The mountains of Chitral are said to be the dwelling place of fairies—celestial beings, immortal beauties who dance with the northern winds. Sitara, gazing out from the rear window of her V-Class Mercedes, listened to the winds and felt as though she could hear their footsteps.
Chitral had cast a spell on her life. Or perhaps it was the man who had vanished into Chitral who had done so.
Three years ago, on an unexpected afternoon, her grandfather summoned her to their ancestral home. She had been waiting in the lobby for an interview at a top company, but all she heard was his commanding voice: "You must be here in half an hour."
When she arrived, she found her grandfather, father, mother, her cousin—and a stranger. The young man, she was told, was Dr. Vikram, to whom she was now engaged. She had wanted to protest, to say she didn't believe in arranged marriages. But when she saw his striking face, she hesitated. There was something disarming about him—confident, composed, and impossibly handsome.
When he learned that she was an MBA graduate, he transferred a significant sum to help her start a business. That single gesture lifted her family's fortunes, turning them into one of the most prominent households in Western India.
Then he disappeared.
He left behind only a handwritten note and an address in Chitral—an old monastery. "Three years," he had written. "I will honour our engagement then."
Three years is a long time.
Gratitude is noble—but it does not always become love. Over the years, many men pursued her. She turned them all away—except for one: Nawab Arham Shah, the wealthiest young master of Western India. Charming, persistent, and refined, Arham had stood by her in moments of trouble. With him, she felt not obligation, but a kind of closeness that felt earned—an intimacy that blossomed slowly, like trust.
Now, as the winding roads carry them closer to Chitral, she knows what she must do.
Today, she will meet Vikram again.
And she will break the engagement.
Her mother, her sister, and Nawab Arham Shah are with her in the V-Class. But in her heart, she is traveling alone towards the man who once changed her life, and the moment she must choose which future is truly hers.