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Enjoy reading ✨️

The abandoned room smelled of rust, secrecy, and stale breath. Once used for storage, it had become something else entirely tonight-a chamber of planning, of shadows and broken intentions. Torn charts curled from the walls, and shattered glass crunched softly under shoes. A single tube light above flickered violently, throwing shadows that danced like ghosts on the cracked floor.

She stood in the center-Kavya-not a hair out of place, not a breath wasted. Dressed in black, her silhouette looked like it had been carved from vengeance. Her fingers drummed lightly on the edge of a dusty table, the only furniture standing firm in the room. On it, her phone lay quietly, its screen glowing with a paused video.

Around her, four figures loomed. One leaned casually against a wall, arms crossed like he owned the room. Another sat on an overturned stool, chewing gum with a smirk that didn't reach his eyes. The third stood near the window, eyes locked on the streetlights flickering outside. And the last-the one who hated Avyansh the most-sat on the floor, legs stretched out, gaze fixed on the phone like it was loaded with live ammunition.

Kavya tapped the screen. The room filled with the faint, shaky audio of a voice-familiar, soft, but chilling.

> "...Toh woh rahega bhi uske saath... lekin zinda nahi hoga..."

Then silence.

The moment the video ended, one of the boys let out a low whistle, breaking the tension.

"That," he muttered, "sounds deranged."

Kavya smiled.

"That," she echoed, "is going to destroy them."

Another boy leaned forward, eyes narrowing. "It's just fifteen seconds. No context. What if people don't buy it?"

"They won't have to," she said coldly. "They only have to feel it."

She walked slowly around the table, eyes locked on the frozen screen. "Do you know what that line sounds like? It sounds like obsession. Possession. A girl so far gone, she's ready to destroy the one she claims to love."

One of the others raised a brow. "And that's the story?"

"No," Kavya said. "That's the trap."

She turned, eyes now flashing with something darker than hatred-strategy. "You don't understand him. He's not the type to fall from humiliation, or rivalry, or failure. But if the one person he trusts... the one person who makes him believe in softness... turns out to be a lie?"

She paused.

"He will collapse from the inside out."

One of the boys muttered, "That trust he has in her... it's ridiculous."

Kavya's voice softened, but the venom curled at its edges.

"He looks at her like she's incapable of harm. Like her soul is made of light and silence and poetry. He doesn't question her. He protects her, even when she doesn't need it. That kind of trust?" She tapped her temple. "That's a weakness."

The boy near the window cracked his knuckles. "So how do we plant it?"

Kavya picked up the phone and pressed play again, letting the line ring out once more into the stale air.

> "...lekin zinda nahi hoga..."

She pressed pause.

"We send it to him."

"And then?"

"Then we let him destroy her in silence."

She turned to face the seated boy-the one who hated Avyansh with a deeper fire than even she could muster.

"You wanted to break him. Humiliate him. But that's too easy. Too loud. What we're doing is worse. We'll make him question her. Doubt her. And in doing so, destroy himself."

He grinned.

The one near the wall shifted. "What if he believe her? Asks her the truth?"

Kavya turned slowly. "He will. But not until the damage has settled in his bones. The point isn't to isolate them. It's to corrupt the foundation they stand on. Trust."

She looked down at her phone again.

"No matter what she says, the doubt will stay. Every time he will look at her, he'll remember that clip. That tone. That line."

The one sitting on the floor tilted his head. "You're really going to all this trouble just because he doesn't love you back?"

Kavya went still.

Then, slowly, she walked over to him. She crouched, her eyes inches from his.

"This has nothing to do with love," she whispered. "This has to do with being forgotten."

She stood, brushing invisible dust from her sleeve.

"I was there before her. I knew his anger. His silences. I laughed at his arrogance. Held space for him. And he threw that away the moment she looked at him like he was made of gold."

She turned to the table and placed the phone down with purpose.

"He used to look through everyone. Then one day, he started looking at her. And everything I was-became invisible."

Silence fell again. The bulb above them gave one last flicker, then died, plunging the room into dim shadows lit only by the phone's soft glow.

One of the shadows spoke, this time more serious. "You know you're going to ruin her."

