Rishabh swung his arm over a desk, an animalistic growl escaping the confines of his soul as he fell to his knees and sobbed into his hands "You left me" he shook his head fast "So why do I still care?" Many times he had repeated the same questions, believing he had gotten over the pain only to catch a whiff of her perfume or a glance of a smile as beautiful as hers and the heartache would reappear like it had never gone in the first place.

More than he hated her, he hated himself for ever trusting her, for believing for a second that she had loved him the way he had loved her, he cherished her, adored her and it was all for nothing. The second he turned his back she betrayed him in the worst way possible.

His fingers lingered above the cracked photo frame, too scared to caress the image that reminded him of better days, but still too attached to the memories of what once was- he was torn, loving her wasn't a choice, but god he wished it was, he didn't want to live with this pain every day, he didn't care if years had passed, if she didn't recognise him since he had aged and spent time working on his body or if she had possibly changed. He would never forget and he would never forgive.

~~~

Prerna placed her hands on her hips and huffed, it wasn't like she needed the help to clean up the mess of shelves and books on the floor, but she wanted it, for no other reason than the fact she was severely unfit, far too bothered with reading rather than running, her motto was 'it's best to let your mind run than your legs'.

Gripping the edge of the shelf, she grunted and yanked as hard as she could- she'd been at this for nearly an hour and hadn't made any progress, then as if muscles had magically appeared on her arms, the shelf stood tall above her "Ha, knew I could do it".

Rishabh raised a brow "With help, yes".

"Oh," she pouted "I really thought I had done that all by myself, thanks though" she continued to hum as she picked up book after book and placed them on the shelves. "So, what brings you back here?"

Shoving his hands into his pockets he looked over at her wistfully "I just wanted to make sure that what happened last night has and will stay between us".

"Of course" she stopped and turned to look at him, now noticing the dark circles beneath his eyes and the strained expression on his face "Has something happened? You look worse for wear".

"It's better for the both of us if you try to not focus on my looks and make up your own assumptions because I seem a bit tired, if I do find out anyone has been told about that night, let's just say this city will need a new librarian".

"Can't you find a better hobby? One where less people die because of it?"

"You think this is a hobby?" He scoffed "I wish".

"Oh, so it's like now you're in it, you can't get out unless you die? Why don't you just fake your death, you know, so you'll finally be free".

"This is the real world" Rishabh stepped closer so he was towering over her "It doesn't work like it does in your books, have you ever tried living outside of your imagination? You might get some common sense".

Prerna giggled, the same melodic sound that had captivated him years before, for a second he was back there, swaying with her to a song he had listened to far too many times to be healthy.

"The world is bad, you know that, that's why I prefer to live in my books, excuse me for wanting to live in a world where happy endings exist, maybe you're happy giving out a dose of reality, but maybe all you've ever needed was a reason to believe in happy endings" she turned her head "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Wrapping his fingers around her throat, he dragged her closer "Happy endings do not exist, there's no such thing as happily ever after, no God to keep you safe and protect you from pain, all this is, is a deranged woman who stays in a library because she's too afraid of the real world and a man who kills so he stays alive, so you tell me how two people like that could ever find a happy ending?"

"I've always believed that everything happens for a reason, some people are a lesson well learnt and sometimes it is you that's there to teach the lesson, you can't find happiness if you have none within you, the first part of a journey starts with hope, you have to believe to succeed and maybe that's why we were brought together, to teach each other something?"

He released her quickly as if burnt "You've already taught me enough, living in a dream world where you believe you have no control, that everything happens for a reason is poisonous thinking, be careful the venom doesn't spread Prerna, you may just find yourself paralysed by your own warped way of thinking".

Prerna looked over his shoulder at the hooded shadow and smiled "Nothing about my life is a dreamworld" she sighed heavily as she watched him walk away. "You accuse me of stereotyping you, infact it's you who has time and time again made assumptions about my character because I work in a library and prefer the company of fictional characters more than I do people, you seem to think I stay here out of fear, that I have no common sense because I read, maybe today's lesson is that before you point fingers at other people, take a good, long look in the mirror, you may not like what you see, because you and I aren't that different, the only difference is i'm willing to admit my faults, you're too busy pointing other people's out to see your own" she hadn't expected him to turn back around, for a second she was frozen in fear, she didn't know this man, but she did know what he was capable of and she had just angered him.

Rishabh approached fast and placed both hands on either side of her face "I know who I am Miss Sharma, I don't need to hide behind an innocent act or a book, I can't say the same about you, you're so sure i've got it wrong, then prove me wrong" he moved one hand to his pocket and held his other hand out to her, knowing full well that this was dangerous territory and that it was bound to end in more pain, but he just couldn't help himself. "Let's play a game".