So the story will continue from the Author's POV , the characters POV will come later in the story.
December 2022
The fog was thick, swallowing the streetlights and making everything feel blurry.
It was seven in the evening, and the darkness had already settled in.
The sidewalk was pure chaos, filled with the sound of heavy footsteps and chatter as everyone rushed home after work.
Cutting through the crowd, Anushka was running.
She didn't care if she bumped into anyone; she just kept moving.
She was huffing, her breath coming out in white puffs of steam, mumbling three words over and over: "Where are you?"
At that moment, they were the only words her brain could process.
Finally, her feet skidded to a halt.
Her cheeks and nose were a bright tomato-red-partly from the biting winter wind and partly from the sheer exhaustion of running.
She stood there for a second, her chest heaving, as the world seemed to go quiet around her.
Her eyes locked onto a specific wooden bench in the park.
It looked ordinary to anyone else, but to her, it was everything.
It was the same spot where she and Prateek used to sit for hours.
It was the place where they had first met, but she had no idea it was also going to be the place where they met for the very last time.
Few Months Ago
June 2022
"Bombay-the City of Dreams, they call it.
Well, people say a lot of things. I just wonder if my own dreams will ever see the light of day."
Anushka took a deep breath of the damp, salty morning air.
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, casting a soft, golden glow over the quiet streets.
High above, a massive billboard loomed through the morning mist.
The actress on the poster looked down with a polished, perfect smile.
Anushka's own eyes sparked with the same fire.
She didn't just want a career; she wanted to be a global star, the kind of name that echoed in every corner of the world.
"The day isn't far off when my picture will be on every billboard in the world," she whispered, her heart swelling with a mix of hope and nerves.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn't even realize she had drifted off the safety of the footpath and straight into the middle of the road.
"Oh, didi, side hato!"
The sharp shout shattered her daydream like glass.
An akhbaar wala whizzed past, a stack of newspapers balanced precariously on the back of his bicycle.
He swerved around her, barely missing her arm.
Heart racing, Anushka realized she was standing right in the path of morning traffic.
Blushing, she adjusted her grip on her water bottle and picked up her pace, heading toward the nearby park to finish her morning jog.
She knew her first day in Bombay would be a big deal, but she hadn't expected it to start with a bang-literally.
The moment she stepped onto the grass, a "grand welcome" came screaming through the air.
A stray cricket ball, hit with way too much power, caught her right in the shoulder.
The impact sent her tumbling ungracefully to the ground.
"Ouch!" she gasped, clutching the stinging bruise.
Adding insult to injury, her water bottle slipped from her hand and rolled away across the grass.
"Hey! Are you okay? Did you get hurt badly?"
The voice was deep and warm, like a calm note in the middle of the city's noise.
Anushka looked up, ready to snap at whoever had hit the ball, but the words caught in her throat.
Standing over her was a man with a picturesque face-the kind of face that belonged on the very billboards she'd been admiring.
She also had no idea that this was also the man she was eventually going to fall for.
To be continued..
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