Kavya didn't turn.

"I'm not going to ruin her," she said calmly. "I'm going to make her watch him ruin himself because of her."

A long pause.

"And that's worse."

She turned to face them again. "Now listen carefully. Blur the background. Muffle the ending. Make the audio sound like a leaked security cam-raw, scary, real. Strip the timestamp. Send it from a burner account with a cryptic name. Something like TruthInPieces."

"And then?"

"Then we wait."

The boy near the wall nodded. "And when he breaks?"

Kavya smiled at that. A quiet, horrifying smile that didn't touch her eyes.

"When he breaks," she said, "he'll never trust her again. No matter what she says. That's the kind of betrayal you don't forget."

No one answered.

The silence spoke for all of them.

As they left the room one by one, the phone screen flickered back to life once more.

> "...Toh woh rahega bhi uske saath... lekin zinda nahi hoga..."

The line echoed one last time in the shadows-like a prophecy.

And by the time dawn broke, a 15-second video had already begun making its way through hidden corners of the school, whispered between screenshots, burning through trust like acid through glass.

It wasn't just a clip.

It was a match.

And Kavya?

She had already poured the gasoline.

𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆🌷͙⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

The school campus had quieted. The lights in the academic block had gone cold, classrooms locked, corridors breathing silence. Somewhere in the distance, a generator hummed like a nervous lie.

But one room was not asleep.

A forgotten staff cabin in the basement-dimly lit, dusty, claustrophobic. The peeling walls held too many secrets, and the flickering tube light made the shadows twitch like they were listening. Two chairs faced each other across a crooked desk.

Kavya sat on one, legs crossed, composed like a coiled serpent in silk.

Across from her, lounging with dangerous ease, was the leader-the boy no one dared name in open halls anymore. Avyansh's long-time rival. His laugh used to echo through basketball courts. Now, it only hissed behind locked doors.

He lit a match, not for light, but for effect. The flame danced briefly before he let it die.

"I saw the clip," he said at last, voice low and amused. "Quite the masterpiece of corruption, Kavya. You're sharper than I thought."

Kavya didn't respond. Her eyes flicked toward the dusty window once, then back to him.

He leaned in, resting his elbows on the desk, a smile creeping up like oil.

"She doesn't even know she's being watched, does she? Akshita."
He savored the name. Too long. Too slow.

"She doesn't need to," Kavya replied coolly. "She walks through this world like it belongs to her. It's only right someone reminds her it doesn't."

The leader chuckled. "You sound bitter. Like a queen exiled from her throne."

Kavya's lips curved faintly. "Queens are not exiled. They burn kingdoms on the way out."

He leaned back, smirk unfading. "Still, I must admit... there's something about her. The way she smiles like she's untouched. Like no one's dared to stain her."

He dragged a finger along the table's edge.

"I've always wondered how long that would last. How long before that softness... cracks?"

Kavya's smile vanished. Her eyes sharpened.

"You want to break her," she said softly.

The leader shrugged. "Don't we all? But let's just say-" he tilted his head, voice dropping "-I'm more interested in watching her bend first."

Kavya didn't flinch. But the silence that followed was darker than anything spoken.

Finally, she answered, her voice like a slow drip of poison.

"There's a time for that."

He raised a brow. "And when, dear schemer, will that time arrive?"

"The last exam," she said without blinking. "That's when the veil lifts. That's when we plant doubt deep enough to rot."

He chuckled again. "Poetic. And what will we do? Whisper behind lockers? Leak more clips?"

Kavya leaned forward, her voice almost loving.

"On the last day, when everyone's mind is elsewhere-relief, farewells, distractions-we won't just whisper. We'll slice."

He blinked. "Slice what?"

She smiled, slow and deliberate. "The connection between them. The illusion of loyalty. The fantasy that they're untouchable."

The leader studied her for a moment.

"And if he doesn't believe it?" he asked. "What if Avyansh stands beside her, defends her, shouts in her favor? Then what, Kavya? All this effort and still the knight chooses his queen."

Her eyes glinted like wet steel.

"Then," she said calmly, "I become the dagger he didn't see coming."

