Chapter 10 – Where We Begin
It started like a whisper—so soft, so still, that neither of them noticed it taking root. But now, it was real. Not loud. Not dramatic. But real.
Aarav had never been the type to chase feelings. He was pragmatic. Focused. The kind of boy who planned everything, from his career to his coffee breaks. But Mehar? She was the unexpected line in a script he thought he'd already written.
Their friendship had turned into something else. Something unspoken but unmistakable.
—
It was Friday.
Aarav had been pacing the corridor for ten minutes outside the art room, a textbook in hand that he wasn't reading. He finally saw her walk out—hair tied up messily, her hands smudged with charcoal.
"You're early," she said, surprised.
"I'm always early when you're involved."
She blinked. That was new. That was bold.
They walked in silence toward the cafeteria, but the air between them buzzed with things neither had yet said.
—
At lunch, while their friends laughed and argued over board games and group assignments, Aarav leaned in.
"I've been thinking," he said.
Mehar looked up from her half-eaten sandwich. "Dangerous."
He smirked. "Maybe. But I think we're wasting time."
She raised an eyebrow. "How?"
"We keep pretending this isn't something. When it clearly is."
Mehar held his gaze. "You want a label?"
He shook his head. "I want honesty."
She was quiet.
Then she said, "I'm scared of what comes after honesty."
He nodded. "Me too. But maybe we try anyway?"
—
That evening, Aarav sent her a photo. A playlist titled "For Us (When You're Ready)." Below it: No pressure. Just... listen when you feel it too.
Mehar didn't reply right away. She sat on her bed, staring at the screen.
She listened.
And then, for the first time, she let herself feel what she had been avoiding all along.
—
The next day, she found him in the school courtyard.
No one else was around. The air was thick with summer heat.
"I listened to the playlist," she said, voice soft.
Aarav looked up from his notebook.
"And?" he asked.
She took a step closer.
"I think I'm ready for whatever this becomes."
A pause.
A breath.
A smile.
And in that moment, they weren't almost anymore.
They were beginning.