HEARTBEAT

episode 1 (introduction)

meera tightened her hold on the sketchbook pressed against her chest, her fingers brushing over the worn edges. The early morning sun of Jaipur painted the streets gold as she walked slowly toward the tall white gates of Rosemary School.

A soft breeze lifted the ends of her dupatta, making it flutter behind her, and she quickly tucked it back in place. Her other hand moved up to adjust her glasses, a nervous habit she had developed long ago—back when other girls snatched them off her face just to laugh.

This school is different, she reminded herself.

This is my dream school.

Her two neat braids swayed with every step she took. Students rushed past her—girls with open hair, glossy lip balm, no dupatta in sight; boys carrying expensive backpacks, laughing loudly. Everything looked modern, bold, confident. Completely opposite of her.

Meera swallowed hard.

She wanted to make friends… she desperately did. But the memories of her old school still clung to her like shadows—the bullying, the cruel jokes, the loneliness. Even now, her heartbeat picked up whenever someone glanced her way.

Still, she kept walking.

Her mother thought she chose Rosemary School only because of its strict academics. Meera never had the courage to tell her the real reason—

Rosemary had art classes.

Real art classes.

A place where she could draw freely, something her mother always called a “waste of time.”

As she stepped through the gates, her gaze went to the huge football ground on the right—where a boy was running across the field, dribbling a football like it was part of him. Tall, sharp jawline, rebellious messy hair.

Arnav.

17, rich, athletic… and completely unaware that half the girls were already staring.

Meera had heard whispers about him in the corridor during her admission day. A rebel. A rule breaker. And someone who used to be inseparable from the school’s most dangerous boy—

Kartik.

The thought of Kartik sent a chill down her arms. She had seen him once, leaning against his motorcycle outside school. Korean hairstyle, cold eyes, rings on his fingers. A boy who looked like trouble at first glance. Trouble that people admired, feared… or both.

But what Meera didn’t know was that this year was different.

Arnav and Kartik—once best friends—no longer spoke.

All because Arnav had seen Kartik gripping his sister Sanjana’s hand tightly one afternoon. Arnav didn’t wait for an explanation. He didn’t want one.

To him, it was betrayal.

To Kartik… it was something else entirely.

A truth he never got the chance to tell.

Meera, unaware of all this, walked through the courtyard with her sketchbook clutched close—trying to blend in, trying not to shake, trying to breathe.

Little did she know…

This school, these halls, these two boys—

were about to change everything in her life.