Third person’s pov!

“Will you marry me?”

The question hung in the air between them, heavy and unexpected.

Shraddha’s eyes widened in shock, her lips parting slightly as if the words had stolen her breath. For a moment, she was too stunned to respond, her heart pounding in her chest. Dhruv’s intense gaze never wavered, locking onto hers as if daring her to say no.

“Wh-what?” She stammered, blinking rapidly as she tried to process what she had just heard. “Marry you? Dhruv, I don’t… I don’t understand. You said we can take it slow, didn’t you? Where is this coming from? And why are you looking so tense?”

“My business is facing some issues, Shraddha. And I am needed back there. I received a call from an employee. I have to go to Bangalore immediately.” 

“What does marriage have to do with this?” Shraddha asked.

“Marry me..”

“But you live in Mumbai..”

“And you’re from Mussorrie. These are details, not significant factors.” 

“Easy for you to say.”  She made a chortling sound. 

“Marry me.” 

“But why?” She stared at him with a strange, drowning sensation. 

“Because every fibre of my being tells me it is right for us to marry. That I would regret forever if I didn’t ask you to marry me now.” Dhruv said and Shraddha stared at him in growing horror.

“I don’t know what to say, Dhruv.” Shraddha said.

“Say yes..” He demanded and Shraddha let out a worried laugh.

“We don’t love each other. We just met a few days ago. I thought we could get to know each other a bit and then decide. But this is all so fast.” Shraddha said, not able to wrap it around her head.

“Not all marriages start with love, Shraddha. Especially in a country like India. Arranged marriages don't begin with love.” Dhruv wasn’t going to give up. He had to go to Bangalore immediately and he couldn’t leave Shraddha and go. The very thought was making him panic. How had she become such an important part of his life in very few days?

Shraddha’s heart raced. He was offering her a family which she has craved for all her life. Can she just let it slip away because of her insecurities and worries.

Dhruv stepped closer to Shraddha, his dark eyes filled with a determination that almost unsettled her. He wasn’t going to let this go, and the intensity of his gaze only deepened the pressure in the pit of her stomach.

“Shraddha,” Dhruv began, his voice low but insistent, “I know this seems fast, and maybe it is. But sometimes, things that make sense don’t follow a timeline. We don’t need months or years to figure out if this is right for us. I know it is. And I think deep down, you feel it too.”

Shraddha shook her head, struggling to find words as her emotions tangled inside her. 

“But how can you be so sure? We have only just started to get to know each other. This isn’t something we can decide in a matter of days.”

“I have never been more sure about anything in my life,” Dhruv countered, his voice firm. “Look, I am not offering you a fairytale. I am offering you something real. We both want the same things — a family, stability, someone to come home to at the end of the day. And I can give you that, Shraddha.”

She blinked, trying to steady her racing thoughts. 

“But you don’t know me. Not really.”

Dhruv let out a breath, his eyes softening as he took another step toward her, closing the distance between them. 

“I know enough. You have spent so long taking care of yourself. Who is there for you? The same goes for me too, Shraddha. I have lived my whole life, taking care of my sister. I had nobody to look after me. In a way, we both are similar. We need each other.” Dhruv said softly.

The words hit her harder than she expected. She had never thought about it like that. Wouldn’t it feel nice to have someone to look after you. Someone to take care of you? And just like her, Dhruv is craving the same. They can be there for each other. And along the way, love may grow.

Dhruv seemed to sense her wavering and pressed on. 

“You don’t have to do this alone anymore. You can have a family, a real home, with me. I can give you everything you have ever wanted. You want children, right? I can see it in the way you care for Ansh. You’ll be a great mother, Shraddha. We can have children. A family of our own.” Dhruv said and his heart swelled at the mere thought of it. Until the words came out of his mouth, he never realised how much he had craved it. How much he craved for a family of his own. Children of his own. How had he not known that this was what he had been craving for all the while?

Her heart clenched at his words. A family — children, a home — it was everything she had ever dreamed of, the one thing that had eluded her for so long. But was she ready to leap into something so serious with a man she barely knew?

Dhruv saw the doubt in her eyes and stepped even closer, his voice growing softer yet more intense. 

“Not all marriages start with love, Shraddha. But that doesn’t mean they can’t grow into love. You know how things work in our culture — many couples begin with mutual respect, with a promise to build a life together. Love comes in time.”

“I am not sure…” Shraddha shook her head slowly.

