Scene Setting:
Evening. Ahaan stands on a quiet street, phone in hand, tension written all over his face. His team is scattered across the city. He's called in favors, activated networks, burned resources — all for her.
---
Jack's voice came through the comm-link with frustration.
Jack: "Officer Ahaan… why the hell have you pulled an entire tactical team just to find one simple girl?"
Ahaan closed his eyes for a brief second, then replied flatly:
"You'll never understand."
He cut the line.
No more questions.
---
Hours passed. The sun dipped behind clouds, painting the world in quiet gold.
Ahaan moved through narrow lanes, past dusty walls and rusted gates. His steps slowed when he reached a worn-down building painted in soft blue and white.
A sign read: "Nayi Duniya Orphanage."
Laughter echoed from inside.
Curious, he stepped closer… and froze.
There she was.
Mahi.
In simple clothes, no makeup, hair tied up loosely, kneeling in the dirt, surrounded by children. One sat on her lap. Two clung to her arms. She laughed, a sound he hadn't heard in days — light, free, untouched by the weight of the hospital or the world.
Ahaan exhaled, his voice soft.
"Thank God… she's safe."
Then — a voice beside him.
"She's not just safe. She's home."
He turned.
An elderly woman with kind eyes and silver-streaked hair smiled at him gently.
"This is my orphanage," she said proudly. "And the girl you're looking at — Mahi— is part of it."
Ahaan's brows lifted. "Part of it?"
The woman nodded slowly, folding her arms.
"When we found her… she was barely a month old. Wrapped in an old shawl. Crying nonstop. Her parents left her right outside that gate…" she pointed to the rusted entrance.
Ahaan stood in stunned silence.
"We raised her here. Fed her. Carried her through fevers, heartbreaks, medical entrance exams… Now she comes back every weekend, without fail. Brings medicine, toys, clothes. Says this place gave her life — so she owes it everything."
The woman smiled wistfully.
"And now she saves lives out there… and still comes back to heal in here."
Ahaan looked back at Mahi — her eyes glowing as she high-fived a giggling girl.
Everything about her — the kindness, the strength, the patience — suddenly made sense.
She wasn't just someone he needed to protect.
She was someone who had been saving herself her whole life.
And now… he was falling for her in a way he hadn't even understood before.
Scene:
Evening. The orphanage courtyard. Mahi is with the children — laughing, helping, healing.
Unseen… someone watches her.
---
From behind the broken walls of the ruined caretaker's house — just beyond the orphanage's boundary — a shadow stood still.
The man didn't breathe. Didn't blink.
His eyes were on her. Only her.
Mahi.
Wrapped in a simple white kurta, her sleeves rolled up, kneeling in the dirt to clean a boy's scraped knee. Her smile, soft. Her hands, careful.
> "She's everything I ever wanted," he whispered to the silence.
"And he doesn't deserve her."
He reached into his coat and pulled out an old photo. It showed Mahi walking beside Ahaan. He stared at it with a kind of fury — not at her, but at the man beside her.
Ahaan Shaikh.
The man who lied to her.
The man who broke her heart and still thought he could protect her.
He pressed his finger against Ahaan's face in the photo — slowly scratching it out.
> "You think you love her?" he murmured darkly.
"You don't even know what it means to worship her."
In his world, Mahi wasn't a person.
She was a vision. A salvation. A purpose.
He had waited. Watched. Loved her from the shadows.
And now… she was so close. Just a few feet away.
Still laughing. Still unaware.
His voice cracked with longing.
> "One day… she'll look at me the way she looks at those children.
And when she does… I'll burn the world for her smile."