The hospital room, just hours after Aryan's miraculous awakening, was filled with a gentle, joyful buzz. The crisis was over, replaced by the comfortable presence of family and friends watching Aryan and Ayra interact.
Aryan's mother, still reeling from the emotional rollercoaster but immensely happy, looked at Ayra with a smile. "Ayra," she asked gently, "how did you manage to hide all this love from him, and from us, for so long?"
Ayra squeezed Aryan's hand, her gaze playful. "Oh, he knew I loved him," she stated simply, stunning the listeners.
A friend, baffled, immediately jumped in. "Wait, what? Hey, Aryan! If she knew, then why did you beg her relentlessly for years, pleading for love? You made it sound like a decade-long crusade!"
Aryan opened his mouth to explain, but Ayra beat him to it, a mischievous glint in her eye. "Because," she said sweetly, "I liked the way he begged. It was incredibly flattering."
Everyone in the room laughed at Aryan's expense, and he merely shook his head, a genuine smile replacing the exhaustion on his face.
Aryan's mother then turned back to Ayra, leaning in conspiratorially. "My son told me the history of his love—his big plan for success, all of it. But he never told me when or how your side of the story began. Will you finally tell us, or are you going to keep following the same strict secrecy?"
With a sweet, captivating smile, Ayra finally relented. "It started with him," she confessed. "He sent me a message saying he'd loved me since childhood, then later proposed. But I was cautious, you see. I only fully accepted him a very few years ago."
Aryan's friend, intrigued by the timeline, pressed Ayra further. "And what about you? Did you ever formally propose to him?"
Before Ayra could answer, Aryan interrupted, a broad grin on his face. "Nowhere in this world," he declared, "would anyone call that event a 'love proposal!'"
They all burst into laughter again. Ayra, feigning annoyance, pinched Aryan's arm. "Oh, really? If it wasn't a proposal, then why did you hug me so tightly right after I told you?"
Aryan's laughter was loud and full of life—a sound everyone present cherished after months of silence. He pulled Ayra closer, gently kissing her forehead. "Because, my love," he replied, his voice soft with genuine affection, "I loved you so much, I understood you perfectly, even when you were trying to pretend you didn't love me back."
The admission settled the last lingering questions in the room. There was no more mystery, only the beautiful, messy truth of two people who had played a long, high-stakes game of hidden affection until destiny—in the form of an accident—forced their hands. Their love was finally, gloriously, out in the open.