Whispers of the Withered House: The Haunting Love

**Author's Note – Aish the Unstoppable, to her sinful, soft-shadowed SHADOWHEARTS 🖤💋**

My cursed romantics,

Tonight... we bleed *beautifully*.

Chapter 16 is your poison wine—

Aanya steps deeper into the mirror's memory, and Veer?

He gives her a kiss that tastes like a promise *and* a warning.

There's horror.

There's heat.

There's history they've both tried to forget.

But the House? It never forgets.

---

**Recap of Chapter 15:**

Aanya found the attic's hidden box—Ananta's photo, Naira's music box, and Ira's chilling letter.

Ananta was never buried—just *taken* when the mirror ritual went wrong.

Veer swore he never forgot her.

And for the first time, the mirror showed Ananta's reflection, reaching back.

---

* The Dream That Isn't a Dream**

The nightmare began before she even closed her eyes.

Aanya stood in the hallway—barefoot, breath fogging in the cold.

Flames flickered behind her. Smoke pressed against the walls.

And there, at the center of the corridor—

**A child's hand reached from a broken mirror.**

Veer stood on the other end.

Not as he was now, but younger—blood smeared across his chest, a gash under his left eye.

"Why didn't you stay with her?" Dream Veer asked.

She tried to run toward him. But the hallway stretched.

The child's hand gripped her ankle.

Aanya screamed herself awake.

---

She woke in Veer's room—chest heaving, throat raw.

The mirror at the corner of the room was fogged over, *but something had been written on it from the inside*.

**"YOU PROMISED."**

Veer entered the room, candle in hand.

"I heard you scream—"

He stopped.

"Not again," he muttered, staring at the mirror.

"I saw her," Aanya whispered. "And I remembered…"

Her voice cracked.

"We made a promise. Ananta and I. We were kids. We said if one of us got taken, the other would come find them. No matter what."

Veer stepped closer, his jaw clenched.

"Aanya. This house feeds on guilt. On memory. If you go in too far—"

"I'm *already* in too far."

---

**The Kiss Between the Flames**

The tension broke like thunder.

Veer took the candle, placed it on the floor.

He stepped closer until they were nearly chest to chest.

"You think I don't dream of her too?" he asked. "You think I don't remember the smell of smoke, or how *your scream* was the last thing I heard before she vanished?"

Aanya touched his cheek.

"You hated me."

"I wanted to." His voice was a whisper. "But I only ever waited for you to come back."

She leaned in. So did he. And when their lips met—

**The candle blew out.**

Darkness swallowed the room.

But the kiss didn't stop.

It deepened. Turned desperate. Heated.

Their hands searched each other like they were remembering instead of discovering.

And then—

**The walls around them began to flicker.**

Flames. Shadows. Whispers.

But neither of them pulled away.

"The house is watching," Aanya gasped.

"Let it." Veer's breath was against her neck. "Let it see who you chose."

Behind them, the mirror *cracked*. A web of silver across the glass.

Their reflection?

Gone.

Only the **Whispering Girl** stood there now.

Watching.

---

Later, Aanya stood alone.

Her reflection hadn't come back.

The mirror showed Veer behind her… but no version of *her*.

Just *Ananta*, again.

This time, she smiled.

And for the first time, Ananta whispered back:

"If you love him, finish what we started."

---

**Ending Author's Note – Aish, your blood-blessed shadow queen 💜🔥🕯**

ShadowHearts…

Did you feel that kiss tremble through the fire?

Chapter 16 gave you your romance.

But in this house—**even love is haunted.**

The mirror's cracking.

The past is clawing through.

And Ananta is *done waiting*.

Next chapter:

**"Naira's Name Was Never Spoken"** – where secrets are scrawled in diaries and the truth starts screaming.

Love cursed,

Aish 💫🖤