Zian hated mornings not because of the cold, or the rush, or the noisy students shouting in the corridors. He hated mornings because they reminded him he didn't belong.
He walked through the school gates with his bag slung low and his sketchbook pressed tightly against his chest. Same uniform. Same cracked shoes. Same silence.
While others laughed, josted, and hurried to claim their favourite benches in the courtyard, Zian slipped past them- unnoticed, unwanted, and more than okay with that.
There was a place behind the old banyan tree, near the edge of the school garden. Most students avoided it, calling "creepy." But to Zian, it was quite. Safe.
He sat on the stone bench beneath the wide shade and opened his sketchbook. The paper held dozens of unfinished drawings - eyes, smiles, hands.... all pieces of someone he couldn't forget.
Aaru Thapa.
He didn't know why he kept drawing her. He barely knew her. She was one of the popular ones- always surrounded by friends, always talking, always laughing.
But yesterday..... he'd seen something .
For a split second, when she thought no one was looking, her smile had dropped like a mask slipping. Behind that was a face that looked tired. Lonely, maybe.
He had started sketching the moment he got home.
Now, as his pencil moved across the page, the soft outline of her eyes began to appear again but something was different. A tear was forming in the corner of one eye. He hadn't planned that. It just appeared.
The wind stirred the leaves. The branches of the banyan tree swayed slowly above him. Zian looked up and froze.
She was standing there.
Aaru. Alone.
No group of girls beside her. No phone in hand. Just standing near the bench- looking at him.
He quickly shut his sketchbook, heart slamming in his chest.
"Hey," she said , voice soft completely different from her usual bright tone. "Can i sit here?"
He nodded without speaking. His mouth had forgotten how.
She sat beside him, pulling her knees to her chest, eyes distant.
"It's too loud out there," she whispered.
Zian glanced back at the noisy courtyard. Then back to her.
Aaru hugged her knees tighter." No one really listens when it gets too loud iin here," she said, tapping the side of her head gently.
Zian didn't know to answer. Do he opened his sketchbook slowly and turned to s blank page.
She noticed. "You draw?"
He nodded again.
"Draw me someday," she said, smiling but it was faint, like a flicker. " When I look less broken."
And just that, she leaned against the tree trunk and closed her eyes.
Zian didn't draw her then.
But he wanted to.
And far above them, a bench of the banyan tree twitched, even though there was no wind.