A U T H O R ' S  P O V 

When you love someone with all the loyalty in your heart, when you adore them so deeply that you forget the world around you, betrayal feels like the sharpest wound a soul can carry. That is what rests inside Rishiraj's heart. He has given years of quiet devotion, never once turning his eyes away, never once allowing another name to enter his prayers. Yet the pain he feels is not only hers to answer for. It is also his own doing. He never spoke, never confessed, never took the step from longing to love. His heart remained locked in one–sided affection, and he himself chose to keep the key hidden.

Even so, a part of him is strangely content. He is glad she escaped. He is glad she has found her happiness, that she is living a life of love, even if that love does not include him. It is not love that betrayed him, it is friendship. The bond they once shared has gone silent. She never searched for him, never tried to find him, while he spent years tracing her shadow. That silence wounds him more than any unspoken love ever could.

And now he feels the weight of truth. The girl he once called his best friend has become nothing more than a closed chapter. Perhaps if destiny brought her before him now, she would not even remember his face. To save himself from that final heartbreak, he makes a quiet vow. He will not look for her again. He will pray for her wellness one last time, and then he will let her memory rest, never to disturb his soul again.

He presses the accelerator, his car slicing through the night as fast as it can go. His destination is Abhiraj's penthouse, the only place where he can breathe without the world watching, the only place he can be unguarded. He goes there often, not just for solitude but to irritate Abhiraj, to tease him, to play the part of a stubborn, overbearing companion. He has been doing it since childhood, acting like a wife who refuses to leave her husband in peace.

Abhiraj never admits it, but Rishiraj knows the truth. For all his frowns and sharp retorts, Abhiraj cannot deny that Rishi is the only one who dares to provoke him and still make him smile. And perhaps that is why their bond runs so deep. Over the years, somewhere between irritation and laughter, Rishiraj became the one ray of light in Abhiraj's carefully guarded life.

FLASHBACK STARTS 

RISHIRAJ = 8 YEARS OLD, ABHIRAJ = 9YEARS OLD

"Oh my god, is he our Rishi?" Rajshri, Abhiraj's mother, exclaims with pure joy as she sees the Chauhans step into the grand halls of Rathore Haveli.

Suhasini Chauhan, Rishi's mother, nods through a teary smile that glimmers with happiness. The little boy suddenly feels the weight of every eye in the room on him. Shy and overwhelmed, Rishi hides behind his father, Randhir Chauhan as Randhir had promised that he would protect him from everyone, and in this moment, Rishi takes shelter in that promise.

Randhir chuckles softly and pulls him forward. "Champ, you do not need my protection here. They are all our family. Protection is only for bad people, remember?"

Rishi blinks up at him, wide-eyed, and then looks at the sea of faces waiting for him. "Isn't it a very big family?" he asks with innocent wonder.

"Yes, my baby. And you know, a big family means more love," Suhasini says cheerfully.

Hearing her words, Rishi's eyes light up. His little legs carry him forward, and with all the manners he has been taught, he bends down to touch the feet of the Rathores. The elders' hearts melt instantly at the sight.

"Oye, chhotu Chauhan! You look so small, yet you already know all this," Abhimaan Singh Rathore, Abhiraj's father, exclaims. He sweeps Rishi into his arms, lifting him high into the air.

Rishi giggles, delighted. "You all are my family, and you are older than me. So it is good manners to take blessings."

His simple reply softens every heart in the hall.

"What an intelligent boy. I would have fixed Palak's marriage with this little prince," Pallavi, Abhiraj's aunt, blurts out in excitement. The words slip before she can stop them. The air grows heavy, and silence falls.

Rishi looks around, puzzled. "Who is Palak?" he asks innocently.

The elders quickly exchange glances. Then one of them replies with a soft smile, "She is an angel now."

Before the boy can ask more, Rajshri gently distracts him. "Rishi, do you know we have many children in this house, just like you? Do you want to meet them?"

