AYESHA POV

I stood in front of the mirror for a solid thirty seconds, staring at my reflection like she personally owed me an explanation.

The reflection stared back.

Neither of us looked happy.

The fan above my head was rotating at full speed, yet the room felt like someone had opened the gates of hell and redirected all the heat into my bedroom.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and groaned.

"Why?"

Why was I getting ready?

Why was I willingly leaving my house?

Why was I going to coaching?

More importantly-

Why had I chosen Science?

Physics hated me.

Chemistry hated me.

And honestly, the feeling was mutual.

I picked up my hairbrush and started untangling my hair.

"People say Class 11 changes your life."

I looked at myself in the mirror.

"So far, all it has changed is my sleep schedule."

A week ago, I was enjoying my holidays.

Waking up whenever I wanted.

Watching reels.

Annoying my brother.

Living peacefully.

Now?

Now my entire personality was attendance, homework, and suffering.

I opened my wardrobe and immediately felt another headache coming.

Girls on Instagram somehow managed to look like movie stars while going to coaching.

Meanwhile, I was standing here trying to decide whether a black T-shirt looked less tired than a white T-shirt.

"How do people get ready for two hours?" I muttered while pulling out random clothes.

Seriously.

I wasn't judging.

I genuinely wanted to know.

Because for me, the process was simple.

Take a T-shirt.

Take jeans.

Tie a ponytail.

Pray for the best.

Done.

If I looked alive, the mission was successful.

I changed clothes and looked at myself again.

Not bad.

Not great either.

Just... present.

Which was enough.

Then my eyes landed on the clock.

My smile disappeared instantly.

The journey.

The horrible, horrible journey.

First, I had to walk to the chauraha in this heat.

Then wait for an auto.

Then wait for the auto driver to find enough passengers.

Because apparently auto drivers had a personal rule-

The vehicle would only move after every seat, every corner, and every molecule of empty space had been occupied.

I threw myself dramatically onto my bed.

"No."

I stared at the ceiling.

"I don't want to go."

The ceiling showed no sympathy.

Typical.

An idea suddenly appeared in my head.

A beautiful idea.

A dangerous idea.

A genius idea.

"What if..."

I slowly sat up.

"What if I bunk?"

The more I thought about it, the better it sounded.

No Physics.

No Chemistry.

No homework.

No coaching.

No Doraemon.

Just me.

My bed.

And happiness.

I nodded to myself.

"Excellent plan, Ayesha."

Then reality entered the room.

"What will you tell Mummy?"

I froze.

Right.

Mummy.

The woman who could detect lies before I even finished speaking.

I immediately cancelled the plan.

Then another terrifying thought hit me.

Doraemon.

I sat up straight.

"Oh God."

Imagine joining coaching for only five days and already disappearing.

That man remembered attendance better than students remembered formulas.

The next day he would probably look at me over his glasses and ask why I was absent.

And somehow I'd end up receiving a motivational speech, a Chemistry lecture, and emotional damage-all in the same class.

"No."

I grabbed my bag.

"Not worth the risk."

With the energy of a prisoner walking towards their execution, I stood up from the bed.

"Let's go."

Because unfortunately...

Education wasn't asking for my opinion.

The moment I stepped outside my house, the heat slapped me across the face.

I stopped walking.

The heat stopped walking.

For a few seconds, we simply stared at each other.

Then I sighed dramatically.
"This relationship is getting toxic."

The sun, unfortunately, did not care.

I adjusted my bag and started walking towards the chowk.

Seriously.

Who decided coaching classes should exist during summer?

Who woke up one morning and thought,

"You know what students need? More suffering."

I wanted to meet that person.

Not to talk.

Just to ask questions.

Very aggressively.

As I continued walking, sweat was already forming on my forehead.

I wiped it away and groaned.

"I don't even like Science."

The complaint escaped my mouth automatically.

Physics confused me.

Chemistry bullied me.

Biology was the only subject that occasionally acted like a decent human being.

Yet here I was.

Walking towards coaching.

Like a responsible citizen.

Or more accurately-

Like a victim of poor life choices.

"Peer pressure."

I counted on one finger.

"Parent pressure."

A second finger.

"Society pressure."

A third finger.

