Advait’s POV –

The classroom smelled like markers and wooden blocks. My favorite smell in the whole wide world—well, after strawberry milk. Aarohi was busy drawing suns with too many rays, and I was sitting on the carpet, building a tower out of colorful plastic blocks. It was gonna be taller than me. Taller than my sister. Maybe even taller than Umma.

“Advait,” she whispered, crawling next to me, “does my sun look like a pancake?”

I looked. “Kinda. But it’s a happy pancake.”

She grinned and poked my arm. “Yah!”

I giggled and kept stacking blocks.

That’s when I saw him.

The new teacher. Mr. Ha Joon. He had a kind face. But something about it felt… weird.

The way he looked at us when Umma was talking to him this morning. His eyes were smiling but not really. It was like the smile didn’t match the eyes. Like someone wearing a smiley mask but underneath it was just… something else.

“Mr. Ha Joon,” I called out, raising my hand. “Can I go get water?”

He smiled that same smile again and knelt down beside me. “Of course, champ. Be quick though, okay?”

I nodded and stood up, but instead of going to the water station, I tiptoed back and peeked from behind the art shelf. I watched him.

He stood in the middle of the room, looking around at the other kids. Not like a teacher. More like… someone who was trying to find something.

Or someone.

Then his eyes landed on Aarohi. My sister.

His smile didn’t change.

But something about the way he looked at her made my heart feel funny.

I rushed back and sat next to her, whispering, “Don’t go anywhere without me.”

She blinked. “What? Why?”

“I don’t like the way he looked at you.”

Aarohi tilted her head. “You mean Mr. Ha Joon? He’s nice. He said he likes my hair.”

I leaned in closer, whispering in a low voice like I was in a spy movie. “That’s what they say in movies before they kidnap the kids.”

She gasped. “You mean like villains?”

“Yeah.”

“But he smiled.”

“I know. That’s the scary part.”

She went quiet for a second, then held my hand under the table. “Should we tell Umma?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. What if we’re wrong and he’s not a villain? Umma will be mad.”

“So what do we do?”

“We watch him. Like detectives. And if he does anything weird—anything at all—we run straight to Umma and Appa. Okay?”

Aarohi nodded, her eyes serious now. “Okay. But if he’s really a villain, we need code names.”

I grinned. “Mine will be Shadow Panther.”

She giggled. “And mine is Golden Sparkle.”

We tapped our fingers together. “Detectives forever,” we whispered.

Later, during recess, he came over again. Mr. Ha Joon.

He knelt down and ruffled my hair. “You two are very close, huh?”

I didn’t answer. I just looked at him.

His smile wavered. Just for a tiny second.

Then he looked at Aarohi. “You remind me of someone I used to know.”

“Who?” she asked, smiling.

He leaned closer. “Someone very… special.”

That was it. That was the weirdest thing so far.

I grabbed her hand again and said, “We have to go. We're building a spy base.”

“Oh?” he raised an eyebrow, “Are you the leader?”

“No,” I said, dragging her away. “We both are.”

When we were far enough, Aarohi leaned toward me. “Shadow Panther?”

“Yeah?”

“I believe you now.”

I looked over my shoulder once. He was still watching us.

Not in a teacher way.

But in a way that made me promise myself:

If anyone tries to hurt my sister, I’ll be the first one to stop them.
No matter what.

Even if he hides behind a smile.

I was sitting on the school steps with a half-melted chocolate bar in one hand, my legs swinging back and forth. The sun was still up but not super bright, and my tongue was already sticky with chocolate. I licked it anyway. Aarohi would probably tell me not to be “messy,” but she wasn’t looking right now.

She was a few feet away from me, sitting cross-legged on the grass and very busy tying and untying her pink taekwondo belt.

“Why are you playing with that thing again?” I called out, mouth full.

“It’s not a thing! It’s my power belt,” she yelled back. “Master Lee said I’ll be ready to spar soon.”

“You’ll just trip over your own foot like last time,” I said, grinning.

“Will not!”

“Will too!”

“WILL NOT!!”

I laughed, my fingers sticky now. I looked down at my shirt. Uh-oh. There was chocolate on it. Umma was totally going to give me that serious ‘Mom Look.’

I wiped my fingers on my pants. Problem solved.

Aarohi suddenly gasped and stood up, shielding her eyes from the sun. “Hey… is that Appa’s car?”

I followed her gaze. A sleek black car had pulled up in front of the school gate. Not many parents drove cars that shiny. I recognized it immediately—the car.

The one with the cool dark windows, the low engine purr that sounded like a growling tiger.

The driver’s door opened.

And out stepped Appa.

“APPA!!” I shouted, jumping off the steps and running full speed toward him, nearly tripping over my own feet.

“Appaaa!!” Aarohi echoed behind me, her belt trailing behind her like a pink ribbon.

He bent down on one knee just as we reached him, and we both threw ourselves at him, giggling and yelling and hanging off him like monkeys on a tree.

“Woah! Easy, tigers!” he laughed, hugging us both tight. “Missed me that much, huh?”

I nodded. “You didn’t tell us you were picking us up!”

“I thought I’d surprise you,” he said, ruffling my hair with his strong hand. “Besides, I had to see for myself if these two were still the smartest kids in the school.”

“And the strongest!” Aarohi added, puffing up her chest.

He grinned. “Of course.”

Then the passenger door opened.

I turned—and there she was.

Umma.

Her eyes found us instantly, soft and warm, but I could tell she had been thinking too much again. She walked over with that kind of worried smile she gives when she wants to act okay even when something’s not.

I wiped my hands on my pants again and ran over, hugging her waist. “Umma, I didn’t get in trouble today. Aarohi almost did though—”

“Yah!” Aarohi protested behind me.

Umma laughed, kneeling down to hug us both. “You two make me so tired just looking at you.”

“We were waiting for you,” Aarohi said, looking up at her. “Guess what? Advait thought Mr. Ha Joon was a villain!”

I froze. “AAROHI!!”

Umma blinked. “Wait—what?”

“She’s just making things up,” I muttered quickly. “We were playing spies, that’s all.”

But her face had already changed. She looked at Appa.

He raised an eyebrow. “You were playing spies?”

I nodded quickly. “Yeah, just pretend stuff. Like detectives. Like in the movies.”

“Uh-huh,” Appa said, but he gave me a look. Not mad, but not ignoring it either. He was definitely gonna ask more about it later.

As we all walked to the car, Appa opened the back door and helped us both climb in.

Before he closed the door, he crouched down and whispered, “You keeping an eye on things like a good big brother?”

I nodded, serious now. “Always.”

He smiled, but not the playful kind. It was the real kind.

“I knew I could count on you.”

As we drove off, I looked out the window one more time.

And there he was—Mr. Ha Joon.

Standing on the steps.

Staring after our car.

Still smiling.

But again, his eyes didn’t match.

And even with Appa beside me…

A little shiver ran down my spine.

A/n's PoV —

I'm disappointed, now I think i shouldn't care about votes and comments. I'll just write.

- to be continued.

Love from your author 🌷