Helo people (sunshiness)

Your ashiie this side again !!!

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(Read the note in at end)

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AUTHOR POV

"Wait—wait wait wait. You're sitting here and telling me that our criminology professor is your ex?" Kashi's voice shot up like a siren. She flailed her arms, legs, hair—everything—like she'd just witnessed a murder.

"Wow. Girl. Keep it up... keep going, bitch, keep going," she added, falling back like drama was oxygen and she was running out of breath.

Iraya rolled her eyes so hard they almost got stuck.

"You knew this already. Why are you being extra, Miss Sinha?"

Kashi straightened up, blinking fast like she was trying to cry but forgot how. "Yeah I knew, okay? I knew you dated a guy. But you didn't tell me that guy was Professor-Riccardo-fucking-Abato! What the hell, asshole!"

Iraya didn't even look at her—just pulled out her phone, ignoring the theatrics. Kashi swatted her arm.

"Oh, you done, Miss Sinha?" Iraya said, her voice matching Kashi's drama with her own deadpan sass.

Kashi just gawked, words caught in her throat. "At least—"

But Iraya was already getting up. She didn't say anything, just started walking toward the gate like she was done with everything.

"Where you going, bro?" Kashi yelled, still sitting there like she'd been slapped with betrayal.

"To meet Chinmay."

That was all it took.

One second Kashi was behind, the next she was walking right beside Iraya, arms looped into hers like a clingy little koala.

"Leaving your one and only best friend alone isn't good, babygurl," she whispered, eyes darting like someone might hear them.

"Crushpaglu," Iraya muttered, lips tugging into a half-smirk despite the storm brewing inside her.

"Aaj bike pe aayi thi?" Kashi asked, eyes lighting up at the sight of Iraya's bike.

["You brought the bike today?"]

"Jii"

["Yeah."]

Iraya handed her the helmet and waited while Kashi jumped on behind her, practically vibrating with excitement. Like she was about to marry Chinmay, not just see him.

"Chal chal, jaldi chal na yaar, he must be waiting for us!"

["Let's gooo, come on, he's waiting!"]

Kashi tugged on Iraya's shirt like a kid in a candy store.

Iraya exhaled. Started the bike.

Checked the mirror.

And froze.

Because there he was.

Riccardo Abato.

Her professor.

Her ex.

Her first real fucking heartbreak.

Just standing there, staring.

Like if he looked away, she'd vanish. Like she still belonged to him.

But to her?

It was just another man trying to make eye contact with the girl he broke, hoping that look would somehow fix what his hands destroyed.

She looked at him.

Straight in the eyes.

And god—his eyes softened.

Like he still felt something.

Like she still meant something.

But hers?

They were cold.

Hurt.

Sharp like glass that remembers the hand that broke it.

No words. No smile.

Just one middle finger.

Right through the mirror.

Right through the past.

Then she hit the throttle and took off. Dust in his face. Engine screaming louder than her heart.

Behind her, Kashi giggled, clueless to the ache riding pillion between Iraya's ribs.

Riccardo just stood there.

Smiling.

Like the fucking ghost of a good memory.

Like she didn't just flip him off with every ounce of pain he left inside her.

"You're still the same, Raya..." he whispered, almost to himself.

But he was wrong.

She wasn't.

She was worse.

She was stronger.

And she didn't need his softness anymore.

Not now.

Not ever again.

IRAYA POV

The engine hummed beneath me, but it wasn't the vibration that made my fingers twitch on the handle — it was him.

Riccardo Abato.

Still the same eyes, same goddamn gaze like he owns every silence he steps into. Like the air thickens just because he breathes nearby.

I didn't flinch. Not this time.

My middle finger flew up with the kind of calm rage only heartbreak carves into you. I didn't say a word — didn't need to.

Because he knew.

He always did.

The problem was, Riccardo never left anything halfway — not even the mess he made of me.

I sped off, wind slicing against my cheeks like a warning.

Kashi was screaming something in my ear about "hold tighter" or "your crush" or maybe "let's die in love today" — but my brain was still parked behind. Still staring through that rearview mirror.

Because there he stood.

Still.

Fucking. Smiling.

As if that one smirk could rewrite the nights I cried into my pillow, as if it could erase the echo of his "this can't go on" and the betrayal behind his "you deserve better."

If I did, why wasn't it him fighting for better?

Why wasn't it us?

I kept riding. Faster.

If I stopped now, I'd collapse into everything I swore I buried.

But god...

That look in his eyes.

It's like he still sees me.

And I hate him for that.

I hate him for still making me feel seen.

I hate that I wanted to turn back.

It's just the truth. Raw and simple. That I still love him.

Then I hit the accelerator and sped off like he never mattered.

But he did.

And that's what made it worse.

Because under all this armor, under all this cool-headed, I-don't-care version of me—

Was the girl who once believed in every lie he said like it was poetry.

And now?

Now she was just trying not to look back.

RICCARDO POV

She didn't even blink.

Just... raised her finger.

Middle one. Classic Iraya.

Fiery, reckless, unforgettable.

I smiled. Couldn't help it.

Because even in anger, she was more alive than anyone else I'd ever met.

There she was — helmet on, hair flying wild behind, eyes like storms that had forgotten how to calm.

And she saw me.

Really saw me.

And didn't fucking look away.

God, I missed her.

Not just her touch or her laugh or how she used to pull my collar to kiss me mid-lecture breakdowns in whom I just used to scold her playfully.

I missed her.

The way she challenged everything, even me. Especially me.

The way she called me out for hiding behind rules and roles and bullshit like "I am older than you"

I told her she deserved better.

But truth is, I said it because I didn't know how to be better for her.

I was a coward.

Dressed in tailored suits and tenure.

And she?

She was fire in skin.

She never begged to stay. Never cried in front of me. She just left like she meant it. And now I'm the one standing here, unmoving.

Watching her ride away like she never once cried over me.

Like I never once mattered.

But that glance in the mirror?

That wasn't indifference.

That was pain.

And it gave me hope.

Maybe foolish. Maybe too late.

But fuck, I'll take foolish.

"You're still the same, Raya," I whispered to the wind she left behind.

Still the girl who makes me believe in chaos.

And maybe, just maybe...

Still mine?

And the middle finger, I deserved it.

I should've looked away.

I didn't.

I smiled instead. A stupid, broken thing. Half-pride, half-regret.

About her being mine?

But maybe she wasn't.

Maybe I didn't just lose her love.

Maybe I lost the right to even say her name.

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That's it for today !!!

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Author's Note

I know this chapter is short but from now on the chapters will have word counts like 4k to 5k or can be more than it to....

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STAY HAPPY

STAY SAFE

STAY BLESSED

STAY HYDRATED

STAY WITH ME

I LUVV UU ALL❤

ashiieee