That night the hospital lights flickered as thunder rolled outside. The old generator kicked in with a low hum, casting an eerie yellow glow down the deserted stairwell.
Mahi's footsteps were silent but fast, her heart pounding. She had seen him — Sahad — slipping into the restricted zone. Injured and mysterious...What was he doing in the basement, and why did he carry something hidden in his coat?
She pushed open the creaking door slowly.
Then stopped cold.
There he was.
Ahaan — or Sahad, as she still knew him — standing in front of a man tied to a rusted wheelchair, duct tape over the man's mouth, blood on his cheek. The scene looked like something from a nightmare. Ahaan held a gun in one hand. Calm. Focused.
Her breath caught in her throat. "What the hell are you doing?!"
He turned slowly, eyes unreadable in the dim light. He didn't look shocked.
He looked... disappointed.
"Mahi," he said softly. "You weren't supposed to be here."
She took a step forward anyway. "You kidnapped someone?! In my hospital?"
He moved closer, voice low and lethal. "He's not someone. He's a killer. He infiltrated this hospital two months ago. I've been tracking him ever since."
Mahi shook her head, chest heaving. "You're not police. You're not even a patient, are you?"
Ahaan's jaw tensed. "You don't know what you're stepping into. Stay out of this, Mahi. It's too dangerous."
"I saved your life, and now you want me to pretend I didn't see this?" she snapped. "Who even are you?"
His voice dropped to a growl. "I'm someone who finishes things when others freeze. That man has blood on his hands — maybe even yours if you keep standing here."
She took another step forward. "You don't get to make that decision alone."
He stared at her — something wild flashing in his eyes.
And then, without warning —
He grabbed her wrist. Pulled her close. And kissed her.
Hard. Urgent. Like it was the only way to shut her up, to drown her protests in silence. Her hands pressed against his chest — trying to push him away, trying to understand why she didn't stop sooner.
But the second she came back to herself—
SLAP.
Her palm landed hard against his cheek.
His head turned slightly with the blow, but he didn't move. Didn't flinch.
He just stood there — breathing heavy. Eyes unreadable.
Mahi's voice trembled, shattered.
"Don't ever… ever do that again."
Tears slipped down her cheeks as she turned and ran out of the basement, her sobs echoing in the cold silence behind her.
Ahaan stared at the empty doorway.
And for the first time since he came to this place...
he regretted being a spy.
Scene Setting:
Night. Rooftop of the hospital. Windy. Slight drizzle. The city lights below flicker like dying stars.
Mahi stands alone. Crying. Unaware… she's not alone.
---
Narrative Scene
She didn't know how long she had been standing there.
The cold wind wrapped around her like grief itself, her white coat clinging to her trembling frame. The city buzzed far below, indifferent. And above — the clouds loomed heavy, as if the sky, too, was holding back tears.
Mahi's fingers tightened around the railing.
She wasn't the kind of girl who cried easily.
But tonight — tonight broke her.
She didn't even know why it hurt so much.
Maybe it was the way he looked at her earlier — with secrets buried in those unreadable eyes.
Maybe it was the way his presence made her heartbeat feel like a countdown.
Maybe… it was the kiss she didn't ask for.
The confusion he left behind.
The man she met hours ago had already torn something inside her — and he didn't even know it.
Tears streamed down her cheeks silently. Her lips trembled.
"Why does it feel like I already lost something I never even had…?"
And then — from behind the shadows of the water tank — a figure stepped forward.
Not close enough to be seen.
But close enough to see her.
A tall man, coat fluttering in the wind, half his face hidden under a hood. Eyes glowing like smoldering coal in the darkness.
He watched her cry… unmoving.
He heard every broken breath, every shattered heartbeat.
And then… he whispered to himself, voice like a slow knife:
"She doesn't deserve this pain."
"Whoever brought tears to her eyes… will beg me to stop before I kill him."
He stepped back into the dark — vanishing like smoke.
