Chapter Four – Smoke and Ashes

The morning after their kiss, Navya walked into college like a ghost wearing her own skin. She looked the same — hair braided neatly, crisp white kurta, a notebook pressed against her chest — but inside, she was unrecognizable.

Her lips still tingled from Aarav’s kiss. Her dreams had been feverish, replaying the moment over and over, each time ending differently. Sometimes he pulled away, leaving her craving. Sometimes he went further, deeper, until she woke with her heart slamming in her chest and her sheets tangled around her legs.

She hated how her body betrayed her. She hated how every cell seemed to hum with the memory of him. She hated, most of all, how much she wanted more.

---

In the Cafeteria

Priya noticed it first.

“You look like someone lit a fire under your skin,” she said, squinting across the cafeteria table. “What’s going on with you, Nav?”

“Nothing,” Navya said too quickly, stabbing at her food with a fork.

Priya raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me it’s him.”

Navya froze.

“Him,” Priya repeated, leaning closer, lowering her voice. “Aarav Rathore. People are saying he walked you home last night.”

Navya’s fork slipped from her fingers. Heat rushed to her cheeks. “People need to mind their own business.”

“That means it’s true.” Priya groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Navya, are you insane? He’s not a crush. He’s a hurricane. And you’re not built for storms.”

Navya forced a laugh, though it sounded hollow even to her. “Relax. I’m not with him.”

But Priya’s eyes were sharp. “Not yet. But you will be.”

Navya swallowed hard, her appetite gone. She told herself Priya was wrong. She told herself she had control. But deep down, she wasn’t sure anymore.

---

The Fight

That evening, she stayed late at the library. She needed silence, needed order, needed to drown out the chaos inside her with the neat logic of textbooks. But when she finally left, the sky was already bruised with dusk, and the campus was empty.

She was halfway to the bus stop when she heard it: shouts, sharp and angry, coming from the side street near the mechanic’s garage. Her instinct told her to keep walking. Don’t get involved. But her feet betrayed her curiosity, carrying her closer.

What she saw made her blood freeze.

Aarav was there, fists flying, fury carved into every line of his body. Two older boys — maybe college dropouts, maybe local thugs — were circling him. One swung a metal rod. Aarav ducked, countered with a punch so hard it echoed.

Blood splattered the ground.

Navya’s breath caught in her throat. She should leave. She should run. But she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Aarav moved like violence was stitched into his veins. He was brutal, unrelenting, and yet there was something terrifyingly graceful in the way he fought, like every strike was inevitable.

Then, suddenly, one of the men lunged with the rod, catching Aarav across the shoulder. He stumbled, just for a second. The sight jolted Navya out of her frozen state.

“Stop!” she screamed, rushing forward before her brain could catch up.

All three heads turned.

Aarav’s eyes widened when he saw her. For a heartbeat, surprise cracked through his fury.

“Navya, go!” he barked.

But it was too late. The distraction gave his opponent an opening. The rod swung again, whistling through the air. Aarav twisted, blocking it with his arm, and then slammed his fist into the man’s jaw with a roar. The thug crumpled. The other fled into the shadows.

Silence fell, broken only by Aarav’s ragged breathing.

Navya stood trembling, her hands clutched to her chest.

Aarav wiped blood from his lip, then turned to her, fury burning in his gaze. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I— I heard—” She stammered, words failing.

“Do you have a death wish?” he growled, striding toward her. He grabbed her wrist, not gently, pulling her away from the alley. “You don’t get it, do you? This isn’t your world!”

His grip was rough, his voice sharp, but underneath the anger was something else — fear.

When they finally stopped, far from the garage, Navya yanked her hand free. “You’re hurt,” she said, her voice shaking.

“I’ve had worse,” he muttered, flexing his bleeding knuckles.

“You could’ve been killed!”

“And you could’ve been too,” he snapped. His eyes locked onto hers, dark and stormy. “Do you think I’d survive watching that?”

Her breath caught. For a moment, the street around them vanished, leaving only his confession hanging between them.

---

The Aftermath

They ended up in a deserted park, the swings swaying gently in the breeze. Aarav sat on a bench, lighting a cigarette with hands that still shook. Navya sat beside him, close enough to feel the heat radiating from his body.

“You shouldn’t have been there,” he said finally, exhaling smoke.

“You shouldn’t have been fighting,” she shot back.

He chuckled bitterly. “That’s who I am, princess. Fights. Smoke. Bad decisions. That’s all I’ve got.”

“That’s not all,” she whispered.

His eyes flicked to her, unreadable. “You don’t know me.”

“Then let me,” she said, surprising even herself.

Silence stretched. Aarav stared at her like he was trying to decide if she was real or just a cruel trick his mind had conjured.

“You’re going to regret that,” he said at last, voice low.

“Maybe,” she admitted. “But I’d regret walking away more.”

Something in his face cracked then, just slightly, like a mask slipping. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, staring at the ground.

“You don’t understand, Navya. People like me… we ruin things. We ruin people. And you’re the last person I should touch.”

Her hand, trembling, reached out anyway. She placed it gently over his bruised knuckles.

“Then don’t ruin me,” she said softly.

His head snapped up, eyes blazing. “You think it’s that easy?”

“No,” she said, her voice steady now. “But I think you’re more than what everyone says you are. And maybe… maybe you want to be.”

For a long moment, they sat in silence, their hands joined. The rain began again, light and cold, dotting their clothes and hair. But neither of them moved.

---

Later That Night

Navya lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Her heart was still pounding, her skin still buzzing from his touch. She knew she was in over her head. She knew this was reckless, dangerous, maybe even stupid.

But she also knew something else: she was already too far gone.

Because when Aarav had looked at her tonight, beneath the anger and the danger, she’d seen something raw, something vulnerable. And it terrified her more than his fists ever could.

She wanted to see it again.

---

Aarav

Aarav stood in his tiny room above the mechanic’s shop, his shirt still damp from rain, his knuckles still throbbing. He stared at himself in the cracked mirror, at the blood smeared across his jaw.

And he thought of her.

Of the way she’d screamed his name. Of the way her small hand had felt on his broken skin. Of the way she hadn’t flinched, even when he told her to.

He cursed under his breath, slamming a fist against the wall. She was the last thing he needed. The one thing he couldn’t afford.

And yet, when he closed his eyes, all he could taste was her.

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