It was just another morning.Class schedules had shifted again.It happened often in Elaris.New subjects.Merged wings.
They told us we'd have a shared class.East Echo and North Flame.Two wings, one room.
I didn't think much of it.
Until I walked in.
Rows of floating chairs.Desks rearranged.Voices mixing together.
And then—
A hum.Soft.Familiar.
My heart raced.I knew that sound.It was him.It had to be.
I turned.Expecting to see Vivaan.
And there he was.Vivaan.Sitting just a few rows away.
My heart beat faster.This was it.I was finally going to face him.The boy I had built in my mind.The one I'd convinced myself was behind the wall.
But then…
I heard it again.A soft hum.The same one that had been there every night.The voice that had been calling to me.The one I had imagined was Vivaan's.
I froze.
I looked at him.Vivaan's face.His smile.But the voice wasn't his.It wasn't coming from him.
Everything inside me flipped.Like the ground beneath me had suddenly vanished.
The hum.The sound that had filled my nights,it didn't belong to him.
I couldn't look back.I couldn't.The reality of it hit me like a wave,and I didn't want to face it.Didn't want to see who was really there.
But I knew.Deep down, I knew.
The voice I had fallen for wasn't Vivaan's.It was someone else's.
My world felt like it had turned upside down.I wanted to disappear.To go back to pretending I didn't care.To go back to the safe, quiet world of my thoughts.
I turned quickly,too quickly.I couldn't face it.I couldn't face the truth.
That night,I didn't hum.Didn't tap.I lay still,thinking of the boy sitting in that room,the one with the voice that wasn't Vivaan's.
How could I have been so wrong?How could I have fallen for a voice?A voice that wasn't even his?
I felt ashamed.Confused.Foolish.
Reva didn't ask.She didn't need to.
She just sat beside me,like she always did.Her presence was enough.I couldn't explain it.Not the confusion.Not the hurt.Not the ache in my chest where the voice used to be.
I thought I knew my heart.But maybe I didn't.Maybe I was just chasing somethingthat wasn't real.A voice,a memory,a sound that didn't belong to him.