Rishi's curiosity takes over, and he nods quickly. Abhimaan sets him back on his feet, and Rishi clasps Rajshri's hand as she leads him away to the children's quarters.

Rajshri introduces him one by one. "This is my daughter, Anvita. She is three. This is my nephew, Abhimanyu, he is four. And this is Vishal, he is seven." After warning the little monkeys not to trouble Rishi, as she knows her son will not meet Rishi as he had said so she leaves the children together to form their own bonds.

The moment Anvita sees Rishi, her tiny toothy smile beams like sunlight. She claps her hands and does a little dance of joy, thrilled at having another brother. Without hesitation, she jumps onto Rishi, making him laugh in surprise at her innocence. Abhimanyu's eyes shine as well. His mother had already told him a new brother was coming, and now that promise stands in front of him.

Soon, Anvita and Abhimanyu are quarreling over who gets to play with Rishi first. Both cling to his hands and pull him in opposite directions like a tug of war. Rishi freezes, unsure what to do, not wanting either of them to feel left out. His helpless gaze meets Vishal's, but Vishal only rolls his eyes and turns away with a faint look of disdain. He has withdrawn from almost everyone except Abhimanyu and Anvita, for whom he still carries affection. He is here only because Rajshri insisted.

Hearing the commotion, someone frowns in confusion, stands up, and walks toward the noise. He stops in surprise when he sees a boy of his own age caught in the middle of Anvita and Abhimanyu, both pulling him from either side as if he were a prize to be won.

"Anvi, Manyu, leave him within three seconds." The voice is stern, carrying the authority of an elder brother. The boy is none other than nine-year-old Abhiraj. The moment his words reach their ears, Anvita and Abhimanyu freeze. They release Rishi just enough to start counting slowly on their fingers, whispering numbers with the seriousness of soldiers following orders.

Rishi looks at them in astonishment. His eyes dart from Abhiraj's commanding presence to the two little monkeys who, just moments ago, were fighting over him but are now obediently counting.

"What are you two doing?" he asks, curiosity sparkling in his voice.

Abhimanyu looks up and replies with all innocence, "Bhai told us to leave you in three seconds, so we are counting three."

The logic is so pure that Rishi cannot help but chuckle. Exactly at the third second, the two hands that were clinging tightly to his slip away, leaving him free at last.

"Bhai... he is our Ri!" Anvita runs to Abhiraj with excitement and proudly introduces Rishi. Abhiraj lifts his little sister into his arms, his sternness melting into gentle affection. "Is he? Then why were you pulling him so hard? What if he got hurt?" he asks softly.

At once, both Anvita and Abhimanyu turn guilty eyes toward Rishi. "Sowwy, Ri. We did mistake," they say, their voices trembling with remorse.

Rishi's heart melts at their innocence. "No, no, I am not hurt," he quickly assures them, his little hands reaching up to wipe Abhimanyu's tears. Seeing this, Anvita immediately begins to sniffle louder, determined not to be left behind. She makes her sobs dramatic, her cheeks wet but her eyes sly.

Rishi, caught between laughter and tenderness, gathers her from Abhiraj's arms into his own. "Shh, I am fine, princess," he whispers, patting her back. Anvita rests her small head on his shoulder but secretly peeks over him, sticking her tongue out at Abhimanyu with mischievous triumph.

"Bhai, see! She is showing her tongue. She was acting just to get Ri's attention," Abhimanyu runs to complain, pointing a finger at his sister's little trick.

Abhiraj shakes his head, hiding a smile. "Is she really teasing our Rajkumar?" he asks softly.

Abhimanyu nods quickly, lips pushed into a pout. Abhiraj bends down and kisses his forehead, then looks at Anvita, still clinging to Rishi. "Princess, it is not good to tease your brother."

"Me no tease," Anvita protests with a stubborn pout. "Pal unko bolo mele saath khele. Ache bhayu ke talah."
( But tell him to play with me like a good brother)

Abhiraj raises a questioning eyebrow at Abhimanyu, who sighs in defeat. "Okay, but do not pull my hair or put clips in it," he warns.

