Victor’s POV

The morning after the rain felt different.

Quieter. Sharper.

The sun hadn’t even risen when I woke, though I wasn’t sure I’d slept at all. The house was too silent. The kind that makes every creak in the walls sound like a whisper of regret.

Kumar’s room door was open. His bed, untouched. He’d been gone long before the light came.

I stood there for a long time, staring at the empty space, the faint scent of rain and something else, something human, lingering in the air.

Last night replayed in my mind like a broken film reel. The way he’d looked at me on the balcony. The...