Love Before Graduation

In our classroom, the same old chairs, the same dusty books. But one seat was empty. Shubh's.

No one even looked that way. Forget taking his name. As if he never existed.

Some boys were laughing in the back. Their voices echoed—

"Hey man, Shubh took it too seriously. It wasn't even that big of a deal."

"We were just joking. Who knew he'd actually do something like that?"

A joke.

I looked at them. My voice came out—not as soft as it should have been. "What are you trying to say?"

Ankit shrugged, as if it was all just a trivial matter. "Nothing, just... we teased him a little. He was really serious about Suhina."

I looked into his eyes—there was no regret. Just a cold indifference.

"A joke? Or humiliation?"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, relax. We didn't hit him. If he couldn't handle a little joke, how's that our fault?"

I felt like the ground beneath me was melting.

I said softly, "You pushed him... and now he's gone."

The room froze. Breaths stopped. Everyone's eyes were on me. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Sit down, Aira."

The voice came from behind. Cold, measured.

Arin.

He was sprawled on the back seat, legs stretched out, like this was just another boring story. He looked at me, with eyes that held neither apology nor questions. Just stillness.

"You knew, didn't you?" My voice was shaking.

He glanced at the boys, then looked straight into my eyes. "Yes, I knew."

Silence. Thick and heavy.

"And you did nothing?"

He shrugged. "Shubh never told me. He never told you either. You think shouting at them now will change anything?"

I saw a strange emptiness in his eyes. Like he knew everything but didn't want to know it.

"That's your answer? That he didn't say anything?"

He took a deep breath. "It's not an excuse. It's reality."

I went silent. Maybe words had run out. Or maybe I finally understood that nothing was going to change.

Arin stood there. His gaze was cold, but deep down... something had broken.

Who says people are just good or bad?

Sometimes, they just are—exactly as they are.