Four days. Four long, exhausting days. Days that felt like they had stretched into a lifetime of confusion and frustration. Since the night I saw Gauri for the first time in nearly a decade—since the night she slammed that door in my face—I couldn't stop thinking about her. Her words echoed in my mind: I never want to see you again. I could still see the look on her face—the way her eyes burned with anger and hurt. It was something I hadn't expected, and I damn sure hadn't planned for it to hit me like it did. But here I was, nursing a wound I couldn't explain. Her rejection still stung.

I should've expected it. After all, the way I had treated her back then—it was unforgivable. I hadn't given her a second thought all those years ago. I rejected her because she wasn't rich enough, or pretty enough, or enough in my eyes back then. And now... Now, after everything, I realized just how much I had screwed up. But seeing her again? It had awakened something inside me that I couldn't ignore.