Book 1 of "𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐐 𝐀𝐔𝐑 𝐑𝐀𝐀𝐇" series
INAYA'S POV
Before me, he sits. After 7 long years-7 years of absence, he shows up. Yet, when I study his eyes, I find nothing but unfamiliarity. His once warm, brown orbs are now veiled with darkness, dev...
Hello? 2nd in top 10 India? Am i dreaming? Hallucinating? Is this a dream? No?! Thank you so much! Here's another early update because i am just so so so happy!
Do follow. Let's connect there! It's going to be fun!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
ISHAAN'S POV
FLASHBACK (continues)
"You studied at this school? You must have made a lot of memories with your friends, Miss Inaaya."
"With a friend, yes. I only had one friend."
"You only had one friend? You guys must have been close then."
"We were. But we haven't been in contact for seven years."
"Seven years..." The words echoed in my mind, twisting my insides with guilt and frustration. Seven years, and she probably thought I had just vanished, left her behind without a word. She must have believed I didn't care, that I had abandoned her. And here I was, living my life in the US, completely unaware, oblivious to everything. I hit the side of my head in pure anger.
"Why can't you remember anything, Ishaan?!" I muttered through clenched teeth.
My brain taunted me with fragments of insignificant moments—a stupid spelling bee competition I won, but nothing from two whole years of my life. Two years—gone, erased, like they never happened. And the part that cut the deepest? Inaaya. She was part of that missing time, and I couldn't even remember how much I had cared for her.
The frustration boiled over. My hands shook as I cursed myself again, "How can you forget something so damn important?"
My hands clenched into fists as the weight of it all bore down on me. Everyone around me—every single person I trusted—had been playing games, feeding me lies. Raaj, the guy who claimed to be my best friend, chose to go along with the charade instead of telling me the truth. He stood by, silent, while I lived this false life. And my parents—my own parents—manipulated me at my most vulnerable, making decisions for me, knowing full well I would never have wanted this. They knew. They all knew. And they hid everything from me, like my life was a story they could rewrite.
My gaze fell on the diary lying on the table—the same diary I hadn't realized I was gripping so tightly, as though it was the last thread linking me to a past that had been stolen from me. Letting it go felt like I'd be losing the only connection I had to those lost memories. I flipped the pages again, my eyes landing on a photo of us standing on a stage, receiving an award. Next to it was another picture, this time of us holding a trophy in the school corridor. Scrawled in small handwriting beneath it were the words: 'Debate master.'
Her eyes, filled with disdain, flashed through my mind. Eyes I had convinced myself I'd imagined. But now, I understood. Now, I knew why she looked at me like that, like she loathed me. Because in her mind, I had left. Disappeared without a word.
