Author's POV

All of them were sitting quietly, admiring nature and the sinking sun. A soft smile played on their lips as they inhaled the fresh air, letting the moment settle into their hearts.

“It’s our first bunk of 10-C ever,” Shaarav said proudly.

The others hummed in agreement.

“And we have Ivaan with us now,” Akira added with a grin.

As far as their eyes could see, there were only trees, open fields, and an endless sky stretched wide above them. Birds chirped nearby, filling the silence with life.

Aviraj suddenly stood up and yelled toward the sky, “WE ARE GOING TO HAVE THE BEST HIGH SCHOOL LIFE!”

Ivaan flinched slightly at the sudden noise, then looked at Akira in confusion. He tapped her shoulder gently.

“This is our ritual,” she explained with a smile. “You just shout whatever you feel… or whatever you wish for.”

“TUSHAR SIR WILL BE FINE AND COME BACK SOON,” Riva shouted next.

“I LOVE YOU, MANYA. MAY YOU GET EVERYTHING YOU DESIRE,” Shaarav called out.

“I LOVE YOU TOO,” Manya replied instantly, smiling at him. “AND MY ONLY DESIRE IS YOU.”

The group chuckled, watching them fondly.

“WE ALL WILL PASS OUR UPCOMING TESTS,” Kriti added. Ishvin paused for a moment, then lay back on the grass, staring at the sky. “I don’t have any wish,” he said casually.

“Even I don’t have any personal wish,” Akira admitted. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly shouted,

“I WISH IVAAN WILL START LAUGHING LOUDLY—WITHOUT ANY HESITATION!”

“May it come true,” the others said together.

“I WISH WE ALL STAY TOGETHER… FOREVER,” Ivaan shouted next. Everyone turned toward him, smiling warmly.

“Of course we will,” Shaarav said with certainty.

“Emotional kar diya,” Aviraj said dramatically as he stood up. “Now we should head back.” Everyone agreed and walked toward the place where they had parked their cycles.

“We girls will cycle. Boys will sit behind,” Riva declared. Ishvin was about to sit behind Kriti when she immediately stopped him.

“Don’t you dare sit behind me,” she warned, glaring at him. He pouted and walked toward Akira instead, but Ivaan quickly blocked him.

“It’s my seat.”

Ishvin looked helplessly at Riva, who glared at him too. “Ab main kahan jaun?” he asked.

“Aaja, ab ro mat,” Kriti said, already riding ahead.

Grinning, he sat behind her. Everyone burst out laughing as the wind rushed against their faces.

“I’ll always remember this day,” Ivaan said softly to Akira.

She smiled at him. “Did you enjoy?”

“I did. A lot.” He hesitated, then asked, “Umm… are we going home?”

“Everyone else is,” Akira replied, “but we can’t. We need to return the cycle.”

“GUYS, STOPPP!” Ishvin suddenly jumped off the back seat, grabbed Ivaan’s hand, and started running.

Manya, Kriti, and Riva quickly followed them, laughing.

Aviraj, Akira, and Shaarav dragged the cycles behind them. Akira clicked pictures as they ran, smiling to herself. Warm sunlight fell over their faces as they laughed, racing and trying to leave each other behind.

Tired, they finally sat down again, laughing freely.

“Are you enjoying everything?” Akira asked Ivaan.

He nodded with a soft smile. “I am. I’ll tell Dadi about everything. She’ll be so happy.”

Soon, they were back in the city. One by one, they said their goodbyes.

“Sit behind now, or you’ll get tired,” Ivaan told Akira.

She smiled and sat behind him, holding onto their bags.

They reached the back side of the school to return the cycle. The watchman was nearby, placing his cycle safely—protecting it from kids like them who always borrowed it whenever they bunked class.

As Akira and Ivaan were about to leave, the watchman called out, “Oyee! Come back here, both of you—right now!”

They heard his footsteps approaching.

Before Akira could react, Ivaan grabbed her wrist and ran. The watchman chased them for a short distance, then gave up.

They stopped near a park, breathless and laughing.

“Do you want to go home?” Akira asked.

“Nope,” he replied. “I want to enjoy it a little more.”

She smiled. “Same here. Let’s sit and talk.”

On the other side

Aviraj entered the supermarket where he worked part-time. The owner had never wanted to hire him—he was too young for responsibility—but Aviraj had insisted.

Forced, really.

Because without money, survival was just another lie people told to comfort themselves.

The nearly empty bag in his hand felt heavier than it should have. As he was about to place it aside, his steps froze.

Rithvik.

Standing right there in front of him.

Aviraj’s fingers loosened, and the bag slipped from his hand. His brother’s jaw was clenched, eyes stormy—anger, guilt, regret, and something dangerously close to pain all tangled together.

Rithvik inhaled sharply and strode toward him, picking up the bag on the way. Before Aviraj could react, his wrist was grabbed—tight, desperate.

Aviraj didn’t resist. He didn’t speak. He simply let himself be pulled. They stopped in a lane nearby, a dead street where no one could hear them. Rithvik shoved his hand away abruptly.

“Why the fuck are you working at this age?” he demanded.

No response.

“Will you answer me or not?” he shouted again.

Aviraj stared at him—eyes hollow, drained of the emotions he once held for his brother. The boy who used to run toward him was gone.

“Aviraj, for God’s sake, say something!” Rithvik snapped, frustration bleeding into his voice.

“Hm?” Aviraj hummed faintly. Even that felt like effort.

Rithvik ran a hand through his hair. “Oh God. I send you money every month. Why the fuck don’t you use it? Why are you working?”

His voice rose with every word, cracking under the weight of unsaid things. Aviraj finally spoke.

“I thought you were dead.”

Five words.

Not an answer—but a confession.

Rithvik froze. “What?”

