Author POV (Flashback continues)

Aksh looked at Trishika and asked in a confused tone, "What is she doing here with you?"

"Aksh, Bhavika wanted to talk to you about something," Trishika replied nervously.

"Didn’t you say you wanted to talk?" Aksh asked, his irritation evident in his tone.

"No, Bhavika wanted to talk about something; I just asked you on her behalf," Trishika clarified, trying to help Aksh understand the situation.

"She could have asked herself, too. What was the need to ask you to ask me? What does she even want to talk about?" Aksh inquired, still irritated.

“Um, v-vo…” Trishika began to speak but was interrupted by Kian.

"Aksh, calm down, bhai. Bolne to de usse" ("Aksha, calm down, brother. Atleast let her speak.") Kian said, trying to diffuse the tension.

“Bolo (speak), what you need to say, and make it quick,” Aksh said, more like an order to Bhavika. His tone was slow, but there was still a hint of annoyance in it.

Bhavika hesitated as she first looked at Trishika, then at Kian, and finally at Aksh. Then she looked back at Trishika, as if reconsidering her decision about whether to confess or not.

"I... I think... I think I like you. It's not something big; I can confirm that. It's just a little crush, but I believe— I believe I have feelings for you, just a little bit," Bhavika hurriedly confessed, stuttering as she spoke. Her face was downturned, and her eyes were tightly closed, as if she were afraid—afraid of his reaction.

There was silence—dead silence—in the room. Trishika held Bhavika's hand and squeezed it slightly, as if trying to give her courage, but Bhavika's eyes remained fixed on the floor. Kian was also in shock, struggling to process everything that had just happened, and Aksh... he was silent as well—too silent. The room was still filled with this heavy silence until suddenly, a laugh broke through.

Everyone turned to the source of the laughter, and it was Aksh. His laugh wasn't normal; it sounded mocking—mocking Bhavika.

Aksh turned his head towards Kian and said, "Kian, did you hear what she just said? She said she likes me—She Likes Me!"

Still laughing, Aksh then shifted his gaze to Bhavika, examining her from head to toe as if he were judging her.

"You said you like me, right? But you should have thought twice before confessing. How did you even think that I would accept your proposal? Have you even looked at yourself? The only reason I tolerated you was because you are Trishika's friend. If that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t even glance in your direction. And what made you think that just because our families arranged our relationship when we were kids, I would start to like you? That’s not going to happen. I can hardly stand you for a second, let alone have feelings for you. Get this into your mind: I’m already in a relationship with someone I like. You need to forget about what our families did, because something like that will never happen." Aksh said this very seriously, looking straight into Bhavika’s eyes, as if he meant every single word.

Hearing all this, Bhavika lifted her head and found Aksh already looking at her. She tried her best not to break down in front of everyone; she didn’t want to embarrass herself any further. With a little struggle, she took her hand out of Trishika's grip, turned around, and ran out of the room, unable to take it anymore.

As she did this, Trishika and Kian came out of their shock. They both watched Bhavika’s fleeing figure as she left the room.

Trishika glanced at the door and then turned to Aksh. Kian also looked at her, and from the expression on her face, he could tell that something even worse was about to happen. He wanted to say something—many things, in fact—but he chose to remain silent, knowing that no one would understand anything at this moment.

"What on earth did you do, Aksh? If you didn't like her, you could have rejected her politely. But no, you always have to let your ego get in the way, right? Why did you feel the need to break her like this? Tell me, what was the need to destroy her self-respect like that?" Trishika asked, looking straight at Aksh with anger in her voice, though she was still holding herself back.

"You know what? It was me who asked her to confess her feelings. But if I had known something like this would happen, I would have never let it all unfold. I didn’t say anything to you because I thought you would realize your mistakes on your own, but clearly, that’s never going to happen.

And there's one more thing I want to tell you: you called me your sister. Well, today I’m breaking that relationship between us. If you can’t respect a girl normally, how will you respect anyone else? For me, you were important, but my best friend is even more important. There’s no way I’m going to maintain a relationship with someone who disrespects her, and because of whom you rejected Bhavika, she doesn’t even care about you ." Trishika finally let everything out in anger and stormed out of the room.

Aksh stood frozen in place after hearing Trishika’s words. He had never had a sister before, and to him, Trishika was like family. He cared about her, but because of his own mistakes and ego, he had lost her today.

"You will regret all of this someday," Kian said, finally breaking his silence. He gave his best friend one last look before picking up his bag and leaving the room.

Kian POV (Present)

As I finished speaking, the table was all silent, I know the things I said are not something to be taken lightly. Everyone at the table was in deep shock. They didn't expect this, nobody did.

"After that incident, Trishika refused to talk to us, even to me. It was really difficult to get her to communicate again, but eventually she did. However, with Aksh, the situation was different. After that day, she never spoke to him again. Since we were in different streams, it became hard for us to see each other.

After that day, we never saw Bhavika or Trishika in school again. They were always present in class, but whenever we crossed paths, they would change their route to avoid us." As I began speaking again, everyone turned to listen.

"I couldn't believe that so much had happened, and nobody bothered to inform us. I don’t know what Bhavika must have gone through at that time. She was just a child and had always been sensitive. Did her parents know about any of this?" Shalini Aunty asked, her tone betraying her anger.

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