"Fear of becoming unemployed."

A fourth finger.

I nodded to myself.

"Excellent reasons."

No wonder half the country ended up taking Science.

I finally reached the main road.

And immediately froze.

The road.

My biggest enemy.

People feared snakes.

People feared heights.

I feared crossing roads.

Cars were coming from one side.

Bikes were coming from another.

A random uncle on a scooter appeared to have no concern for traffic rules whatsoever.

I stood there staring at everything.

Waiting.

Calculating.

Praying.

"Okay."

I took one step.

A bike zoomed past.

I immediately stepped back.

"No."

Another step.

A car honked.

I stepped back again.

"Absolutely not."

Three school kids crossed the road effortlessly.

One elderly woman crossed faster than me.

Even a stray dog crossed successfully.

Meanwhile, I was still standing there like I was preparing for a board exam.

After almost two minutes of mental preparation, I finally ran across.

The moment I reached the other side, I placed a hand on my chest dramatically.

"Survived."

Nobody applauded.

Rude.

A few minutes later, I squeezed myself into an auto.

The driver still refused to move.

Of course.

Because apparently one empty seat meant financial destruction.

So we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

By the time the auto finally started moving, I felt like I had aged emotionally.

Five minutes later, I got down outside the colony where our coaching centre was located.

The coaching itself was inside the colony, but everybody usually met near the entrance.

So I stood there.

Waiting.

And suffering.

Mostly suffering.

A few minutes later, I spotted Aashi and Kiara walking towards me.

Immediately, my mood improved.

Not because coaching had disappeared.

But because now I had people to complain with.

"Bhai," I said the moment they came close enough to hear me. "Why are we even going?"

"Going where?" Kiara asked.

I stared at her.
"Tuition."

"Oh."

I threw my hands into the air.

"Let's bunk."

Aashi's eyes immediately lit up.

For one glorious second, I felt understood.

"Honestly?" she admitted. "I agree."

I pointed at her dramatically.
"See! That's why you're my best friend."

Kiara looked disappointed in both of us.
"Neither of you are serious."

"I am very serious," I argued.

Then I pointed towards the nearby park.

"Let's go there."

Kiara looked towards the park.

Then she looked back at me.

"No."

"Why?"

"Because it isn't safe."

That shut me up.

Unfortunately, she was right.

The park wasn't exactly the ideal place for three girls to spend hours alone.

Especially during that time of day.

I sighed.

"There goes my happiness."

Aashi patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"We tried."

"No," I corrected. "We dreamed."

A moment of silence passed.

Then reality returned.

Again.

Like it always did.

"We should go," Kiara said. "It's only our fifth day."

I groaned.

"Exactly."

"Bunking already isn't a good idea."

I looked at the sky.

The sky offered no support.

"Typical."

As we started walking towards the coaching centre, Kiara suddenly asked a question.

A dangerous question.

"Did you do the NCERT exercises?"

I slowly turned towards her.

"What?"

"The exercises."

I stared at her.

Then laughed.

Then laughed harder.

Then stopped laughing.

Because she was serious.

"You actually opened the book?"

Kiara blinked.

"Obviously."

I looked at Aashi.

Aashi looked at me.

Both of us looked back at Kiara.

Like she had just admitted to enjoying homework.

"I didn't even touch the book," I confessed shamelessly.

Kiara closed her eyes.

Disappointed.

Very disappointed.

"Bhai," I continued. "I reach home at two."

I counted on my fingers.

"Then lunch."

"Then rest."

"Then coaching again."

"When exactly am I supposed to become a hardworking student?"

Kiara crossed her arms.

"And then you'll complain when teachers target you."

"Obviously they'll target me," I argued immediately. "Teachers and I have a special connection."

"A bad connection."

"A connection is a connection."

Aashi burst out laughing.

Meanwhile, Kiara looked ready to throw a textbook at my head.

"Ayesha, do you ever take anything seriously?"

Before I could answer, Aashi immediately jumped into the conversation.

"Leave her alone."

I looked at her emotionally.

My lawyer had arrived.

"Thank you," I said.

"She's trying her best."

"Exactly!"

Aashi nodded.

"Plus, it's only been five days."

I pointed at her again.