“Haan,” Aviraj said softly, a faint, broken smile tugging at his lips. “Aap kabhi aaye hi nahi mujhse milne.”

The silence between them thickened.

“I wanted to come,” Rithvik said quietly, his voice losing its edge. “But my guilt didn’t let me.” He looked away for a moment, swallowing hard.

“Think about it. How was I supposed to live in a place where I spent twenty years with our parents—and then suddenly… they are gone?”

His voice trembled.

“How could I survive there?” Aviraj didn’t reply.

Because some wounds don’t bleed loudly—

they just hollow you out.

“I was only twelve,” he said. “You were twenty.”

“And my parents?” Aviraj snapped,

“Our parents. It was our loss.”

He took a deep breath, knowing that if he didn’t, a panic attack would follow.

“Okay. Okay, I get it,” he said quickly. “I really—really understand. It was hard for you. You were older. You had responsibilities. Fikar hogi ki kaise sambhaloge mujhe—” His voice broke.

“But why did you leave me alone at OUR PARENT’S FUNERAL?”

“And what is your excuse?” he demanded. “You couldn’t live in that house? I was twelve when I had to burn my parents’ dead bodies myself. I was the one who stood there—completely alone.”

He broke into tears as the memories crashed back. His hands trembled, his vision blurred as he continued, “I stayed alone in that house where we had so many memories. All of a sudden, that one night—I had no one. Aapko jaan’na hi tha toh mujhse ek baar baat hi kar lete… main nahi rokta aapko.”

[If you wanted to leave, at least talk to me…i wouldn't stop you”

Rithvik stepped forward to hold Aviraj as he stumbled backward—but Aviraj stopped him.

“Just don’t come near me. Not now.”

He furiously wiped his tears and asked, his voice breaking,

“Kyu chhod diya mujhe?”

Why did you leave me?

“Aviraj, you’re not understanding—”

“I am not understanding? I—I…”

He cut himself off, then forced a breath.

“Okay.”

Tears rolled down one after another as his hands trembled. He took his bag from Rithvik’s grip and turned away.

Rithvik tried to follow him, but Aviraj stopped him again. “Mujhe mere haal par chhod do… jaise pehle chhod diya tha.”

A bitter smile curved his lips.

He walked away and didn’t look back.

Just the way his own brother hadn’t looked back at him before leaving.

Flashback~

Aviraj was waiting for his parents and brother to come back as it was already 8 PM and no one was there. He has always been scared of living alone. Especially at night.

Bell rang, he ran to open the door with a smile and saw his brother— Rithvik. Blood was all over his t-shirt and hands. His head hung low as he cried silently.

“Bhai?” Aviraj called him, Rithvik’ s knee dropped. He pulled Aviraj into a hug, crying loudly as his head rested on his shoulder.

Aviraj held him back with his trembling hands “Th-they left u-us” Rithvik said between his cries. “Mom dad left us,” he added.

Aviraj pushed him back “What are you saying”

“They-they died”

“You are— you are lying, haina?” his voice cracked, each word weaker than the last. “This… this can’t happen. No. No, no.”

He shook his head again and again, as if denial could rewrite reality. “It’s a lie,” he whispered desperately, almost begging the air around him to agree.

His heart fractured with every passing second, splintering quietly inside his chest.

Somewhere deep down, a small part of him still clung to hope as thin as a thread, foolish yet necessary. If it was a lie, even a cruel one, he could survive it. Lies could be undone. But then Rithvik’s voice tore through the room like a blade.

“THEY ARE DEAD!” he shouted, his eyes wild, red with fury and grief. “ARE YOU SEEING THIS BLOOD? IT’S THEIRS. OUR PARENTS ARE DEAD!”

The words didn’t just reach Aviraj—they crashed into him.

He staggered back, his palm pressing hard against his chest as if his heart was physically trying to escape. The wall met his back too suddenly, knocking the breath out of him. The room began to spin, closing in on him from all sides. His legs gave up before he could stop them, and he slid down helplessly, collapsing onto the cold floor.

His gaze lifted slowly, shakily, searching for his brother’s face—anything familiar, anything safe.

“This place…” Rithvik said, his voice breaking mid-sentence. He clenched his fists, breathing unevenly. “This place is suffocating me. I can’t stay here. Not right now.”

Before Aviraj could say a word—before he could even ask him not to leave—the door was slammed shut. The sound echoed loudly, then faded, leaving behind a silence that felt heavier than the screams.

Aviraj was alone.

His vision blurred as tears flooded his eyes, the world dissolving into broken shapes and shadows. His lips trembled, but no sound came out at first—as if even his voice had abandoned him. Then his chest tightened painfully, and a sob tore free, raw and uncontrollable.

His cries grew louder with each passing second, filling the empty room, bouncing off the walls that once held laughter, warmth, and life. He curled into himself, clutching his chest, gasping for air that felt impossible to find.

Somewhere between his sobs, a single thought repeated itself over and over—

This isn’t real. This can’t be real.

But reality didn’t answer him back.,

Flashback ends

All the memories crashed into his mind at once, stealing the air from his lungs. He didn’t want to cry, but it was too much—far too much to hold in. For years, he had buried every thought of his family deep inside himself, and now his brother’s return had ripped everything back open.

He stopped midway, his strength giving out. His knees hit the ground as he collapsed, a broken sob tearing out of his chest. One hand flew up to cover his eyes as his body shook.

His throat burned as he cried aloud, raw and helpless.

Then he felt a presence.

Slowly, he lifted his head and found his friends standing in front of him.

Ivaan.

Akira.

He lowered his head again. “I can’t take it anymore,” he whispered, his voice trembling. A shaky breath escaped him as his forehead came to rest against Ivaan’s feet.

🐇🌷

Kesaaaa laggaaa chaptterrrr!!!