(New beginnings, quiet courage, and promises in the shadows)
đ Monday Morning â A New Calm
The rain had passed. The city sparkled under a clean sky, washed and revived.
Ruhi stood at the mirror in her PG, brushing her hair, her lips still tingling from the kiss she and Rudra had shared two nights ago.
It hadn't fixed everything.
But it had changed everything.
She hadn't told Simran yet. She wanted to keep it â just for herself â a memory that still felt too tender to speak aloud.
đŠ Rudra's Room â Preparing for Departure
Rudra stood over a half-packed suitcase. His basketball shoes. A folded black kurta. A half-used cologne bottle.
His father knocked once, then entered. "You're expected at the Mumbai boardroom on Friday."
"I'll be there," Rudra said calmly.
His father studied him. "You seem... different."
Rudra smiled. "Because this time, I'm not running away from anything."
His father frowned. "You still believe in that girl?"
Rudra didn't blink. "I don't believe. I know."
đ A Message to Ruhi
Rudra:
"Leaving Thursday night. I want to see you before that. Just us. No noise. No college.""Will you come?"
Ruhi smiled as she read it.
Ruhi:
"Only if you bring coffee and answers."
đ« Literature Week â Ruhi Signs Up
As part of Literature Week, the English department invited students to submit diary-style entries for a public reading.
Ruhi hesitated.
Then she pulled out Beyond the Buzzer.
And she wrote something new.
Not about sadness.
But about starting again.
đ Beyond the Buzzer â Page 75
*"Once, I wanted someone who would fight for me.Now, I have someone who won't let me fight alone.
Love isn't about fireworks.It's about showing up.On messy days. On Monday mornings.In between goodbyes and growing pains."*
She tore the page out and submitted it â anonymously.
â The Coffee Date â One Last Before Mumbai
Rudra waited at their favorite old cafĂ©, the one hidden behind the college library. Fewer students knew about it â which is exactly why he loved it.
Ruhi arrived in a pastel blue kurta, her hair tied in a loose braid.
"Ordered your usual," Rudra said as she sat.
"Perfect," she smiled.
For a moment, they just stared.
Then Ruhi broke the silence. "So... Mumbai?"
"Just a month," he said. "But intense."
"Your dad still doesn't like me, does he?"
"He doesn't know you," Rudra corrected. "Yet."
Ruhi sipped her coffee. "And your mother?"
"She likes that you calm me down."
Ruhi raised an eyebrow. "I don't calm you. I just confuse you less."
He laughed. "Same thing."
đŹ The Deal
He leaned forward, his voice serious now.
"While I'm gone, I won't text every second. But I'll call every night. And I'll write to you. Not WhatsApp. Real letters."
Ruhi blinked. "Letters?"
Rudra nodded. "You wrote a diary. Let me write one too. But for you."
She bit her lip. "Deal. But only if I can reply."
They sealed the promise with pinky fingers across the table.
𧥠Meanwhile: Aarav's Big Move
Simran opened her PG door and nearly dropped her water bottle.
"Aarav?!"
He stood there, hair wet with sweat, holding a small bouquet of yellow marigolds.
"Your parents are visiting this weekend," he said breathlessly. "I want to be there."
Simran's face went pale. "Are you crazy?"
"Maybe. But I love you. And I don't want to hide behind cafes and excuses."
Simran stared. "You don't even speak proper Hindi!"
"I'll learn. Hell, I'll even eat karela sabzi if they make it."
She laughed â a nervous, teary kind of laugh.
Then nodded. "Okay. Let's try."
đ Back at College â The Performance List
The Literature Week team put up the final list of performers.
Ruhi scanned the board casually, not expecting anything.
Then froze.
Anonymous Entry #6 â "Beyond the Buzzer"Final performer.
She hadn't thought they'd pick it. And now, she'd have to read it aloud.
To an audience. To him, maybe.
Her heart raced.
But she didn't pull out.
For the first time, she wanted to say her truth â not in whispers, but into a mic.
đ Beyond the Buzzer â Page 78
*"He's leaving tomorrow.But not like before.
Because now, I know he'll return.Not just to the city.
But to me."*
đ End of Chapter 15