Prologue

E K A N S H

The rain fell in heavy sheets that night, blurring the world outside the car window. I pressed my forehead against the cold glass, drawing little circles with my finger, watching the drops race each other down.

"Ansh, sit properly, beta," Mom laughed from the front seat, glancing back at me through the mirror. Her voice was warm, like it always was - like a safe hug around my heart.

Dad chuckled too. "Let him be, Priya. He's just a kid."

I grinned at them, showing my cheekiest smile. Mom shook her head with a dramatic sigh, but her eyes were sparkling.

We were going home after dinner - a small celebration for my good grades. I still had the tiny medal tucked into my jacket pocket. I wanted to show Dadu and Dadi when we reached home.

Everything felt so perfect. So normal.

Until it didn't.

A loud horn blared - too close, too sharp - and Dad's hands jerked on the steering wheel. The tires screamed against the wet road. I clutched the seat in front of me as the world spun, lights flashing like broken stars.

"Hold on, Ansh!" Mom's voice cried out.

And then-

A crash. A shattering.

A silence so deep it swallowed me whole.

☆

When I opened my eyes, everything hurt. There was a sharp smell - like metal and smoke. My arms were bleeding. The window was cracked beside me.

"Mom?" I whispered, my voice shaking.

No answer.

"Dad?" I tried louder, trying to sit up - pain shooting through my body.

I saw them - both of them - slumped in the front seats, motionless.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

"No... no no no..." I whimpered, reaching for the seatbelt with trembling hands.

I needed to get to them. I needed to wake them up.

But before I could move, someone pulled me out - strangers in uniforms, flashing lights everywhere.

I screamed for them. I screamed until my throat gave up.

☆

The hospital smelled like antiseptic and sadness.

I sat on a cold white bed, a blanket draped around my shoulders. Every sound echoed too loud in the empty space inside my chest.

Where were they? Why wasn't anyone telling me anything?

And then I saw them - Dadu and Dadi - rushing into the room. Dadu hugged me so tightly I could hardly breathe. Dadi sobbed into my hair.

I looked past them, hoping. Hoping Mom and Dad would come in too, laughing, saying it was all a big mistake.

But they didn't.

They never did.

☆

The funeral was a blur.

I stood by the two white-covered bodies, tiny compared to the wooden coffins. People talked in hushed voices. Some cried. Some just shook their heads.

I didn't cry.

I couldn't.

It felt like if I moved, if I even breathed, the world would fall apart even more than it already had.

Dadi held my hand.

Dadu rubbed my back.

Uncle and Aunty and little Esha clung to me, telling me it was going to be okay.

But nothing would ever be okay again.

I looked up at the gray sky, wondering if Mom and Dad were up there, watching me.

Why did you leave me?

You promised you would never go.

The boy who once ran into his parents' arms every evening... The boy who once believed nothing bad could ever happen to him...

He died that day too.

All that was left was a shadow. A hollow space where laughter used to live.

A boy who swore he would never let himself love too deeply again.

Because loving meant losing.

And he couldn't survive losing again.

Not ever.

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Some stories don't begin with love. They begin with loss and the courage to love again. Unforeseen Hearts—is one of them.

Thank you for reading.

—xoxo LUVIE 🤍