Chapter 3 – The Man Who Forgot How To Love

The sunlight had already crept across the floor by the time Aarav stirred. I had been sitting beside him for hours, a book open on my lap but unread. Every few minutes, I’d glance at him—the once untouchable tycoon now wrapped in my old blanket, sleeping like a child who had finally found a safe corner in a cruel world.

When he moved, murmuring something incoherent, my heart jumped. The fever had made his skin pale, and a sheen of sweat coated his forehead. I gently pressed another cool cloth against him. His hand twitched, searching for something in sleep—then found mine again. He gripped it weakly, as if afraid I’d disappear.

I sighed softly. Same old Aarav. Always afraid to lose control, even in dreams.

I had met him three years ago in the most ironic way possible. I had been a struggling architecture intern, working part-time at a café to pay rent. He had walked in one stormy afternoon, demanding a black coffee, not realizing I was the same woman who had rejected his firm’s job offer the previous week. He’d stared at me like I was an unsolved riddle. Later, he admitted that moment had driven him insane—that no one had ever told him “no.”

That was Aarav Malhotra’s curse. Everyone said yes to him. Investors, employees, models, even politicians. But I hadn’t. I’d smiled and said, “No, thank you. I want to build my own dreams.” And for that, I became the one woman he couldn’t forget.

When he finally opened his eyes, his voice was faint.

“Still here?”

I didn’t answer right away. I just kept pressing the towel against his forehead.

“You shouldn’t have stayed outside all night,” I said quietly. “You could’ve caught pneumonia.”

He gave a half-smile, the kind that once melted every wall I built. “Would you have come if I just called?”

That question lingered in the air. And we both knew the answer.

“No,” I admitted softly. “Because I didn’t want to be the woman who forgives easily.”

He exhaled, turning his face away. “You’re right. You shouldn’t be.”

That surprised me. For once, he wasn’t arguing. Not trying to manipulate. Not giving a speech about love and loyalty. Just silent acceptance.

He looked out the window, the light tracing sharp angles across his face. “You remember what you told me once?”

I frowned. “I said a lot of things to you.”

He smiled faintly. “You said… ‘Love isn’t a transaction.’ And I didn’t understand it then.”

A small ache formed in my chest.

He continued, voice low. “All my life, I was taught everything has a price. Trust. Loyalty. Respect. People smiled at me because of what I could give them. When you loved me without asking for anything in return, it scared me. So I pushed you away before I could owe you anything.”

The honesty in his tone was disarming. I had seen Aarav charm investors, crush rivals, silence entire rooms with a look. But this man—sitting weak, vulnerable, admitting his fears—was someone new. Someone who might finally be learning what love actually meant.

“Aarav…” I began, unsure if words could bridge what time had broken.

He turned to me, eyes heavy with exhaustion and regret. “I know sorry doesn’t erase what I did. But I can learn. If you’ll let me.”

I looked at him carefully. “Learn what?”

He smiled faintly. “To be a man who loves without hurting.”

For a moment, the world seemed to stop. His words sank deep, stirring something long buried.

But my instinct still warned me—love like ours had once burned too bright, too fast. I couldn’t let it consume me again without reason.

“Words are easy, Aarav,” I said softly. “Change isn’t.”

He nodded slowly. “Then I’ll prove it. Not as the CEO, not as the man you once dated… but as the man who remembers every reason you walked away.”

His fever made him drift off again soon after, but his hand didn’t let go of mine until he fell asleep completely.

By evening, the air smelled of wet earth and jasmine. I had made soup and was cleaning the small kitchen when my phone buzzed—a message from an unknown number.

> Mr. Malhotra hasn’t attended the board meeting. Should we postpone, ma’am?

“Ma’am?” I muttered, startled.

Then it hit me. His assistant must have assumed I was still part of his life—still the woman who managed his moods and schedules like a second shadow.

I typed quickly:

> “He’s unwell. Reschedule everything for the week.”

A few seconds later, another message popped up.

> “Understood. Thank you, Mrs. Malhotra.”

My fingers froze.

Mrs.

I wanted to correct it, but my thumb hesitated above the screen. A strange warmth filled my chest. Maybe it was nostalgia. Maybe it was foolishness. But I didn’t correct them. Not this time.

When I returned to the living room, Aarav was awake, sitting up weakly with the blanket around his shoulders. He looked oddly out of place in my simple apartment—the glass-and-steel king surrounded by soft cotton and books.

He watched me approach, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “You haven’t changed a thing here.”

“I didn’t need to,” I said quietly. “This place was always mine.”

He nodded. “And I ruined that for you once.”

“You did.”

He swallowed hard. “I won’t again.”

Something in his tone—firm yet broken—made my heart twist. I wanted to stay angry. I wanted to tell him love wasn’t about promises, that he couldn’t just walk back into my life with fever and regret. But the truth was… the rain outside my window felt a little less lonely with him here.

As I set the bowl of soup in front of him, he reached out—not to take the bowl, but to touch my hand. His eyes were soft, steady.

“I forgot how to love,” he said, voice almost a whisper. “But if you’ll let me, I’ll learn again… starting with you.”

The words hung between us like a fragile truce.

And for the first time since I’d walked away, I didn’t run.

That night, as the city lights flickered below, I stood on the balcony alone. Behind me, Aarav slept peacefully for the first time in months.

The man who once commanded empires now looked like someone who finally understood humility.

And maybe, just maybe… the man who had forgotten how to love was beginning to remember.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***