Later that afternoon, when the class was quieter and most students were busy revising, Meera heard someone whisper behind her.
"She's still staring at him."
Meera tried not to turn around immediately, but curiosity won.
She glanced back slightly.
Suhani was indeed looking at Hirsh.
Not in a friendly way.
It was the kind of look that carried history — the kind that said something had happened between them that never really ended properly.
Meera leaned slightly toward Anya.
"Were they really that serious?" she whispered.
Anya nodded.
"Yeah. They dated for almost a year."
Meera's eyes widened.
"A year?"
"Pretty much," Anya said. "At first everyone thought they were the perfect couple. Suhani was always around him — during lunch, after class, everywhere."
Meera looked back at Hirsh again.
He was solving something in his notebook, completely focused, like he didn't notice anything around him.
"So what happened?" Meera asked quietly.
Anya shrugged.
"From what I heard, Hirsh started getting annoyed. He likes space, and Suhani wanted to be around him all the time."
"That doesn't sound that bad," Meera said.
"Maybe not at first," Anya replied. "But she kept asking him where he was, who he was talking to, why he didn't text her fast enough…"
Meera winced slightly.
"That sounds exhausting."
"Exactly," Anya said. "Eventually Hirsh just ended it."
Meera glanced behind again.
Suhani quickly looked away when their eyes almost met.
But the look she had given Hirsh a few seconds earlier was still stuck in Meera's mind.
It didn't look like someone who had completely moved on.
And suddenly Meera had a strange feeling that this whole situation…
was far from over.
Hirsh's Backstory
Most people in school thought Hirsh Swami was simple to understand.
Topper. Quiet. Arrogant. Cold.
At least that was what everyone said.
But very few people actually knew what he was like outside the classroom.
Hirsh had always been the kind of student teachers praised.
Perfect grades.
Perfect discipline.
Perfect focus.
But none of that had happened by accident.
His father believed in one thing above everything else.
"First place," he always said. "Anything else is failure."
So while other students spent their evenings watching shows or hanging out with friends, Hirsh spent most of his time studying.
Math problems.
Physics practice papers.
Endless notes.
Over the years he had gotten used to it.
Silence.
Pressure.
Expectations.
By the time he reached high school, being the topper wasn't something he enjoyed.
It was something he simply had to maintain.
And that pressure made him different from everyone else.
While other students joked around during class, Hirsh was usually solving problems.
While people talked about crushes and relationships, Hirsh tried not to get involved.
That was one of the reasons his relationship with Suhani had failed.
At first, he liked her.
She was cheerful, energetic, and she talked enough for both of them.
But slowly things became difficult.
She wanted more time.
More attention.
More conversations.
And Hirsh barely had time for himself.
Eventually the constant pressure from school and the expectations at home started mixing with the pressure from the relationship.
And one day he simply ended it.
After that, Hirsh became even more distant.
He spoke less.
Kept to himself.
Focused only on studies.
Which was exactly why most people in school misunderstood him.
They saw a cold person.
But they never saw the pressure he was carrying.