First Interaction (Meera POV)
I was sitting in the school garden during lunch break, absentmindedly tracing patterns on the bench, when I noticed a boy standing near a tree. He wasn't doing anything unusual-just staring at it. But there was something about the way he stood... still, almost lost... like the world around him didn't exist.
Curiosity got the better of me.
I walked towards him slowly.
"Why are you staring at that tree like that?" I asked.
He didn't look at me immediately. His eyes stayed fixed on the leaves swaying gently in the wind.
"Nothing," he said calmly after a pause. "Just thinking... how leaves stay loyal to the tree. The moment they're plucked, they die. But the tree... it doesn't stop. It simply grows new ones."
I blinked.
Weird. Deep. Slightly depressing.
For a second, I thought I had just signed up for a philosophy lecture. But instead of overthinking it, I shrugged it off and smiled.
"I'm Meera Shukla," I said, extending a casual introduction. "What about you?"
This time, he looked at me.
"Anshul," he replied. "Anshul Bhardwaj."
We ended up sitting under the same tree. The silence between us wasn't awkward... just unfamiliar.
After a while, I asked, "Why are you still here? Don't you have to go home?"
His expression didn't change.
"There's no one waiting for me," he said.
Something about that line felt... heavy.
I didn't ask anything further. Maybe his parents were out of town. Maybe there was more to it. But I didn't push.
Before I could say anything else, my father arrived to pick me up. I stood up, dusting off my uniform.
"Goodbye, Anshul," I said.
He looked at me for a moment, as if trying to say something... but didn't.
"Goodbye," he replied quietly.
---
That evening, as we reached home, my father suddenly asked,
"How do you know Anshul?"
I frowned. "He's my friend. Why? Do you know him?"
My father hesitated for a second before answering.
"He's the last descendant of the Bhardwaj royal family in Varanasi," he said slowly. "And... after what happened... he doesn't make friends."
A strange uneasiness crept into my chest.
"What happened?" I asked.
My father sighed.
"His entire family was murdered... in Afghanistan."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Suddenly, everything about him made sense.
The silence.
The emptiness in his voice.
The way he looked at that tree... like he had already lost everything.
---
The next day, I tried not to think about it. I had a speech to deliver at school, and I needed to focus.
But life doesn't really care about your plans.
That morning, as I was getting ready, the TV in the living room caught my attention.
"Breaking News," the anchor announced.
I turned towards the screen casually... and then froze.
"Anshul Bhardwaj, the last heir of the Bhardwaj royal lineage, is being declared the new ruler-"
My heartbeat stopped.
The same boy...
The one sitting alone under a tree...
The one who said no one was waiting for him...
A ruler?
I stared at the screen, unable to process what I was hearing.
He was still a minor.
And yet... somehow... he was already carrying the weight of a kingdom.
---
And just like that...
The boy I met yesterday wasn't just a stranger anymore.
He was a mystery I wasn't ready for.
_