Dhruv gently guided Shraddha towards the bedroom, his hands steady but gentle on her arms, as though he feared she might slip away if he let go. Her heart was pounding, her mind a whirlwind of emotions she could barely keep up with. He brought her to the edge of the bed and gestured for her to sit. When she did, Dhruv knelt before her, his eyes never leaving hers, the intensity of his gaze unwavering.

For a moment, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the soft ticking of a distant clock. Then Dhruv took a deep breath, as though gathering the courage to bare a part of his soul he had kept hidden for far too long.

“After Diya’s marriage,” he began, his voice low and steady, “loneliness hit me harder than I ever imagined it could. It felt like my world had fallen apart. My grandfather had recently passed away, and soon after, Diya—my one constant—got married and moved away to Mussoorie. I was completely alone.”

Shraddha watched him, her breath catching in her throat. There was a vulnerability in his eyes she hadn’t seen before, and it tugged at something deep within her.

Dhruv's voice grew rougher as he continued, the words heavy with memories he had long tried to forget. 

“I couldn’t handle it. The silence, the emptiness. I didn’t know how to cope. And so… I found solace in the wrong places. Alcohol was the start. But it wasn’t enough. Eventually, I turned to drugs.”

Shraddha gasped, her eyes widening in horror. 

“D-Drugs?” She whispered, her voice barely audible. The thought of Dhruv, so strong and composed, losing himself to such darkness was unfathomable.

Dhruv nodded, his jaw tightening. 

“It was a dark phase of my life, Shraddha. The worst I have ever been through. I nearly lost everything..” He paused, swallowing hard. “I was on the verge of destroying everything I had. If it hadn’t been for Ved, my best friend, I don’t know where I’d be right now. He forced me to get help, and took me to rehab. I fought my way out of it, but it wasn’t easy. I had to claw my way back, step by painful step.”

Shraddha’s eyes welled with tears, her chest aching as she listened to his confession. She couldn’t imagine the torment he must have gone through. To lose oneself like that, to be so consumed by pain and isolation—it mirrored her own years of loneliness, though hers had been a different kind of suffering.

Dhruv’s hand reached for hers, his touch warm and reassuring. 

“Loneliness is the biggest curse anyone can suffer,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “You have felt it, haven’t you? The hollow ache, the fear that it’ll never end. I have been there, Shraddha. And now, life is giving us a chance to escape it. Together.”

Dhruv never intended to share this darkest phase of his life with her. Nobody knew about it. Not even Diya. Only Ved and Sai know. And now, he was willingly sharing it with Shraddha. What was it about her that was making him open up with her? And every word that came out of his mouth was coming straight from his heart. 

He had come here with the intention of getting her out of their lives because he thought she was having an affair with Sid. But Shraddha isn’t like that. She isn’t a girl who would knowingly break another woman’s house. She is above all that. 

She has an integrity in her that he has come to respect. There is a vulnerability in her that he aches to wipe away. There is a hope for a better future in her mind that he wants to fulfil.

And most importantly he had fallen in love with this girl sitting in front of him. And he couldn’t imagine a day away from her.

Tears began to spill down Shraddha’s cheeks. She understood more than she ever thought she would. The fear of being alone, of never finding a place where she truly belonged. She had spent so many years locked in that cycle, always giving but never receiving. And now, here Dhruv was, offering her a way out.

“Shouldn’t we accept it with open arms?” Dhruv asked softly, his voice filled with both hope and fear. “We don’t have to be alone anymore.”

Shraddha’s heart broke for the man kneeling before her, the man who had been through so much, just like her. His pain mirrored her own, and it was in that moment that she realised—Dhruv wasn’t just offering her a family. He was offering her salvation from the one thing she feared most. She nodded, her tears flowing freely now. 

“Yes, Dhruv,” she whispered. “Let’s get married.”

Dhruv’s eyes lit up with hope and relief, the weight of his confession lifting as he heard her words. 

“Tomorrow?” He asked, almost breathless with anticipation.

“Tomorrow? Is it even possible to get married so quickly?” Shraddha blinked through her tears, half-laughing through her own emotions. 

“We can get married in a temple,” Dhruv said, his voice steady and sure. “We’ll register it legally afterward. But tomorrow, Shraddha, I want to make you mine forever.”

She nodded, her heart too full to speak. Dhruv’s hand gently cupped her face, and he leaned forward, pressing a soft, reverent kiss to her forehead. It was a promise—a promise that tomorrow, her life would change forever.

“Tomorrow,” Dhruv whispered against her skin, “you’ll become mine. Forever.”