The next day, Apoorva was in the washroom. It was an advantage her house wasn’t very modern, no attached bathrooms.
Vyani casually slipped into her sister’s room and shut the door from inside. Locked it. She had to.
And the second it clicked shut, her calm shattered.
She began searching. Frantically. Her hands flew through drawers, behind curtains, under pillows, she needed to find the earrings.The one they found at the murder scene it couldn’t be her sister’s. It shouldn’t be. Her sister’s earrings had to be in this room. They had to.
It wasn’t just a search. It was a prayer in motion. A desperate cry through trembling fingers.They were just earrings, but she searched like her life depended on them, because it did. If she could find both, if they were safe and sound in this room then Tis wouldn’t be able to blame Apoorva.
Then her sister would still be innocent, then the world would still make some kind of sense.But fifteen minutes passed, nothing, not a trace,no sign of the second earring.
The drawer gave her nothing. The cupboard mocked her. Even the bed had nothing to hide.
She heard the bathroom door open. Her sister was out. Vyani knew her routine, she would probably go to the roof now, hang her clothes, maybe dry her hair under the sun.
Four… five… six. Six minutes, maybe.
She had six minutes more.
Vyani continued searching like a ghost trapped in a loop. Reassembling what she touched, placing everything back perfectly, leaving no trace. If the drawer was innocent, she needed to stay invisible.
Six minutes vanished like smoke. She had to leave.
She stepped out, face twisted into a mask of calm but inside, she was breaking, like a deer running from the loin but the problem was she didn't know who the lion is. She walked outside, to the mango tree, she still blamed it. The tree where it had all started, the place where she had been dragged into this terrifying world.
She looked up, then down, and there it was, a small glint of blue in the mud. So tiny. So beautiful.
It would’ve been pretty to anyone else, but to Vyani, it was monstrous. She picked up the earring her hands trembling, her body recoiling like it had been electrocuted.She didn’t want to believe it.
She wished her sister had just thrown the earrings in the mud, because she didn’t like them. That would be better. So much better, better than the other truth, better than believing that the other earring the one found at a murder scene was truly Apoorva’s her sister’s.
Vyani dropped to her knees and began digging. Bare hands, nails tearing through wet soil, the earth creeping under her skin like rot.
She clawed at the ground until it hurt. But there was no second earring. No matching pair.Her thoughts spiraled, tangled, clashing violently inside her skull.
What did it mean? What did it mean? Was the earring really the same one?
She ran back inside, straight to her room, and collapsed.She curled into herself, her head buried between her knees.
The position looked peaceful to anyone outside.
But it was worse than the confusion she was living.
Because she wasn’t sure what she feared more now that her sister was guilty...or maybe she was even more guilty for not believing it.
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It was house meeting day again, 5th period, the time after the lunch.All students were scattered under their respective house banners in the open ground. The teacher on the mic was saying something about upcoming extracurriculars, sports competitions, something-something that didn't really matter.
Nishkarsh was standing in the crowd too well, not exactly standing. More like on punishment for being late again.
His hand was hanging low on his head now, even though it was supposed to be straight. He’d been trying to keep it straight for the last fifteen minutes but his arms weren’t built for discipline. The reason he was late was Ayaan. Who had decided to take his sweet time washing his face after the football match for which he skipped lunch for. Nishkarsh didn’t even bother running after that. What’s the point? He was already going to be late, and part of him didn’t mind.
The best thing Nishkarsh liked about this school was that they kept Avni and him in the same house.At least they looked like a couple on Saturdays. Even though 996 other students wore the same colour that day, that didn't matter. He was trying his best to lean a bit more so he could get a clearer view of Avni, who was sitting in the third row, fourth chair, with some girls he didn’t even know the names of. He leaned a bit more. But it was hard and still she wasn’t visible fully.But he couldn’t move anymore not when Geography sir, Mr. Thapa, was standing right next to him, scrolling on his phone like he wasn’t literally supervising punishment.Both Nishkarsh and Mr. Thapa had absolutely nothing to do with the house meeting, it seemed.
“Sir… sir,” Nishkarsh mumbled.
“Yes, what?” Mr Thapa hummed.
“Sir, the sun is falling right on your back, it must be burning. Do you want me to stand behind you? I can help you-”
“What do you think you are? A tree?”
Mr. Thapa didn’t even look up.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUE04dqZHG4
“You can’t even act like a student when you are a student, and you want to be a tree?”
Nishkarsh’s fake smile dropped into a fake apologetic one. “I just wanted to make you comfortable…”
“You’re on punishment. So act like it, stupid,” Mr. Thapa said, and without another word, took his chair and walked off under the tin shade.
Nishkarsh smiled internally as he shifted position slowly and now the view was clear.
“Thanks Mr. Thapa,” he whispered to himself, eyes already fixed on her.
Reading her.
She was squinting a little now. The sun was hitting her directly.
Not that she was noticing. She was talking to that girl with the Hello kitty-stickered water bottle, not even blinking.79Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU6zMBAPceC
But he noticed.
“Why would she sit there. That’s literally the worst spot. Who even sits on the third row fourth chair when you can sit under shade?” He thought to himself, actually more like a scold than thinking.
He wanted to smile. Or go give her his cap or something.Not that he had a cap.
Also, that would be weird. Really weird…
So he just stood there, in his perfect little angle. Her eyes weren’t big or dramatic like they said in poems. But pretty enough to be described in a poem if he writes it.
“Yup. She’s cute”. He thought again, thinking and trying not to smile. “How lucky is her boyfriend...Kanak. Ugh”
He finally got the name after that brutal prank that almost cost him a Ayaan and a suspension.
And now Nishkarsh hated that name.
“Kanak. Like literally Kanak. That’s the name,You was cute but also dumb for that,like why would you like a guy named Kanak when a guy named Nishkarsh existed, literally the conclusion”
His thoughts running wild like he was talking to her when in reality he don't have the courage to do so. And just like that-
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and then Add to home screen.