"See? See? This is friendship."

Kiara rolled her eyes.

"This is enabling bad behaviour."

"This," I t proudly, wrapping an arm around Aashi's shoulder, "is unconditional support."

And with that, the three of us continued walking towards coaching.

One responsible student.

One supportive best friend.

And one girl who still hadn't opened her NCERT book.

The three of us were still walking towards the coaching building when I noticed something strange.

Aashi was smiling.

That smile was suspicious.

Very suspicious.

For the last five days, all of us had been suffering equally because of school, coaching, homework and the heat. Nobody had any reason to smile.

Yet here she was.

Smiling.

"Aashi," I called, bumping my shoulder against hers. "What's going on in that brain of yours?"

"Nothing," she replied a little too quickly.

I stared at her.

She looked away.

Oh.

Something was definitely wrong.

Before I could interrogate her further, she sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"There is something I've been thinking about for the last few days," she admitted quietly.

Both Kiara and I looked at her.

Now she had our full attention.

"What happened?" Kiara asked, sounding calmer than me as usual.

I was already preparing myself for drama.

Aashi looked hesitant for a moment before speaking.

"In Physics coaching..." she started slowly. "There's a guy."

For a second, I genuinely thought I had heard her wrong.

A guy?

In coaching?

And I didn't know?

The betrayal.

"A guy?" I repeated immediately, looking at her. "Since when was there a guy?"

Aashi rolled her eyes at my reaction, but I noticed her smile returning.

The same smile.

"The first two days we sat in the front row, right?" she said.

I nodded.

"So did he."

"Okay."

"Then on the third day when we shifted to the middle seats..." she continued, "he also shifted."

I frowned slightly.

Coincidence.

Maybe.

"And then yesterday we sat near the back."

Now she looked away again.

"And he was there too."

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Then I slowly turned towards Kiara.

Kiara was already looking at Aashi with a knowing expression.

The traitor knew something.

"You knew?" I accused immediately.

Kiara laughed.
"I wasn't sure at first."

I pointed at her dramatically.

"You noticed and didn't tell me?"

"You don't notice anything," Kiara replied calmly.

That was offensive.

Mostly because it was true.

"I've seen him too," she admitted. "The cap guy."

Aashi's eyes widened slightly.

"See!" Kiara pointed. "That's exactly the reaction. It is the cap guy."

I looked between the two of them in complete confusion.

How was everybody observing people in coaching while I was busy trying not to fail Physics?

"The cap guy?" I repeated.

"Yes," Kiara nodded. "He looks at her."

Aashi immediately looked down.

And that was enough for me.

If Aashi was looking down, something was there.

Because my best friend wasn't the type to blush over nothing.

"Wait," I said, trying to process everything. "You're telling me there is an actual guy in coaching who might like you?"

"I didn't say that," Aashi replied quickly.

"But you're thinking it."

Aashi groaned.

Kiara laughed.

And I finally understood what was happening.

Oh.

OH.

This was a story.

A real story.

Not my story.

Aashi's story.

Suddenly my coaching day became ten times more interesting.

"What's his name?" I asked immediately.

Aashi thought for a second.
"I think Arun Sir called him Ankit."

I froze.

Then I grabbed her arm.

"His name is Ankit and you forgot to tell us for five whole days?"

"I wasn't sure!"

"Five days, Aashi."

"It wasn't important."

"It is literally the most important information you've given me this week."

Kiara was already taking out her phone.

Of course she was.

The detective had entered the investigation.

"What are you doing?" Aashi asked.

"Finding him."

"You can't find him."

"I can."

"You don't even know his surname."

Kiara simply ignored her.

A few moments later, a small victorious smile appeared on her face.

"Found him."

Both Aashi and I stopped walking.

"You found him?" Aashi asked.

Kiara turned the phone towards us.

I immediately grabbed it.

Aashi looked ready to snatch it back.

Meanwhile, I was studying the profile like it was an important research project.

Then, without thinking much, I pressed follow.

"Ayesha!" Aashi almost shouted.

I looked at her innocently.
"What?"

"Why did you follow him?"

"Because I have a plan."

That sentence alone was enough to make both girls nervous.

Which was understandable.

My plans usually created problems.

