Aarohi lay curled on her bed, palms pressed to her chest, as if trying to hold herself together.
Her breaths came uneven.
Her heartbeat felt too loud.
Her skin tingled with warmth that wasn't from this life.
Arin sat in the chair beside her bed, exhausted, terrified, eyes full of dread.
He whispered:
"Aarohi… please tell me what you're remembering now."
Aarohi wiped her tears with trembling fingers.
"It's not a memory yet," she whispered.
"It's a feeling."
Arin stiffened.
"What feeling?"
Aarohi looked at the ceiling, eyes glassy.
"I feel like… something changed between Aara and Riaan.
Not all at once.
Not suddenly.
Not dramatically."
Her voice softened.
"But gently."
Arin swallowed hard, bracing for the pain he knew was coming.
"Tell me," he said, voice quiet but strained.
Aarohi closed her eyes.
And the feelings pulled her backward—
into Aara's skin
into Aara's heartbeat
into Aara's quiet world.
---
The hallway was loud again.
Teenagers laughing.
Lockers slamming.
Footsteps echoing.
Aara walked quietly, head down, gripping her books.
Her hair fell forward, hiding her face — the way she liked it.
But her steps stopped when she saw him.
Riaan.
Leaning against her locker.
Head lowered.
One hand covering his face.
He wasn't the cheerful boy she knew.
He looked… broken.
Aara's heart stuttered.
She walked slowly toward him.
"R…Riaan?"
He flinched at her voice, surprised.
Aara waited.
He didn't speak.
She stepped closer.
"Are you… okay?"
Riaan dropped his hand.
His eyes were red — not from crying, but from trying not to.
Aara's chest tightened painfully.
Riaan whispered:
"Aara… can I ask you something?"
Aara nodded.
Riaan's throat moved as he swallowed hard.
"Do you think I'm a bad person?"
Aara froze.
"What?"
Riaan looked down, voice fragile.
"Everyone keeps saying it. That I'm useless. A failure. That I'll never do anything right."
Aara stared.
She had never seen him look so defeated.
She whispered:
"Who told you that?"
Riaan shook his head.
"It doesn't matter."
Aara hesitated, then stepped closer—
closer than she ever dared before.
"Riaan," she whispered gently,
"you're not a bad person."
Riaan blinked.
Aara continued, voice cracking,
"You're… the kindest person I know."
Riaan's chest rose sharply.
Aara's hands trembled.
She took a shaky breath.
"You sit with me… even when everyone else avoids me.
You talk to me like I matter.
You see me when others pretend I'm not there."
Riaan's eyes softened.
Aara looked away shyly, voice breaking.
"If someone like you is 'bad'…
then what does that make me?"
Riaan inhaled sharply.
"Aara—no—"
But Aara wasn't done.
"You helped me breathe again," she whispered.
And those words—
they hit him.
Hard.
Riaan stepped closer.
Very close.
Too close for strangers.
Too close for friends.
Too close for two people who weren't supposed to matter to each other.
Aara's heart raced.
She whispered:
"Please don't believe the things they say.
You're not what they call you."
Riaan stared at her like she was the first person to ever defend him.
His voice was soft.
Almost breaking.
"Aara… why do you care?"
Aara froze.
She opened her mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
But no words came.
Because she didn't know.
Not yet.
Not fully.
Not consciously.
She whispered the only truth she understood:
"I just… do."
Riaan took a shaky breath.
And for the first time—
he reached out.
Not to help her pick up books.
Not to grab her hand in fear.
Not to guide her.
He reached out for her.
Slowly, gently,
he touched her hair — brushing one wet strand away from her face.
Aara's breath caught.
His fingers trembled against her skin.
Riaan whispered:
"You're the only person I trust."
Aara froze.
Riaan looked away, embarrassed.
"Sorry… that was—"
Aara shook her head.
"It wasn't wrong."
Riaan looked back at her.
Aara whispered:
"I trust you too."
And that—
that was the moment.
The moment something shifted.
The moment two lonely souls recognized each other.
The moment friendship quietly became something deeper.
Not love yet.
Not confession.
Not realization.
Just a shift.
A pull.
A beginning.
---
Aarohi snapped back into the present.
Her chest heaved with emotion she had never lived —
yet felt as if she had.
Arin rushed to her instantly.
"Aarohi?! What did you see?!"
Aarohi shook her head weakly.
"It wasn't a full memory… it was a moment."
Her voice trembled.
"They trusted each other."
Arin's face fell.
"And now?" he asked painfully.
Aarohi blinked through tears.
"I feel the beginning of their… attachment."
Arin looked like someone had punched him.
"Aarohi…"
She touched her chest, whispering:
"It hurts…
not because it was love…
but because it was the first time Aara wasn't alone."
Arin closed his eyes tightly.
"And now you feel it too," he whispered.
Aarohi nodded, tears falling.
"Yes."
Arin grabbed her hands.
"Aarohi… you're slipping.
These memories are making you feel things you never chose."
Aarohi sobbed softly.
"I don't want to feel them…
but they're a part of me now."
Arin's voice cracked.
"Aarohi… I'm losing you."
Aarohi quickly grabbed his face with trembling hands.
"No," she whispered desperately.
"You're the only thing keeping me here.
I'm holding onto you with everything I have."
Arin leaned into her touch, almost breaking.
"Then don't let go," he whispered.
Aarohi hugged him tightly.
But even as she did…
she felt a warmth settle against her back.
A familiar warmth.
A memory-turned-presence.
And a whisper brushed the air behind her:
"Our beginning was never small, Aara…
You just forgot how big it felt."
Aarohi froze in Arin's arms.
Her heart beat violently.
The past was no longer knocking.
It was entering.
---