INT. ORPHANAGE – OBSERVATION MOMENT – EVENING
Ahaan stands in the hallway, hidden behind a half-open door.
He doesn't move.
He doesn't breathe.
His eyes are locked on Mahi.
She's still talking to the staff member — calm, gentle, efficient. Her fingers glide over the pages of a donation register, scribbling notes.
Her voice is soft. Controlled.
But her eyes?
Empty.
Not like before.
---
Ahaan's POV (Slow Motion)
She bends down to tie a little boy's shoelace.
She wipes a girl's chocolate-stained face and smiles faintly.
She gently scolds a boy for climbing the railing barefoot — then laughs when he makes a goofy face.
She's alive here.
But something is missing inside her.
That fierce spark. That stubborn fire. The twinkle when she argued with him over coffee orders or the way she mocked his frowns.
It's not there.
She looks like she's… trying to forget she ever had it.
---
INT. ORPHANAGE – CLASSROOM – MOMENTS LATER
Mahi now sits on the floor with a group of kids.
They're drawing something together.
Ahaan steps closer — still silent — now behind a bookshelf.
He hears her.
MAHI (to kids):
"Make the superhero's eyes like this.
See? A little angry.
But he saves everyone even when he's angry."
LITTLE GIRL:
"Like Mr. Grumpy Spy?!"
MAHI (startled, then chuckles):
"Exactly like him."
The children giggle. Mahi covers her smile.
Ahaan freezes.
She still talks about him?
She made him into a story?
---
INT. OUTSIDE CLASSROOM – CONTINUOUS
Ahaan leans against the wall.
The letter.
The kiss.
The silence.
The pain.
None of it makes sense anymore.
He clenches the crumpled letter in his palm.
Looks at it again.
The words that shattered him…
> "I've fallen for someone else."
But the girl inside?
She still loves him. Even if she doesn't say it.
Even if she doesn't want to.
---
INT. ORPHANAGE CHAPEL – LATER THAT NIGHT
Ahaan sits alone in the back row, silent, hands folded under his chin.
Moonlight spills through stained glass.
Behind him — the faint echo of children singing bedtime rhymes.
He speaks — to the empty space.
AHAAN (softly):
"She cried for me…
Then why did she leave?"
He looks at the letter again.
Realization begins to creep in…
AHAAN (slowly):
"…Someone wanted me to believe she did."