His gaze darkened. "That's vague."

"It's intentional."

"But what does that mean?" he pressed. "That you'll lie in front of him? Cry? Beg? Make her look guilty?"

Kavya turned her head, like she was listening to a voice only she could hear.

"If it takes a wound... I'll bleed."

She looked at him then-eyes glassy, dangerous.

"If it takes me being used, discarded, broken in front of him to poison his trust in her-so be it."

He stared at her for a long moment. Then he laughed, low and slow.

"You're mad."

"No," she replied, rising slowly. "I'm strategic."

He stood too, shadows folding around him. "You'd sacrifice yourself?"

"Not sacrifice. Weaponize."

He walked closer, hands in pockets. "You're not afraid of burning in the fire you're lighting?"

She met his eyes. "I am the fire."

He tilted his head. "And Akshita? What is she?"

Kavya's voice dropped.

"A dream."

He raised an eyebrow.

"And dreams," she finished, "are the sweetest right before they turn into nightmares."

He watched her, silently, for a few seconds. Then, slowly, he pulled a folded paper from his jacket-an photograph. Akshita, smiling under the farewell banner. Unaware. Unbroken.

"I want to be there when it happens," he said. "When the light leaves her face."

Kavya didn't even glance at the photo. "You won't need to see it. You'll feel it. The moment he turns away from her-it'll ripple through every hallway."

He held the photo to the light. "So innocent. So... unreachable."

Kavya's voice was pure ice. "Not unreachable. Just waiting to fall."

He put the photo away, voice lower now. "And after she's broken? Can I... have what remains?"

Kavya smiled. Not kindly.

"Pieces have no say in where they land."

He studied her for a moment. "You hate her."

"No," Kavya whispered. "I envy her."

He stepped back, hand on the doorknob. "You're dangerous, Kavya."

She tilted her head. "Only when I'm ignored."

As he opened the door, pale light spilled in. He looked over his shoulder one last time.

"And what about Avyansh?" he asked. "When he realizes what you've done?"

Kavya's lips curled like a blade.

"By then," she said, "he won't be able to tell who destroyed him-her betrayal... or mine."

The door creaked shut.

The room was silent again.

Only dust remained.

And the ghost of a smile that never meant safety.

𓂃˖˳·˖ ִֶָ ⋆🌷͙⋆ ִֶָ˖·˳˖𓂃 ִֶָ

The sun was dipping low behind the school building, casting warm amber light through the tall, dust-streaked windows of Class 12-A. The once vibrant classroom, where laughter often echoed and paper planes ruled the air, now stood quiet - heavy with silence and memories.

Only two girls remained.

Akshita and Vedika sat at the last bench - their bench. The same one they had shared through group projects, whispered gossip, and silent glances during surprise tests. Akshita's fingers ran slowly across the wooden surface, tracing the initials scratched into its edge years ago: A + V = Crazies Forever.

Akshita's guitar bag leaned against the wall like a loyal companion, the same way it had rested when she had walked back into this school after five long years. Her schoolbag was tossed casually on the desk - just as it had been on that first day, as if time had folded upon itself.

She broke the silence, a soft smile curving on her lips.

"I still remember the day I returned to this classroom," she said, her voice wrapped in warmth. "After five years, everything felt unfamiliar, yet oddly comforting. Everyone had stared at me like I was some ghost from the past."

Vedika chuckled beside her, the sound light but full of fondness.

"Of course we did! You walked in like some mysterious character from a movie - calm, composed, carrying that massive guitar bag like it was your shield."

Akshita grinned. "Even the teacher had fumbled with her words, calling me an 'old-new student'. I was standing right there thinking, 'Make up your mind already!'"

Vedika laughed, her eyes glimmering. "The moment you smiled though, it was like nothing had changed. It all came back - the memories, your rhythm. It was like our missing piece had returned."

Akshita looked around the classroom - every corner held something sacred. A memory. A moment. A feeling.

"I still remember walking through the corridors. Everything looked smaller than I remembered. But when I stepped into this classroom... I felt like I belonged again."

