Chapter 10: The Echo of Betrayal
But Ritika finally couldn’t hold back and exploded.
“It’s one thing for you to avoid me in front of Meera, but now she’s not here and you’re still acting like you’re loyal to her.”
“Kabir, you don’t really like that bookworm, do you?”
Kabir’s face changed, and he impatiently pushed her away.
“Wasn’t it you who insisted on that bet?”
“If I hadn’t stayed loyal for her, how would you have gotten those first places?”
“Now that you’ve got the trophy, you’re biting back?”
“I didn’t make you go this far.”
Ritika grabbed his collar, agitated.
“Where have you two been these past two weeks since the board exams? What did you and that girl do? Tell me!”
Even now, Ritika’s voice echoed in my head—what did you and that girl do? I wondered if I even knew the answer myself.
Even now, I could hear the raw panic and longing in her voice—an echo of all the dreams we’d all been taught to hide, all the battles we fought quietly, behind closed doors, in the shadow of everyone’s expectations.