"Listen," I said confidently. "Today we'll post pictures on my insta account."

"No."

"We'll tag you."

"Ayesha, no."

"And if this Ankit guy is genuinely interested in you, he'll notice."

Kiara immediately understood what I meant.

Aashi looked horrified.

I looked proud.

"Then we'll know whether it's coincidence or not."

"And if it isn't?" Aashi asked.

I grinned.

"If it isn't..." I paused dramatically before handing her phone back.

"Then congratulations."

"For what?"

I slung an arm around her shoulders.

"For introducing me to my future jiju."

I ignored Aashi's protests and slipped my phone back into my pocket with a satisfied smile.

"Trust me," I told her confidently as we finally reached the colony gate. "This is called strategy."

"This is called interfering in other people's lives," Aashi shot back, adjusting her bag on her shoulder.

"Same thing."

"They are absolutely not the same thing."

I grinned.

Kiara sighed.
"Sometimes I wonder how your brain works."

"It doesn't," Aashi replied immediately.

"Exactly," Kiara agreed.

The betrayal.

I placed a hand over my heart dramatically.

"One day I'll stop helping both of you."

Neither of them looked concerned.

Which was honestly offensive.

The three of us finally turned towards the narrow lane leading inside Kanak Palace. The coaching building was already visible from there, and unfortunately so were the students.

Too many students.

For a place that was supposed to improve our future, it was surprisingly good at ruining my mood.

"Look," I muttered. "So many people have come voluntarily to study."

Kiara rolled her eyes.
"They're not prisoners, Ayesha."

"They should be."

Aashi laughed.

I was still mentally planning Aashi's future love story when my phone vibrated in my hand.

Immediately, my eyes widened.

"Wait."

Both girls looked at me.

"What happened?" Aashi asked.

I quickly unlocked my phone.

Then a slow smile spread across my face.

"Oh."

The smile got bigger.

"Ayesha..." Kiara said suspiciously.

I turned my phone around dramatically.

"Guess who just followed me back."

Aashi's eyes widened.

Kiara immediately started laughing.

Meanwhile, I looked at Aashi with the confidence of someone who had just solved a complicated scientific theorem.

"What did I tell you?"

"Ayesha, stop it."

"No."

"It means nothing."

"Sure."

"Ayesha."

"Sure."

Aashi grabbed my arm and tried pulling me towards the coaching building before I could embarrass her further.

Unfortunately for her, I was already enjoying myself.

"Relax," I told her innocently while following them inside. "I'm not saying he's your boyfriend."

"Good."

"I'm just saying the experiment has started."

"Ayesha!"

I laughed loudly while entering the coaching building.

Somewhere behind me, Kiara was still laughing.

And somewhere beside me, Aashi was pretending not to smile.

Pretending.

Being the important word.

1 HOUR LATER!

By the time the chemistry class ended, my brain had officially stopped functioning.

I don't know what Doraemon Sir had taught in the last fifteen minutes, and honestly, I wasn't interested in finding out either.

The moment he left the classroom, I grabbed my bag and stood up.

"Come on, let's go quickly," I said, already walking towards the stairs. "We need pictures."

Aashi looked at me like I had lost whatever little sanity I had left.

"Pictures?" she repeated. "Here?"

"Yes, here."

"Ayesha, people live here."

"So?"

"So people can see us."

I stared at her for a moment before laughing.
"Aashi, I promise you nobody is standing at their window waiting to judge three girls taking pictures."

"You don't know Indian aunties."

That was a fair point.

Even Kiara nodded.

For a second, all three of us became silent.

Then I pointed at Aashi.

"Still. We are taking pictures."

Aashi sighed.

The sigh of a person who had already accepted defeat.

A few minutes later, we were sitting on one of the boundary walls outside the houses near the coaching lane.

The next Physics batch hadn't arrived yet, which meant we had a few peaceful minutes before the area became crowded again.

The weather was still annoyingly hot.

My hair was already getting ruined.

And somehow Kiara had become our photographer without volunteering for the job.

"Move a little."

We moved.

"Not that much."

We moved back.

"Why are you both sitting like you're attending a parent-teacher meeting?"

I immediately looked offended.

"Then how should we sit?"

