42.The first Glimpse

Meera's POV

The moment Ratan carries her out of the room, everything falls quiet. Like her absence left a vacuum behind.

Aryan stands frozen—still staring at the spot where she broke down.

Still shaken.

I don't blame him.

She's never slipped like that in front of him before. Not fully.

I wait a second before speaking. "You okay?"

He doesn't answer right away.

His hands are clenched at his sides, jaw tight. "That wasn't her," he finally says. "Not the Aarohi I know."

I nod slowly. "No. It wasn't."

He turns to me, eyes burning with questions. "Then who was it?"

I hesitate.

I've never been good at this part. At protecting someone by revealing just enough.

"She's been… different lately," I say carefully. "You've seen it too."

"Meera, don't give me riddles. I need the truth. Is she—" He stops. Swallows hard. "Is she okay?"

I look toward the door Ratan disappeared through. "Define 'okay.'"

"Meera."

I sigh. "She's complicated, Aryan. There are things about her that even she doesn't fully understand."

He steps closer. "But you do?"

"I know enough to see when she's slipping," I say. "When someone else is starting to take control."

He stares at me. "Someone else."

The silence between us crackles.

I don't say anything. I just let the weight of my words hang.

Then, finally, I speak again—quiet, but clear. "You ever notice how sometimes she says things she doesn't remember later? Or how her mood flips like a switch? Like she's not even in the same room as you anymore?"

He nods slowly. "Yeah."

"And today," I say, "you met someone who wasn't her."

His voice drops to a whisper. "Reyza?"

A flicker of something crosses my face, and I look away. "Maybe. Maybe not."

"But she's real," Aryan says. "Whoever that was."

"She's not the only one," I say, then stop myself. "That's all I can tell you."

Aryan's eyes widen. "Not the only one?"

I turn away, already regretting saying too much. "Be careful, Aryan. If you keep going down this path… you'll learn things you can't unlearn."

"I don't care."

"I know," I say softly. "That's what scares me."

And then I walk away—leaving him with more questions than answers.

Because if he's really going to stay by her side…

Meera's POV – Flashback

It was a year ago.

Late October.

The school halls were half-empty, and the sky outside was smeared in storm gray. I stayed back to finish a project. Aarohi said she'd wait.

I should've known something was off.

She was too quiet that day.

Not the usual quiet—different.

Detached.

I remember asking her something stupid—"Are you okay?"—and she just looked at me like I was speaking in a language she didn't understand.

"I don't like this place," she had said, staring at the wall.

"What place? The classroom?"

"No. This one." She tapped her head. "It's always loud in here."

I laughed it off. Thought she was being dramatic.

But then she stood up.

And when she turned to face me again…

She wasn't Aarohi anymore.

Her smile twisted just slightly—too sharp.

Her posture changed. Confident. Almost cruel.

She tilted her head, eyeing me like I was a bug under glass. "You're nosy," she said.

I frowned. "Excuse me?"

"You always want to fix people. You think if you understand them, they'll stop being broken."

She walked toward me, slow. Deliberate.

I stepped back instinctively.

She laughed. Not Aarohi's laugh. This one had ice in it. "Relax, Meera. I won't break you. Yet."

Yet.

That's when I knew—I wasn't talking to my best friend.

I remember whispering, "Aarohi?"

And the girl in front of me grinned. "Not right now."

She blinked. Once. Twice.

And then she collapsed—like a switch flipped.

When she looked up again, she was confused. Breathing hard. Scared.

"Aarohi," I said, kneeling beside her, "what just happened?"

She shook her head, tears in her eyes. "What do you mean? I—I was just talking to you…"

That night, I didn't sleep.

And from that day on, I started watching closely. Every twitch. Every change.

Because I had seen it.

Her.

The other side.

Reyza.