Chapter 4: Quiet Changes
255 Words
After that night, things didn’t magically become easy.
They didn’t talk about what happened in the rain. Not really. But their silence felt warmer now — like safety, not shame.
They sat closer. Smiled more. Arjun started drawing superheroes again — this time with Kabir as the lead.
Kabir broke up with Meher gently. She understood. Maybe she always knew.
They weren’t ready to tell the world. But they were ready to start telling each other.
And that was enough.
For now.
It was a Tuesday. Nothing felt different that morning — not until it did.
Arjun’s sketchbook was missing.
He searched through his bag, the art room, the hallway lockers. Panic clawed at his chest. He hadn’t shown Kabir his latest pages yet — the new drawings, the raw poetry. Pages filled with his truest thoughts.
Then, during recess, laughter echoed down the corridor.
“Yo, is this Arjun’s?”
“Why does he draw Kabir like that?”
“Bro, this poem… it’s so gay!”
He saw them — a group of seniors huddled around something. His sketchbook.
One of them was holding it open, laughing, while others read aloud lines meant only for himself… or for Kabir.
Arjun froze. His whole body went cold.
He grabbed the book and ran. Voices chased him down the hallway, taunting:
> “Hey, Arjun! Kabir your boyfriend?”
“You love him, huh? Cute.”
His hands were shaking when he locked himself inside the empty music room.
His whole world had just collapsed.
- Writer
