CHATER 1

Chapter One – The First Glance

The winter sun spread a soft glow over St. Aaryan College, warming the pale stone walls and the rustling gulmohar trees at the entrance. Students poured through the gates in twos and threes, voices mixing with the hum of scooter engines and the occasional laughter echoing across the courtyard.

Rudra stepped out of his classroom, his shirt neatly tucked, books held in one arm. On the surface, he was everything a professor could want—polite, punctual, and bright. But if you looked closely, you’d notice something else: a certain distance in his eyes, as if part of him stood somewhere far away, untouched by the noise of youth around him.

It wasn’t that Rudra didn’t have friends. He did—two boys, Arjun and Sameer, and a girl named Samaira. They were popular, loud, and often walked through the campus as if it belonged to them. The problem was, they had a habit of pushing their weight around, enjoying the uneasy glances they got from juniors. Rudra never joined in their antics, but he never stopped them either. Sometimes, silence feels safer than confrontation.

That day, a new face walked through the main gate.

Ruhi.

She wore a plain white kurta with a light blue stole, her hair tied neatly, and a notebook clutched in her hands. She wasn’t shy—her eyes moved across the campus with calm confidence, taking in every corner as though mapping it in her mind.

“Fresh meat,” Sameer muttered with a smirk, elbowing Arjun. Samaira laughed softly. The three exchanged a glance and started walking towards her.

“Hey,” Arjun called out. “New here, right? First-year newbies have to impress us so wh—”

But before he could finish, Ruhi stopped and looked him straight in the eye.

“I’m here to study, not to audition for your approval,” she said, her voice clear, her expression steady.

The group froze for a moment—unused to being met with defiance. Samaira’s smile faltered, Sameer frowned, and Arjun shrugged it off with an awkward laugh.

Rudra, standing a few steps behind them, watched her.

He didn’t know what it was—the way she didn’t flinch, or the spark in her eyes—but something shifted inside him. A small, silent pull.

So this is Ruhi…

He didn’t call it love, not yet. He didn’t even recognise it for what it was. But somewhere in his chest, a corner long locked away had opened, just a little.

That night, Rudra sat in his small room at his house, the hum of the ceiling fan filling the silence. His parents’ faces faint now with time floated in his mind. They’d been gone since he was seven, lost to an accident that still felt unreal when he thought about it. His uncle had raised him, given him a home, but some absences can’t be replaced.

Sometimes, when the world quieted down, Rudra felt the weight of that loneliness pressing against him. He had never said it out loud, but deep down, he wished for someone~not a friend in passing, not a crowd around him~someone who would be his. Someone who would choose him, and love him.

And though he didn’t know it yet, Ruhi’s arrival had just turned that silent wish into the beginning of a story.

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