"Like normal human beings."

"Kiara, if we knew how to look normal in pictures, we wouldn't need fifty attempts."

Aashi started laughing beside me.

Which ruined her pose.

Which made me laugh.

Which ruined mine too.

At that point, even Kiara gave up.

Half our friendship existed because nobody could stay serious for more than thirty seconds.

After almost ten minutes, we finally had a few good pictures.

Not influencer pictures.

Not aesthetic pictures.

Just pictures that looked like us.

Messy.

Random.

Happy.

The best kind.

I immediately opened Instagram.

Now came the difficult part.

The song.

And somehow choosing a song was always harder than clicking the actual pictures.

"Tere Jaisa Yaar Kahan," Kiara suggested.

I slowly turned towards her.

"Are we posting a friendship story or giving a farewell speech?"

Aashi laughed so hard she nearly dropped her phone.

Meanwhile Kiara looked personally attacked.

"It is a good song."

"It is."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It sounds like we're saying goodbye before even attending tomorrow's class."

For the next five minutes, every song got rejected.

Too sad.

Too romantic.

Too cringe.

Too dramatic.

Too popular.

Too overused.

At one point, I genuinely felt choosing a career would be easier than choosing an Instagram song.

Finally, after a ridiculous amount of discussion, I selected one.

"Done."

I pressed post.

For some reason, all three of us stared at the screen after that.

Like something important had happened.

Or maybe because we had spent fifteen minutes creating one story.

Honestly, both were possible.

Then I looked at Aashi.

Then at the tagged username.

Then back at Aashi.

A slow smile appeared on my face.

Immediately, Aashi narrowed her eyes.

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"No reason."

I looked away innocently.

The problem was that my innocent face had never convinced anyone.

Especially not my best friends.

UJJWAL POV

Five minutes.

There were still five minutes left before the Physics class started.

I was sitting on my Bullet outside the coaching building, absent-mindedly scrolling through my phone while waiting for Ankit.

The coaching had only started a few days ago, and somehow Ankit had become one of the few people here I could actually tolerate. He was annoying half the time, talked too much, and had an opinion about literally everything, but at least he made the classes less boring.

Around me, students were slowly arriving.

Some were standing in groups.
Some were busy on their phones.

Some were discussing homework like their lives depended on it.

The usual coaching crowd.

Honestly, I wasn't paying attention.

The last batch hadn't even left yet.

I leaned back slightly and glanced around before looking at my phone again.

Just another normal day.

Or at least, that's what I thought.

Then I heard a laugh.
Not a soft laugh.

Not the kind of laugh people usually force when they're trying to look cute.

A real laugh.

Loud.

Unfiltered.

The kind of laugh that made somebody turn around without meaning to.

My eyes lifted automatically.

The sound had come from somewhere near the boundary walls outside the houses beside the coaching lane.

At first, I only saw a group of three girls.

Then my eyes stopped on one of them.

A girl wearing a yellow top and blue jeans.

She was sitting on the boundary wall, holding her phone in one hand while laughing so hard that she nearly lost her balance.

For a second, I genuinely forgot what I had been doing.

She wasn't laughing like people usually laugh.

She wasn't covering her mouth.

She wasn't trying to look elegant.

She wasn't checking whether somebody was watching.

She looked completely unaware of the world around her.

As if whatever her friends had said was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

And somehow...

That made me keep looking.

A small smile appeared on my face before I even realized it.

The weird thing was that I didn't know why.

I frowned slightly and looked away.

Then looked back again.

Because apparently my brain had stopped cooperating.

The girl was still laughing.

Her friends were saying something.

One of them looked embarrassed.

The other was rolling her eyes.

Meanwhile she was laughing like she had absolutely no control over herself.

And for some reason, that was exactly what caught my attention.

Not her clothes.

Not her hairstyle.

Not even her face at first.

Just the fact that she looked real.

Comfortable.

Alive.

Like she wasn't trying to impress anyone.

Then she turned her head slightly.

And for the first time, I saw her properly.

My heartbeat stumbled.

Just a little.

Nothing dramatic.

Nothing movie-like.

Just enough for me to notice.

Her eyes were bright.

The kind that looked like they carried a hundred thoughts at the same time.