Anvita's pout vanishes into an excited nod. She wriggles in Rishi's arms, eager to run. Rishi gently sets her down, and before anyone can blink, she grabs Abhimanyu's hand and dashes toward the playroom with the speed of lightning.

Abhiraj watches them disappear down the corridor, a smile lingering on his face. Yet behind the smile lies a quiet ache, a longing that never leaves him, a longing for the sister he will never see again.

"Hii... I am Rishi." The words slip out softly, Rishi's voice carrying both nervousness and hope. He looks at the boy standing before him, waiting for some kind of response.

Abhiraj turns his head and glances at him. His face remains still, his expression unreadable. "I am Abhiraj," he replies, simply. No smile follows. No warmth hides in his tone. Just a plain introduction.

Rishi frowns. His heart sinks a little. He wonders if Abhiraj is like Vishal, who didn't warm up to him, who looks at him with that distaste as if he is a stranger invading his space. But then Rishi notices something different. There is no such look in Abhiraj's eyes. No hint of irritation. He is quiet, yes, but not dismissive. That small difference is enough to give Rishi courage. He takes a breath and tries again.

"You know... I never had any friends."

The confession comes out shy, fragile, but honest.

Abhiraj's head snaps toward him, his dark eyes locking onto Rishi's face. For a second, his gaze is sharp, but then something shifts. The coldness softens, like a crack forming in a wall of ice.

"Because I am...." Rishi begins to explain, but Abhiraj interrupts before he can finish.

"You were," he says firmly. "Don't say that again. It will not only hurt your parents, but it will hurt my family too."

The words are spoken in a flat tone, almost blunt, but Rishi does not pay attention to how they are said. He only hears my family too, and it makes his chest tighten. He blinks up at Abhiraj in confusion.

"Why will your family get hurt?" he asks softly, almost like a child tugging at a thread, trying to understand.

Abhiraj lowers his gaze to the floor, silent for a moment, as if debating whether he should share what is in his heart. Finally, he speaks, his voice quieter than before, carrying the weight of something real.

"Because yesterday... after almost three years... I saw everyone happy." His lips curve slightly, though not into a smile, more into something like wonder. "And they were not pretending. They were genuinely happy. Do you know whose name they said? Again and again? Rishi. Your name. Their voices, their laughter, their excitement, it all began with you."

Rishi's mouth parts in surprise, his small body standing still as a statue. He listens, his mind racing to catch every word.

Abhiraj's tone softens even more as he adds, "Even today, the lunch was special. They made so many dishes. Not because it was a festival. Not because of some occasion. But because of you. Because no one knows what you like yet, so they decided to make everything. Every variety possible. Just so that you would have choices."

The words strike Rishi like a gentle wave, washing over him, making him blink rapidly as if trying to absorb something too big, too new. He had never expected this. Never imagined that people who are not his parents could do so much for him, think of him with such care.

Suddenly, his father's voice echoes in his memory, words spoken casually but with conviction: The Rathores are our family too. At that time, Rishi had nodded politely, unsure of what it truly meant. But now, hearing Abhiraj's explanation, he finally feels it in his bones. The Rathores are not just another family....they are his family.

And strangely, it is Abhiraj, with his cold tone and guarded heart, who has made him believe it.

Rishi swallows, his eyes lifting to the boy in front of him. His thoughts twist into another question, one that lingers at the tip of his tongue. If everyone in the house was happy, then what about Abhiraj? Was he happy too? Or was he different?

"Really?" he whispers first, as if seeking confirmation, and Abhiraj responds with a single stoic nod.

But that is not enough for Rishi. His curiosity burns, his heart aches for the answer. He hesitates, then asks, "Were you also excited?"

The question hangs in the silence like a fragile glass, waiting to shatter.

Abhiraj stands frozen. He does not look at Rishi immediately. His eyes drop to the ground, and his lips press together. For a long moment, he seems lost somewhere else, somewhere far away from this room, as if the words have pulled him into a place he rarely visits.

