Ananya's fingers itched.All through the rest of the day, The Secret Garden weighed like a secret against her ribs. She clutched it carefully, like it might burn her if she held it too tightly.
She didn't dare open it in class.She didn't dare crack the spine at lunch.
Not with Aarav's hawk-eyes.Not with her cousin's voice dropping casual warnings in her ear every time she so much as lingered at a desk too long.
By the time she returned home, her body ached with the strain of waiting.
The Lock of Home
Dinner was a performance—her parents asking perfunctory questions, her cousin giving vague, watchful answers. Every time her mother's gaze slid over her, Ananya pressed her lips together and nodded, obedient, compliant.
But her hands under the table kept stroking the cover of the book.
When she was finally shut in her room for the night, she pressed her back against the door, waiting. Footsteps faded. Voices drifted down the hall.
She turned to her desk lamp, heart hammering, and pulled the book onto her lap.
The moment had come.
The Attempt
She flipped the cover carefully, pretending this was just any story. Just another page of ink.
But as her fingers brushed the margin, her pulse spiked. Something was there. Something tucked deeper.
Her eyes scanned frantically, searching for a fold of paper, a mark, a clue.
She was about to slide her hand between the pages when—
Knock. Hard.
"Ananya?" her mother's voice. Sharp. Suspicious.
Her body locked. Her breath fled.
She shoved the book under her pillow in a single, desperate motion, heart slamming against her ribs.
The door creaked open before she could answer. Her mother stepped in, her gaze sweeping the room, narrowing on the desk lamp still glowing.
"Why are you awake?"
Ananya forced a yawn, rubbing at her eyes. "Studying," she murmured, her voice pitched soft, tired. "I'll sleep now."
Her mother frowned, gaze lingering. For a terrifying second, her eyes flicked toward the bed. Toward the pillow.
Ananya pressed her hand there, casually, as though adjusting it. Her pulse screamed.
Finally, her mother sighed. "Don't waste your health. Lights out."
The door clicked shut. Footsteps receded.
Only when silence returned did Ananya dare to breathe again.
The Aftermath
She pulled the book back out with trembling hands. The cover felt like fire now.
Her lips quirked into a shaky smile, the adrenaline mixing with relief.
She hadn't been caught.Not tonight.
But she had proof now. The folded edge she'd felt, the faint shift of something more than pages—Riyan had reached her.
And tomorrow… tomorrow she would risk everything to read it.