Her smile reached them completely.

And when she laughed, they narrowed slightly before lighting up again.

I found myself staring.

Again.

And this time I knew I should probably stop.

But I didn't.

Because something felt different.

Strange.

Unfamiliar.

Like my mind had suddenly decided that out of the hundreds of people standing there, she was the only person worth noticing.

Which made absolutely no sense.

I didn't know her.

Had never seen her before.

Didn't know her name.

Didn't know which school she studied in.

Didn't know anything.

Yet somehow, my eyes kept finding her.

As if they had a mind of their own.

And suddenly, the noise around me disappeared.

The students.
The coaching.
The traffic.
Everything.

For one ridiculous moment, all I could see was her.

A complete stranger.
A girl whose name I didn't know.
A girl who had absolutely no idea I existed.

Yet something strange settled inside my chest.

Not love.
Definitely not love.

I wasn't stupid.

You don't fall in love with someone in five minutes.

But attraction?
Curiosity?

That sudden feeling that makes you want to know more?

Yeah.
That was there.

And it was there so strongly that it annoyed me.

Because I wasn't the type of guy who noticed people like this.

Yet here I was.

Watching a girl laugh.
Like an idiot.
And somehow not wanting to look away.

I was still looking in her direction when she suddenly stood up.

The laughter hadn't completely disappeared from her face yet. She was still smiling while saying something to her friends, fixing the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

For some reason, I found myself paying attention to every little thing.

The way she talked with her hands.
The way her expressions changed every five seconds.
The way she seemed completely unaware that half the lane could probably hear her laugh.

Then she started walking towards the coaching building with her two friends.

And before I could stop myself, my eyes followed her.

"Bro."

I didn't react.

"Bro."

Still nothing.

Then a hand smacked my shoulder.

"What?" I snapped, turning towards Ankit.

Ankit was standing beside me with the most suspicious expression I'd ever seen on his face.

"What are you looking at?" he asked slowly.

I immediately looked away from the girl in the yellow top and cleared my throat. "Nothing," I replied a little too quickly.

Ankit narrowed his eyes. The idiot had known me for barely a few weeks, yet somehow he had already learned when I was lying.

"Nothing?" he repeated, looking from me to the group of girls and then back at me. A slow grin appeared on his face. "Right. And I'm the Prime Minister."

I opened my mouth.
Then closed it.

Because, honestly, I didn't have an answer.

Ankit followed my gaze and immediately spotted the group of girls walking towards the coaching building.
"Ohhh."

The idiot stretched the word so much that I wanted to push him off a cliff.

Then he pointed at one of the girls.
"You know, you're looking at my crush's best friend."

My eyebrows furrowed.
"Your crush?"

"Yeah."

He sounded completely casual.
As if he hadn't just dropped important information.

I looked back at him.
"Which one?"

"The one on the left," he said. "My crush."

I glanced towards the group again.

Then, before I could stop myself, my eyes automatically found the girl in the yellow top.

Ankit noticed immediately.
A smirk appeared on his face.
"Oh."

"What?"

"So you're looking at that one."

I looked away.
"Shut up."

The fact that I didn't even deny it made his grin wider.

Ankit folded his arms.
"Her name is Ayesha."

My eyes immediately shifted back to him.
For some reason, hearing her name felt different.

Like suddenly she wasn't just some random girl anymore.

"Ayesha?" I repeated without thinking.

"Yeah. Ayesha Sharma."

The name settled somewhere in my mind almost instantly.

Ayeshaa.
I repeated it again silently.
Strange.

Five minutes ago, she had been a stranger.
Now I knew her name.
And somehow that felt important.

Before I could think about it any longer, Ayesha disappeared inside the coaching building with her friends.

For a second, my eyes stayed fixed on the entrance.

I kept hearing the same name inside my head.
Ayesha.

I didn't know anything about her.
Not her age.
Not her school.
Not her personality.
Nothing.

Yet somehow, that one laugh, that one smile, and now that one name had managed to stay with me.

And as I stepped inside the coaching building, I had a strange feeling.

Maybe today wasn't going to be as ordinary as I'd thought.

And maybe...
That girl in the yellow top had just become the most interesting person in the room.