Dev's fingers trembled as he threw his backpack aside and stormed out of the apartment. The streets outside were alive with evening noise, but in his ears, there was only the pounding of his pulse.
He called her again.
Switched off.
Again.
No answer.
Again.
No signal.
He ran into the airline's website. Her name. Her flight number.
His breath caught when the status appeared:
"Flight landed at 5:48 AM."
Almost 14 hours ago.
Where the hell is she?
Dev hailed a cab with shaking hands.
"Airport. Fast."
The cabbie didn't ask questions — one look at his face was enough.
The ride was blurred glass, honking horns, and wild prayers running like blood in his veins.
Please let her be at the airport. Waiting. Sleeping. Anything.
Meanwhile...
Hiya sat curled in a corner of a dim, quiet guest waiting lounge.
Not the main one — this was a side area near the lost baggage claim.
Her phone lay beside her.
Battery dead since morning.
Her charger?
Still in her check-in luggage — which had been mistakenly rerouted.
Her purse?
Dropped during landing, recovered later by airline staff — now locked in the security office because she had no ID proof to claim it.
She had argued. Begged.
But they wouldn't let her leave the airport without identity verification.
Even her voice had cracked.
"Can I just… make one call? Please, I just need one call."
The security officer had stared at her pale face, her slightly shaking hands.
"Ma'am, you can't use personal phones in this area. We're trying to trace your bag."
She had nodded.
Tired. Hungry. Worried.
But most of all — terrified Dev might think she had changed her mind.
That she didn't come.
That she chose silence.
She leaned her head against the wall, eyes burning.
Only five days. Just five more days, and I could've told him everything. Shown him.
Now, here she was.
So close. Yet lost.
Dev stormed into the airport like a man on fire.
He checked each gate.
Every café.
Every waiting lounge.
Finally, he reached the information desk. His voice barely held together.
"I need to find a passenger — her name is Hiya Basu. Flight landed early morning. She should've reached this city. Please."
The attendant frowned, checking records.
"There was a baggage routing issue this morning… a few passengers were delayed in the side lounge due to identity mismatch. One moment—"
Dev didn't wait.
He ran.
Past gates. Past corridors. Into the quiet zone.
And there—
A flash of peach dress.
Disheveled hair.
Face pale.
Eyes tired.
Sitting on a metal chair like a small fallen bird.
He stopped.
Breath stolen from his lungs.
"Hiya…"
Her eyes snapped up.
Tears welled instantly.
She rose. He ran.
Their arms crashed into each other. Fierce. Trembling.
No words.
Only the sound of his heart against hers.
His hands against her back, her face buried in his shoulder.
"You idiot," he whispered, holding her like a miracle. "Why didn't you wait?"
"You idiot," she cried, "Why didn't you believe?"