The unit tests approached. For the first time in his life, Aviraj studied. He cut himself off from his mischievous group. He stopped roaming around aimlessly, stopped wasting time on games.
His friends mocked him. "Love has destroyed you!" they laughed.
But Aviraj ignored it all.
The night before the first test, he barely slept. But the next morning, everything collapsed.
Isha complained to the class teacher that Aviraj disturbed her.
Aviraj was stunned. He had done nothing.
The teacher called him. "Are you troubling her?"
It felt like the walls were closing in. If he argued, he'd look guilty. If he stayed silent, he'd be misunderstood.
"Sir… I never said anything to her," he managed.
He wrote his exam with trembling hands.
Weeks later, the results were declared.
Aviraj had scored more than Isha.
The class buzzed with shock. Isha, however, told everyone that he topped only because she rejected him.
Still, Aviraj approached her.
"I got more marks than you. Now… do you still have a problem being my girlfriend?"
She didn't hesitate.
"I'm not looking for any relationship right now."
Her rejection crushed him. The pain worsened when he later saw her with the topper of the batch. They were together—smiling, walking side by side.
Aviraj didn't cry. He didn't yell.
He simply broke—silently.
And from that silence… something new was born.