Aarav changed his approach.
If he couldn't read Kavya's mind directly, he would read her through other means. Body language. Micro-expressions. Patterns of behavior. The things people said when they thought no one was paying attention.
He became a student of Kavya Sharma.
And the more he learned, the stranger she became.
She was always watching.
Not in an obvious way. She didn't stare or follow. But her eyes moved constantly, tracking the room, cataloging exits and entrances, noting who was where and when. She sat with her back to the wall whenever possible. She avoided corners and blind spots.
She moved like someone who had been taught to always know where the danger was.
She never used her phone.
In an age when every teenager was glued to a screen, Kavya's phone remained in her bag. She never checked it. Never texted. Never scrolled through social media.
Either she had no one to talk to
Or she was afraid of being tracked.
She was afraid of something.
Not constantly. Not obviously. But in small moments—a sudden loud noise, a stranger approaching too quickly, a car slowing down near the school gate—her body would tense. Her breathing would change. Her eyes would widen just a fraction.
She was waiting for someone to find her.
Aarav wrote all of this in his notebook, then sat back and stared at the words.
She's hiding from someone.
She's afraid.
She asked about me.
Why would a girl on the run ask about a boy who could read minds?
Unless
Unless she knew what he was.
Unless she had been looking for him.
Unless their meeting wasn't an accident at all.
He confronted her the next day.
No games. No subtlety. Just the truth.
He found her in the library again, same table, same corner. She was reading a different book this time—thinner, newer, with a bright cover.
He sat down across from her.
"You knew," he said.
She didn't look up. "Knew what?"
"Knew I would find you."
Now she looked up. Those brown eyes. Calm as ever.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do. You transferred here mid-semester. You have no friends. You don't talk to anyone. But you talk to me. You sit where I can see you. You asked Rohan about me."
"I was being polite."
"You were being strategic."
She set her book down. Folded her hands on top of it. Looked at him with an expression that was impossible to read.
"Why would I be strategic about you, Aarav?"
"Because you know what I am."
The words hung in the air between them.
Aarav watched her face, searching for a reaction. A flinch. A blink. Anything.
Nothing.
"Tell me I'm wrong," he said.
She didn't.
"Tell me you don't know."
Still nothing.
"Kavya."
She closed her eyes.
And when she opened them again
Something had changed.
The mask was still there. The calm, the control, the careful containment. But beneath it, he saw something else. Something raw.
"You're right," she said quietly. "I know what you are."
Aarav's heart stopped.
"You're a mind reader," she continued. "You've been able to hear thoughts since you were seven years old. You've never told anyone. You've never met anyone like you. You thought you were alone."
"How do you—"
"Because I'm like you."
The world tilted.
Aarav gripped the edge of the table.
"You can...?"
"I can read minds. Yes."
"But I can't hear you. Your thoughts are silent. How is that possible?"
Kavya looked down at her hands. When she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper.
"Because I'm blocking you."
"Blocking me?"
"I've been blocking you since the first day we met. I can feel your ability reaching for mine, and I push it away. It's like... building a wall. A wall only I can control."
Aarav's mind was racing. "But if you can read minds, why can't I hear yours? Shouldn't it work both ways?"
"Not when one person is stronger."
The words landed like stones in still water.
Stronger.
She was stronger than him.
She could read his mind
And he couldn't read hers.
"You've been reading me this whole time," he said slowly. "Every thought. Every question. Every time I tried to figure you out... you already knew."
"Yes."
"That's why you smiled. That's why you always seemed to know what I was going to say."
"Yes."
"You've been playing with me."
She flinched. Just slightly. But he saw it.
"It wasn't a game," she said. "I was trying to decide if I could trust you."
"Trust me with what?"
She didn't answer.
"Kavya. Trust me with what?"
She looked at him. And for the first time, he saw real fear in her eyes.
"There are people looking for me," she said. "People who can track abilities like ours. People who want to capture us. Study us. Use us."
"Who?"
"I don't know their names. I've never seen their faces. But they've been hunting me for three years. I've moved seven times. Changed my name twice."
"And you came here because...?"
"Because I heard about you."
Aarav stared at her.
"I heard there was another one," she continued. "Someone like me. Someone who could help me. Someone who might understand."
"So you found me."
"I found you."
"And now?"
She reached across the table. Her fingers brushed against his hand.
The touch was electric.
Not because of attraction—though that was there too—but because for one brief, impossible moment, their abilities connected.
He felt her mind.
Just a flash. A glimpse.
Not thoughts. Not words.
But her.
The fear. The loneliness. The exhaustion of running for three years without stopping.
And beneath all of that
A fierce, burning hope.
"You're not alone anymore," her mind whispered. "Neither am I."
And then the wall went back up.
The silence returned.
But everything had changed.