Finally, he mutters quietly, "No."

Rishi blinks. His heart tugs at the honesty. "Why?" he asks, the word spilling out in pure innocence.

Abhiraj's voice remains flat, but there is a heaviness behind it. "Because you are a stranger to me. And I don't get excited for strangers."

He says it as if it is the simplest truth in the world, but inside, his mind is a storm. He remembers a time when he and his Bua Maa trusted a stranger who slowly became family, only to destroy them in the end. He remembers how his world changed, how his laughter died. From that day onward, he decided he would not show happiness, sadness, or pain in front of anyone. He would keep every emotion locked away. He would never let his heart be fooled again.

Only with Abhimanyu and Anvita does he allow the walls to soften. Only for them does he smile, because he loves them fiercely and has vowed never to fail them the way he failed his Gudiya. With the rest of the world, he has punished himself with distance. Even with the family that adores him, he holds himself back, because he believes he does not deserve their love.

But he does not realize that even in his coldness, his words today are giving something precious to Rishi. His flat tone carries a hidden assurance, and Rishi, innocent but perceptive, feels it. For the first time, he thinks maybe he is not alone. Maybe he can have a friend.

"But I want you as my friend. No... not friend... I want you as my best friend," Rishi says, his small face glowing with pure happiness. His voice is steady, yet his eyes shine with a kind of determination that seems too big for his little frame.

Suhasini's words ring in his ears. She had told him stories about Abhiraj, the cold prince of Rathore Haveli, the boy who kept his distance, who had built walls even his own family struggled to cross. Rishi had believed her, had thought that maybe he would never meet the cold prince, that he would be just another face in the Haveli for him. But now, after just a few moments of speaking, his heart tells him otherwise. Before an hour, he does not want to meet Abhiraj, but now he wants Abhiraj. He wants him as his friend. More than that, he wants him as his best friend. And never in his little life has he felt this sure about something.

Abhiraj's reply is flat, his voice calm and distant. "You cannot get everything you want."

Rishi tilts his head, his big eyes refusing to lose their light. "But I do not want everything. God has already given me good parents and a good family without even asking. But now I want someone. And that someone is you. I want you as my best friend."

Abhiraj tries to keep his face unreadable, tries to hold the walls of coldness that he is used to carrying. But the innocence in Rishi's words touches something deep inside him, something he thought he had locked away forever. His lips twitch, ever so slightly, into a faint smile. It is not intentional, but it escapes before he can stop it.

"You have to win me as your best friend. I am not going to be your best friend just like this," Abhiraj says, his voice carrying a faint challenge. He slips his hands into his pockets, turns on his heels, and starts walking away toward his room.

He thinks that is the end of it. But then he hears it.

"Wait!"

The voice behind him is not loud, but it is strong. Abhiraj pauses. Rishi is standing there, his small fists clenched nervously, his breath uneven, his heart pounding. His cheeks are flushed, but his eyes are shining with something steady, something unshakable.

"If I have to earn your friendship," he says, his voice trembling yet firm, "then let me start with something that shows I mean it. From today, I do not want to be only Rishi. I want to be Rishiraj."

The air stills.

To anyone else, it might sound like a childish idea, just a little boy wanting to change his name to feel bigger. But for Abhiraj, it is not small at all. He knows the story behind that name. He knows how carefully Rishi's parents had chosen it, how it had been waiting for him for years before his birth. To hear this boy say that he wants to add Raj to his name just because Abhiraj has Raj in his name, it stirs something Abhiraj does not have words for.

He blinks, his chest tightening. "Why?"

Rishi smiles, not in playfulness but with soft honesty. "Because I want a part of your name with mine. Not because I am copying you, but because I want to remember that I met someone I want to be like. Someone strong. Someone I want by my side. Someone I want to earn. And also because I want to remember the person who gave me a reason to believe I can belong."

Silence falls. A silence so deep it feels like even the Haveli holds its breath.