Vedika rested her chin on her hand. "And we were so excited to have you back. You opened your lunchbox like old times and passed those idlis around without missing a beat."

Akshita narrowed her eyes in mock indignation. "And you, as usual, stole all my chutney."

Both of them laughed - that full, belly-deep laugh that left your heart a little lighter. The laughter echoed around the empty classroom, bouncing off the walls that had heard it so many times before.

Then, a pause. A different kind of silence. One that felt like it was holding its breath.

Akshita looked down at her hands, her smile slowly fading. "You know, sometimes it feels like this year passed too fast. I blinked, and it's almost over. It's like I lived a whole life in one year - friendship, pain, healing... joy. And now..."

She stopped.

Vedika leaned in gently. "And now what?"

Akshita hesitated. Her voice grew quieter, thoughtful.

"Now it feels like something's wrong. Deeply wrong. Like something big is coming... something bad."

Vedika tried to smile, tried to keep it light. "You're always like this - thinking too much, imagining storms in quiet skies."

But a chill had crept into her voice. She too had noticed the subtle changes - the way Kavya's glances lingered a little too long. But she didn't want to give shape to those thoughts.

Akshita looked straight ahead, eyes glassy. "It's not just a feeling, Vedika. It's something I can't explain. Like a storm is waiting, ready to tear through everything we've built. I don't know what... but I know it'll leave nothing behind except shattered pieces."

The words lingered in the air.

Vedika froze for a moment. She had felt it too - in her gut, in her bones - a discomfort she hadn't been able to name. But what could she say? That she too sensed something? That she'd overheard whispers from Kavya and a few others and decided to ignore them?

No. She smiled instead. A shaky, half-hearted smile.

"You sound like a tragic poet today," she said with a soft laugh. "It's probably just pre-exam anxiety. You get too emotional sometimes."

Akshita finally smiled again, her eyes still heavy with thought. "Maybe. Maybe I am being dramatic. But I'll miss all of this, you know? You, Avyansh, Ishaan, Siddharth... even Kavya, in her weird way. I'll miss all of you."

Vedika's smile softened. "We'll all miss this. The classroom, our benches, your random songs in the middle of lectures... even our group studies that turned into meme-sharing marathons."

Akshita blinked rapidly, brushing at her eyes.

"I'm going to cry on the last day of exams, I know it. My tears won't stop when we leave."

Vedika pulled her closer, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You'll cry, yes. But they'll be tears of joy. And I'll be there with tissues, so your mascara doesn't run all over your cheeks."

She smiled again - the kind of smile friends use to hide deeper truths. She didn't want to worry Akshita. Not now.

But inside, her stomach twisted. Something was off. She could feel it too.

And yet, she chose to bury that feeling. For now.

"Anyway," Vedika said, trying to change the mood, "After exams, we're planning that trip - remember? Wherever you want. Goa, Vrindavan, maybe even Manali. We'll make a thousand more memories. Deal?"

Akshita gave a soft laugh and nodded. "Deal."

They sat like that for a while, two girls holding onto the last strands of a year they'd never forget. A year filled with old connections, blooming feelings, and a shadow creeping just behind the curtains of joy.

Outside, the golden sky had darkened into a deep amber.

Far down the corridor, unseen by the two girls, Kavya stood near the lockers - her phone in hand, a sly smile dancing on her lips. Her fingers hovered above a message just sent. One she had carefully crafted.

A plan was in motion.

A plan that would turn that classroom of memories into a graveyard of trust.
A plan that would silence laughter, break friendships, and leave tears - not of joy - but betrayal.

But for now, Akshita and Vedika sat unaware, their laughter echoing one last time in that fading evening light.

And though Akshita had spoken her fears with a half-smile...
She had no idea how true her words would soon become.

She would cry.
But not because the year ended.
She would cry because someone had planned to break her completely.

And Vedika, who had brushed it off tonight... would soon realize she should have listened.

ᴛ ᴏ ʙ ᴇ ᴄ ᴏ ɴ ᴛ ɪ ɴ ᴜ ᴇ ᴅ

Hehe so how's the chapter???

Dar, khauf, ya gussa kuch laga ki nahii.

Was it boring???