Chapter 5: Making a Deal with Destiny

I pretended not to notice, gladly accepting every calculated approach from Kabir after that.

In the bustling canteen, in the deserted sports room, Kabir always managed to run into me for a so-called “unexpected encounter.” It was as if he had a sixth sense for where I’d be, or maybe Ritika was feeding him tips. Sometimes, he’d lean against the wall with a lazy smile, tossing a Parle-G packet in the air, waiting for me to pass by.

He lingered by my side longer and longer, his gaze growing more and more intense, until one day, he pushed through the crowd and walked up to me.

“Meera, I like you. Will you be my girlfriend?”

When I threw myself into his arms, I pretended not to see the disgust he tried to hide behind his long lashes. I just closed my eyes and deeply inhaled the pleasant scent of Nivea and detergent on him. His shirt was crisp and his breath warm, and for a moment, I forgot everything else.

They always said, “Kitabon mein toh sab milta hai—dhan bhi, pyaar bhi.” Turns out, they weren’t wrong.

But I also knew this beauty would only belong to me for a short while.

Maybe he’d soon end this revenge game, dump me in public to vent for his little childhood friend.

Or maybe he’d want to play longer, let me sink deeper, then suddenly call it off. I braced myself for either, but couldn’t stop my heart from hoping.

But what I didn’t expect was that this Kabir had come to smash my house of gold.

The first time I realised it was in the cyber café.

I was quietly working on ‘Oswal’ practice books—a staple for Indian high schoolers—by Kabir’s computer, when the guy who’d been gaming suddenly tore off his headphones in irritation.

Hearing the noise, I looked up and asked what was wrong.

Kabir glanced around, making sure no one from school was watching, before dropping his voice.

He stared at me for a while, then suddenly spoke, his eyes calm.

“I don’t like you doing test papers when you’re with me.”

Happy to accommodate a beauty, I put the papers away and tossed them aside. I even stuffed them into my bag so fast that some of the pages crumpled at the edge.

“Then I won’t do them.”

He kept staring at me, his expression growing colder.

“I think the gap between us is too big.”

“I don’t like that.”

I realised something, my heart thumping. The silence hung heavy, broken only by the click-click of the computers and a distant peon arguing with the café owner about chai.

“Then what do you think... would be good?”

He suddenly leaned in, so close our foreheads almost touched, his tone almost pleading.

“Can’t you just be a bad student like me?”

The blue light from the screen reflected quietly in his glass-like eyes, and like a siren luring prey, he invited me:

“Meera, come into my world. Be with me forever.”

In that moment, I was nearly ecstatic.

So this is what he wanted.

So this is what Ritika wanted.

I knew this happiness wouldn’t last, but I was ready to risk it all for one more day in Kabir’s world.