Part-1
---Vehan's P.O.V.---
Classrooms can be cruel in quiet ways.
I was just sitting at my desk when my eyes landed on Raghav.
He is one of those genuinely nice guys- soft spoken, helpful, warm in a way that doesn't feel forced.
Pure. Unlike me who lives under layers made out of fear and expectations.
"It makes me jealous."
I'm supposed to be the helpful one.
The popular one!
The one who is there for everyone when they need something.
And yet, there he was... leaning over a classmate's notebook, explaining a concept with patience that I lack.
Something ugly just twisted inside my chest. Before I even realised it, I walked over and said, "I can help him!"
I literally nudged Raghav aside and took the credit. No one stopped me ofcourse as I'm Vehan.
When the class ended, I stepped out feeling... victorious?
No. Hollow!
I felt a little bad for him and that's when I saw him.
He was leaning against a wall near the stairway, shoulders trembling, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
He was crying the way boys cry when they think no one should see it.
I was feeling guilty and I wasn't ready for it.
I walked towards him. "Hey.. are you okay?"
He flinched at me. "Please! Just go."
Tears rolled down his cheeks again, no matter how much he tried to control it.
"I felt like... like I finally made a friend today," he choked out.
"But you! you just ruined it...you took him from me."
I... I didn't mean to. I just wanted to help you (to prove something, to someone, I don't even know who anymore).
"Why are you so shameless?" he asked. His words didn't hurt me but rather felt like the truth.
I saw the pain in his words.
I was unable to answer him not because I didn't have the answer but because the right words would make everything worse.
I was guilty...
Before I could try again, I noticed a hand gripping on my shoulders.
I slowly turned my neck to look behind...
Someone slapped me!
Part-2
The slap wasn't just loud. It felt familiar.
My vision blurred for a moment and then my world narrowed into one face.
Ayan.
My childhood friend.
The boy who has been with me all the time, dragged me out of fights, talked to me when no one noticed, patched my bruises with bandaids and scolded me even for apologising too much.
Now, there he was all furious!
"What the hell is wrong with you Vehen?" he snapped.
There was pin drop silence. Even Raghav stopped crying.
"I.... I..Ayan.."
"Don't," he cut me off. He wasn't shouting. He didn't need to.
There was disappointment in his words that hurts more than anger.
"You pushed him aside? For what? So people will say 'Vehan is so helpful. again?' Huh?
My stomach twisted because he knew. He always knew.
"You're not kind," Ayan said. "You're desperate."
At the moment, it felt like the world I created around myself was getting shattered.
Haunting memories started flashing like shards of glass:
- Younger me trying to help everyone so they'd notice me.
- Teachers praising me only when I scored good or helped someone.
- Ayan helping me saying I didn't need to be in everyone's good book.
- Me, craving approval anyways.
- My parents praising me only when I performed.
- Ayan watching me slowly turn into someone who lived on borrowed appreciation.
He saw it all. He always had.
"You're hurting people without aven realising," he said softly. "And you're hurting yourself even more."
The softness in his voice was scarier at the moment.
I was about to break down and cry but he stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"Vehan... I knew you were turning into someone else. But I never thought you'd break someone else just to feel whole for a minute."
His disappointment clung to me like smoke.
Raghav pressed his sleeve to his face and whispered, "It's okay... I should go."
Ayan's eyes were locked on me.
"Apologise," he said, not as a command but as a plea.
"For him. For yourself. For the boy you used to be."
I somehow shallowed the shame burning my chest and turned to Raghav.
"I'm... I'm sorry. "I said. It wasn't fake but an actual apology.
He just nodded and walked away.
It was just dead silence between me and Ayan.
"You didn't have to slap me." I whispered slowly.
"I didn't slap you for what you did," he replied.
"I did it because you are slowly getting carried away and you don't even realise."
His slap left a mark but the words landed heavier.
I actually felt seen for the first time in a long time....
I didn't feel praised or needed but seen.
If felt like someone finally held a mirror to my scars.
Mira saw everything. She noticed vehan's realisation, Ayan's voice breaking out of worry, Raghav walking away trembling.
---Mira's P.O.V.---
I stayed behind the doorway, half hidden.
Vehan stood there, silent, like a statue- just unravelling.
And then I saw something familiar. I'd seen it before in places he hasn't
been yet. Places he will go.
When Ayan left and the hallway emptied finally, he pressed his palm to his cheek, eyes low, uneven breathing.
He looked human. Breakable without the facade.
I stepped away before he could notice me.
Some stories begin with choices.
Some with accidents.
But his?
His story began with fractures spreading like parasite..
And today, I just witnessed the beginning of it.
Some where around all this, my memories started to get on the surface.