Chapter 1: The Line Crossed

The summer I turned eighteen, Arjun led me into crossing a line Amma always warned me about.

That night, as I lay on the creaky bed in the sticky Mumbai heat, my heart thudded so loud I could barely hear the fan whirring above. I clutched my dupatta tightly to my chest, twisting the end around my fingers, the silver payal on my ankle chiming softly with every anxious movement. My body ached, but deep inside, a heady excitement fluttered—I thought, after six long years of circling Arjun, my one-sided pyaar had finally found a place in his heart. The old scents of incense, monsoon-damp bedsheets, and the sharpness of my own sweat seemed to swirl around me, grounding my nerves and hope.

But the next day, I overheard his friends teasing him near the canteen corridor:

"Arrey wah, college queen finally let you break your fast, kya Arjun!"

My breath caught, fingers tightening on my bag strap, sweat prickling down my back as I tried to slip away unnoticed. Arjun’s lazy, careless reply drifted over, half-laughing:

"I want to chase after the campus beauty, yaar, but what if she thinks I’m too green? So I practised with Sneha first!"

I said nothing. My lips pressed together, I bit down hard, and at the last minute, changed my university application from Delhi to Pune, hands shaking so badly I nearly dropped my phone. Before I hit submit, my eyes fell on the little photo of Arjun and me tucked into my wallet—a faded snapshot from our school days, all grins and innocence. I shut my eyes for a second, feeling the loss settle deep inside, before letting go.