Abhiraj stares at him, really stares, as if for the first time he is seeing not just a boy in front of him, but a soul reaching out. His usual guardedness falters. The mask he wears so tightly begins to slip. For a moment, he looks like a child who has forgotten how to respond when someone offers affection without conditions, without expectations.

"Your parents gave you your name with love, Rishi," he says at last, his voice quiet, almost cautious. "You should not discard it as if it means nothing."

Rishi lowers his eyes for a moment. Then, slowly, he lifts them again, braver than before. His voice is soft, but every word carries weight.

"I am not discarding it. I will always be Rishi, the son my parents named. But I will also be Rishiraj, because for the first time in my life, I want someone to look at me and say, 'He is not alone.' And I want that someone to be you."

The room seems to shrink around them. The silence is heavy but not empty, it is filled with the beating of two young hearts, one guarded and one wide open.

Abhiraj feels something he has not felt in the past three years. The weight of pain he has kept buried presses against his chest, begging to be acknowledged. And for once, he does not push it down. He lets it sit there. He lets it be seen in his eyes.

And then... something remarkable happens.

Abhiraj smiles.

It is not the polite smile he gives when elders request him to smile a bit for them. It is not the forced smile he has learned to wear so that people stop asking questions. It is small, almost hesitant, but it is real. Honest. Alive.

"Is that so?" he says softly. "Then come to my room, Rishiraj."

The name tastes different when he speaks it. It feels natural, as if it always belonged.

Rishi's eyes widened in shock. He had heard his mother say many times that Abhiraj never lets anyone inside his room. Not even his own family. That place is his fortress, the one corner of the world that is his alone.

And now, Abhiraj is inviting him in.

His little heart bursts with happiness, so full it feels like it might spill out of his chest. He steps forward quickly, his small hand reaching for Abhiraj's without thinking, as if the gesture is the most natural thing in the world.

"My room is this way, Rishiraj," Abhiraj says. His tone is steady, but there is a softness that was not there before.

Rishi's hand tightens around his, his heart brimming with joy. In this moment, he knows he is not only Rishi anymore.

He is Rishiraj.

Rishiraj for his Abhiraj.

A boy with a name stitched not just from his parents' love, but now from new beginnings. A name tied with threads of trust, belonging, and hope.

Without even realizing it, he has just stepped into the one place where no one else has ever been allowed into, in these three years.

Not just Abhiraj's room, but Abhiraj's heart.

And though both are too young to understand the full meaning, something unspoken is born between them that day. A friendship that does not need promises to exist. A bond that begins with a simple name and grows into something strong enough to change them both.

FLASHBACK ENDS

Rishiraj chuckles softly under his breath as the memory washes over him. He remembers that little boy who had once stood in front of the cold prince, so determined to claim him as his best friend. At the time, it had felt like a battle he had to win, a challenge he had set for himself. Now, looking back, he is glad that he was stubborn, glad that he had refused to give up. Because if there is one person who has made him feel that he truly belongs in this world, it is Abhiraj.

Of course, his parents have always loved him. His Rathore family has always showered him with affection, making sure he never felt left out. Their love has been steady, unquestionable. But Abhiraj was the one who made him believe it, who turned love into words, into moments, into truths Rishi could carry in his heart. With Abhiraj, he never has to wonder if he is enough. He simply knows.

Only the two of them understand how deeply they need each other. No matter how large or warm a family may be, there are certain things one cannot always share. Sometimes, a person needs someone who will hold their secrets without judgment, someone to whom they can whisper their fears and shout their joys without hesitation.

That is what Abhiraj is for Rishiraj.

And that is what Rishiraj is for Abhiraj.

They are each other's safe place, each other's mirror, each other's keeper.

It is this bond that pulls Rishi now toward Abhiraj's penthouse. His steps are steady, his mind clear. He does not know what has brought Abhiraj there tonight, but he knows his friend well enough to sense that it must be something important. And more than that, he knows one truth with certainty that tonight, Abhiraj needs him.

And tonight, he needs Abhiraj too.

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