The hall was glowing.
Golden fairy lights were strung like stars across the ceiling, soft music filled the air, and laughter bounced off every surface. The kind of night where people captured moments not for memories, but for Instagram stories.
This wasn't a school event.
This was the farewell party students threw for themselves-off the record, out of the uniform, and far away from teachers' eyes.
Here, reputations were remade.
Here, secrets collided under the mirror ball.
And into that charged room walked Ahaana Singh.
Heads turned.
Silence hummed.
She wore a wine-red silk saree that clung to her like it was stitched from confidence. Her hair curled delicately over her scar-not hiding it, but softening it. Her eyeliner winged perfectly, her lips painted like rose petals, her eyes... unreadable.
Aditya walked beside her in a charcoal-black blazer, but that night-he was not the headline.
She was.
Boys who had never once spoken her name suddenly whispered it.
Girls who used to overlook her blinked in disbelief.And somewhere in the shadows, leaning against a pillar with a drink in hand, stood Ayaan Gazi-watching, frozen.
For a second, he thought he had imagined her.
This wasn't the girl from the café.
Not the chubby girl who stood in the corner of the assembly field.
This was someone else-unapologetic, elegant, glowing.
And worst of all?
She didn't look at him. Not once.
She laughed, posed for pictures, leaned into Aditya like she belonged.
The same girl who once couldn't hold Ayaan's gaze for more than two seconds was now looking through him like hedidn't exist.
Ayaan's chest tightened. His friends watched silently.
"Bro... you let that go?"
"I thought she was just some average chick."
"She's literally glowing."
He didn't reply.
He couldn't.
Every second was suffocating.
And then-it got worseSomeone started playing "Kuch Is Tarah".
Slow. Dreamy. Romantic.
The lights dimmed. A subtle announcement echoed, "Couples dance, anyone?"
Without waiting, Aditya extended a hand.
Ahaana laughed but took it.
They stepped into the center of the floor.
A spotlight followed them.
And there she was.
Dancing.
Her arms around his neck, his hands gently on her waist. Her smile was soft, vulnerable, real.
And Ayaan?
He stood still in a room that was spinning too fast.
He could hear his own heartbeat louder than the music.
She wasn't trying to make him jealous.
She had moved on.
The boy who was once her everything was now just someone who used to matter.
As the music faded, Ayaan made a move.
He walked straight toward her.Not to reclaim. Not to confess. Just to speak-something, anything.
But before he reached, her friends pulled her aside for one last group picture.
His eyes were locked on her as she moved across the dance floor. Not once did she look in his direction.
Not even when their shoulders nearly brushed as she went to take a group photo.
And yet, when Aditya lifted her phone to click, Ayaan stepped forward-almost involuntarily-and stood next to her.
She froze for a second. Her body stiffened.
He could feel her pulse through the air.She didn't say a word. She didn't smile. She just let the picture be taken.
Then she walked away. Straight to Aditya. Straight to her safety net.
Ayaan was left behind, feeling like a ghost.
He stood just steps away.
Close enough to smell her perfume.
And then-she saw him.
Their eyes locked.
For the first time in weeks.
Ahaana didn't smile.
She didn't blink.
She didn't soften.
She just said calmly, without words:
>You're too late.
Aditya returned beside her and slid his arm around her shoulders like he belonged there.
Ayaan turned away.
But even as he left, his eyes burned.
Not because she hurt him-
But because he let her become this... without him.
And she didn't need saving.
She needed him to see her for who she was before the saree.But now?
Now she was untouchable.