It had been weeks since Aryan's return. Tejasswi had mentioned him a few times before—casual conversations about their shared past, the fond memories of childhood, the adventures they had gotten into when they were younger. Karan had never thought much of it; after all, people had pasts, and Tejasswi’s was no different.

But what had started as a passing mention soon became something more—a presence that seemed to haunt the spaces between them, always there in the background, like an uninvited guest whose shadow stretched longer each day.