Author's note
Everyone has their own past. No matter how much a person shows on the outside that they're happy, that everything's fine, that nothing affects them...
That same person is someone who's already experienced something or the other in their past. The person who looks really strong to us — they don't just become strong like that. Situations make them strong.
But the universe also has a rule: (the person who makes themselves strong because of situations, they inevitably have to be weak at some point too,
So weak that anyone could break them.)
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Story continues
"Every day the same day keeps repeating, it's so boring," Mansi started complaining.
"Ashvi, what happened to you? Ever since you came to class you've been so quiet. The day is already so boring, and on top of that you're making it even more boring by staying silent."
Ashvi didn't say anything. She just kept looking at Mansi and then looked down. She was really deep in thought. Everyone found her behavior really strange. Everyone asked her too, but she had no plans of telling anyone. She only wanted to talk to one person, and that person hadn't even come to college yet. She kept glancing toward the door again and again.
*FLASHBACK*
After seeing Ayaan's reaction, Ashvi couldn't sleep. She tried really hard.
ASHVI'S POV :
"This family dinner today has become a problem for me. Yash just left after taking away my sleep today.
I feel like calling Ruhaan right now and asking him everything, but what's the point? How do I wait till tomorrow morning? I won't be able to sleep at all tonight like this.
What should I do? Should I go and check Ayaan's room? Maybe I'll find something there!! I have to go, otherwise I'm not getting any sleep tonight."
I slowly opened the door and looked inside. Ayaan was sleeping peacefully. This guy puts me in tension, takes away my sleep, and sleeps here so peacefully himself. I feel like hitting him with his own pillow, but not right now. Ashvi, let's do your work first, the reason you came here, then you can hit him as much as you want.
She slowly started moving forward.
Ashvi :
His room is so big, how do I search for something here, that too so quietly? But I have to do it.
She checked the table drawer first, carefully. Nothing there. Then she looked in the bookshelf. Nothing there either. Then Ayaan's wardrobe. Nothing there too. Then she checked the left drawer by Ayaan's bed. Didn't find anything there either. Then she came to the right side, but that drawer was locked. That gave Ashvi a little hope, and she got even more suspicious.
Ashvi :
Leaving everything else, only this drawer is locked. That means there's definitely something in it. Maybe I'll find what I'm looking for here. But it's locked, I'll have to find the key.
No idea where this guy might have kept the key.
Ashvi stood there, thinking.
He definitely wouldn't have kept the key in some easy spot. It's definitely somewhere important.
She thought for a while. No such place came to her mind where Ayaan could have kept the key.
What the hell, why is this so tiring? Feels like I won't find anything today.
Ashvi went back to her room upset and tired
she tried to sleep again, but she still couldn't fall asleep.
Where could there be such a place in the house where Ayaan might keep the key? Some safe space...
AGHHHH this is so irritating. I can't think of any such place at all. She said irritated
At this point I feel like I wish I had Pandora's box, and I'd open it and unleash all the evil powers on Ayaan, and close the box just to save my hopes.
(And right then, a spark flashed in Ashvi's eyes.)
Pandora's box... yes, not Pandora's Box, but Grandma's box is there. The one she gave me and Ayaan, and Ayaan keeps all his important things in it. And it's in Ayaan's wardrobe itself. Why didn't I remember this earlier? I have go get it right now.
Ashvi jumped up from her bed and ran toward Ayaan's room.
And as soon as she reached the room, she quietly opened the wardrobe and there she found that Grandma's box. And also she found the key 🗝️
She quickly opened that drawer and started looking through it. During this, Ayaan moved in his position several times, but Ashvi still didn't leave the drawer and kept searching. For a long time she didn't find anything special.
What is this? I thought since Ayaan locked it here, maybe there's something here. It's just letters and envelopes. If there's nothing like that in it, then why does he keep it locked?
Just then Ashvi found a pack of cigarettes there and her eyes stayed wide open.
Oh, so that's why he keeps this drawer locked. Because he smokes, and he keeps it locked so mom or dad don't see it. I'll use this some other day to blackmail him. She put down the cigarette packet. And then her eyes stopped on an envelope, and that envelope was different from all the other envelopes. The rest were like normal envelopes, but that envelope had some marks on it, a stain, red in color.
What is this stain? It looks like a blood stain, she whispered.
She opened the envelope and there it was, the thing she had been searching for all this time. A photo, slightly burnt. In that photo were Ayaan, Ruhaan, Yash, and some random guy Ashvi had never seen before.
She looked behind the photo to see if anything was written. There was nothing on the back of the photo. Then when she turned the envelope, there was something written there, but because the light was dim, Ashvi couldn't read it. And at that moment Ayaan started moving too, so Ashvi began fixing all those things and put them back in their places. But she took that envelope and went to her room.
As soon as she reached her room, she sat down on the floor and started looking at that photo. Ashvi stared at the photo for a long time. Then she turned that envelope and started reading what was written there. Ayaan had written it, it was his handwriting.
Runak, I know wherever you are, you know that none of this was my fault. I tried my best, still this guilt will always stay with me that I couldn't do anything for you. Ruhaan thinks this all happened because of me, that it's all my fault. Yash thinks the same, that's why both of them broke off all relations with me. They're right in their own way, I just feel bad that they didn't even try to find out the truth themselves once...
The letter was burnt after that.
After reading this, Ashvi got even more disturbed, but she understood this much, that the reason these three's friendship broke was connected to this Runak.
*FLASHBACK ENDS*