Riya. Mere yaar ki shaadi hai. My friend’s wedding.

Aarav stared at the command line, his reflection a ghost in the monitor. Outside his rented studio apartment in Gurgaon, the city honked and wheezed. Inside, the only sound was the hum of an overheating laptop and the frantic thumping of his own heart.

The video was shaky, taken on a phone. Riya stood in a boutique, turning slowly. She wasn't looking at the camera; she was looking at herself in a mirror. And the look on her face wasn't just happiness. It was a quiet, profound rightness. She wasn't a bride. She was herself , finally stepping into a day she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl. The dress was beautiful. But the woman wearing it was incandescent.

Aarav’s throat tightened. He closed the video.

The screen didn't just flicker. It bloomed.