terrifying. And I'm going tomorrow evening."
"Wait, tomorrow evening?" Mehak interjected, snapping back to practicality.
"Tomorrow is Saanvi's bhabhi's baby shower! You can't just ditch that, it's a huge family event!"
"No, I am not ditching," I corrected, a faint blush spreading on my cheeks.
"He said he'd send the car for me, after Saanvi's bhabhi's baby shower."
The new detail did little to calm them, instead sparking a fresh wave of panic and plotting.
"Tomorrow?!" Saanvi shrieked, jumping up.
Anika rubbed her temples.
"Right. Okay. New plan. Operation: Keep Ishika's Royal Suicide Mission a Secret. And also, what are you going to wear? We need something that screams 'I'm perfect and completely unaware my boyfriend hates my entire existence!'"
Mehak just stared at me, then at the wall, then back at me.
"I need a stronger drink. Or to start drafting a very intricate pre-nuptial agreement that includes a clause for 'family not being wiped out by future spouse'. Probably both."