But his vow hung heavy in the air, unseen and unheard.
Because Mahi…
was never truly alone.
Came back to Ahaan
Scene Setting:
Hospital basement. Rain tapping on the old windows. The dim emergency lights cast long, flickering shadows. Ahaan stands in front of the tied man — cold, silent, and deadly. His gun is loaded. His mind is at war.
---
The man's laughter was faint, broken by blood and bruises, but it still echoed like a taunt.
"You're too late, Kabir… urf Sahad… urf Ahaan."
Ahaan didn't flinch. But his grip tightened.
"We know everything about you," the man rasped. "Every identity. Every lie. Every woman you tried to keep at a distance."
He smirked. "Especially this one."
Ahaan's eyes darkened.
The man leaned forward, lips twitching.
"The file you're looking for? about her... Your doctor. The girl who stitched you up and started asking too many questions."
Ahaan's heart kicked once — hard. But his face remained still.
The man's voice lowered to a whisper.
"Mahi. Sweet girl. Doesn't even know she's already marked."
Ahaan's voice came out like thunder.
"What did you just say?"
The man grinned wider. "Even if you kill me, it's done. The file's already moving — to our boss. And no one knows who he is. He never steps into the light. Just a ghost. But he knows her. And he knows you."
He exhaled sharply. "She's already in it now, Ahaan Shaikh. And you can't save her."
Silence.
Then — Ahaan stepped closer.
His voice was low. Lethal.
"I told you to stay away from her."
The man blinked.
"I warned you," Ahaan growled. "I warned all of you. You can come for me. You can burn every name I've ever used. But you touch her—"
He cocked the gun.
"You don't walk out of the room."
BANG.
The shot was clean. Final.
The man's body slumped lifelessly forward, blood dripping to the floor.
Ahaan stood there, breath heavy, gun still raised.
He looked at the body — not with satisfaction, but with something darker.
Regret.
Because the moment that bullet left the gun… he knew:
The war just changed.
And Mahi was no longer on the sidelines.
She was in the file.
In the crosshairs.
And he was out of time.
Then something inside him cracked.
Mahi.
Her face flashed in his mind — not the angry one. The one that smiled when she handed him coffee. The one that stitched his wounds like he was worth saving.
And suddenly the weight of what he had done — not to this man, but to her — became unbearable.
---
Ahaan dropped the gun onto the table.
And ran.
The hallway was quiet. Too quiet.
Ahaan's boots echoed softly against the floor as he walked past the nurse station, scanning every face, every corridor.
She wasn't there.
His eyes darted toward the ICU wing.
No sign of her.
He moved faster now — through the emergency ward, past the security station, the patient garden.
Still no Mahi.
He stopped near the empty break room, his jaw clenching.
She should've come here. This is where she always came when she was upset. Always.
A nurse passed by, surprised by his grim expression. "Looking for Dr. Mahi?"
His head snapped toward her. "Have you seen her?"
She hesitated. "She looked… disturbed. She ran toward the stairwell around thirty minutes ago. I called her name but—"
He didn't wait.
Ahaan bolted toward the stairs, taking them two at a time, skipping steps as his pulse thundered in his ears.
She saw too much. I crossed the line. Dammit, Ahaan.
The rooftop door creaked as he pushed it open with a bang.
Nothing.
Just the wind.
The empty rooftop.
The night sky above — blank, endless, cruel.
He stepped forward, his eyes scanning every corner.
Then he saw it.
A lone wet tissue on the ground — half-dried.
The kind she always carried in her coat pocket.
He picked it up, heart sinking.
She had been here.
But now… she was gone.
A chill ran down his spine — and not from the wind.
Something felt wrong. Too wrong.
He turned slowly, his eyes scanning the shadows.
No cameras on the rooftop. No signs. No messages.
Just… silence.
He exhaled shakily, pressing the tissue to his chest.
"Where are you, Mahi…"