The morning after nearly being caught, Ananya thought she had escaped. She moved through breakfast carefully, eyes lowered, answers measured. But her father's gaze lingered on her too long, and her mother's silence carried weight.
By evening, the shift was unmistakable.
"From today," her father said flatly, not looking at her as he folded the newspaper, "you'll come straight home after classes. No detours. No excuses."
Her spoon froze halfway to her mouth. "But—"
"No." His tone snapped like a whip. "This isn't a discussion."
Her mother set down the steel tumbler with a sharp clang. "Your studies are suffering. You're distracted. We will not tolerate such behavior."
Distracted. The word felt like a blade, as if they had peered straight into her secret. Her chest tightened. She forced her face into obedience, nodding once, though her hands trembled in her lap.
That night, her phone disappeared from her bedside. She found it in her mother's hands the next morning. "From now on, we'll keep this. You can use it when necessary."
Her world shrank further—no late-night messages, no missed calls glowing under the covers. No excuse to linger after class.
The walls were closing in.
And yet, defiance stirred beneath the fear. In the quiet of her room, she scratched a note onto the corner of her old notebook. Small, crooked letters, but burning with intent:
They know. But I will not stop.
She folded it once, twice, and slipped it into her bag, waiting for the moment she could get it to Riyan.
But her father's watch was constant. He had started coming home early. Her mother began asking too many questions about every detail of her day. Even her younger cousin was sent to "keep her company."
Every shadow held suspicion. Every locked door, every delayed answer, every quick breath—it all seemed to draw eyes.
And yet, that only made the yearning worse.
The stolen kisses, the reckless touches—they weren't just passion anymore. They were survival. Proof that she wasn't just her parents' obedient daughter, bound by their rules. Proof that she could still choose for herself.
But choice came with a cost.
And Ananya knew, with her parents circling tighter, it was only a matter of time before the cost demanded to be paid.