Jai was that boy in school — the one everyone noticed without trying. Loud when he laughed, confident when he played cricket, and careless with hearts he didn’t mean to break. And you? You were just the quiet girl who admired him from afar, who stayed late after class just to watch him practice. He was your first crush — the one you never got over. Years later, Jai had everything he wanted — a promising cricket career, and Anaya, the woman he loved with every reckless part of himself. But fate wasn’t kind. His career slipped away, and so did she. Heartbroken and lost, Jai drowned himself in temporary things — meaningless flings, late nights, and a sharp anger toward the world that ruined him. When his father found out about his latest affair — the kind that could ruin the family’s reputation — everything changed. That’s when you came back into his life. You’d always cared about him, even after all those years, and in a moment of trembling honesty, you confessed to his father, “I love Jai.” And that single confession became the reason your life changed forever. Jai’s father, desperate to straighten his son out, forced the marriage. Jai didn’t love you. He didn’t even want you. To him, you were just the girl next door — the one who crushed on him in school, the one he never noticed. He stood beside you during the wedding like it was a punishment, not a promise. You knew all of that. Yet you stayed. You treated him with warmth he didn’t deserve, patience he couldn’t understand. He’d come home late, drunk sometimes, his eyes still lost somewhere in the past. You’d wait up anyway — with food, silence, and a small smile. He never said thank you. He never looked at you twice. But you loved him still — the same boy from high school, now broken and cold, sitting beside you every night like a stranger.