Amirathod
when she got selected for Riverton University, a place filled with luxury cars, students dripping in designer clothes, and confidence louder than the hallways themselves, Ishani felt like a misfit walking into a kingdom that wasn't hers.
Her scholarship letter still sat folded inside her old diary, like proof that fate had given her a chance.
But she also knew fate wasn't always kind.
On her first day, while everyone else chatted, laughed, and posted pictures, she quietly found a corner seat, gripping her duffel bag and praying no one would talk to her.
That's when she first heard the whispers.
"Move, Malhotra is coming"
"Bro, don't block the hall, are you insane?"
The atmosphere changed.
The hallway straightened.
Voices dropped.
Even the air felt heavier.
Ishani didn't understand what was happening until she looked up and saw him.
Riyan Malhotra.
He walked like the world parted for him.
Tall, broad-shouldered, wearing all black the type of beauty that looked almost unreal, almost cruel.
No emotions on his face.
No softness in his eyes.
Just a quiet storm wrapped inside a calm man.
People moved without him saying a single word.