Chapter 1
Meher pov.. Rahul had been asking me to join their group chat for weeks.
At first, I kept refusing. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to new people.
In fact, I had already left the group twice, even after he added me back every single time.
But after another stressful day filled with studies, family pressure, and endless overthinking… I finally gave up and clicked the invite link he sent.
I hesitated for a second before opening the group chat.
A bunch of unknown names. Random profiles. People I had never spoken to—except two.
Rahul’s jokes were already flooding the chat, while Siri filled it with emojis and stickers like usual.
At least there were two familiar people here.
I smiled slightly and typed.
“Heyyy everyone ”
Almost instantly, I added again,
“Rahul, stop fighting with Siri like you do in our other group chat ”
Then I turned to Siri’s messages.
“And Siri… I know you’re behind those laughing emojis ”
I paused for a moment before adding the proper introduction.
“By the way, I’m Meher. 24. From Tirupati.”
Send.
I leaned back, waiting.
Within seconds, the chat exploded with replies—questions, greetings, introductions.
“What do you do?”
“Hi!”
“Nice to meet you!”
I smiled reading them.
That’s when I noticed it.
A boy and a girl in the group were already arguing playfully, going back and forth like they had known each other forever.
I hesitated for a second… should I join?
Then slowly, I typed something into the chaos.
And just like that… I was no longer just reading the group.
I was part of it.
I was laughing so hard while being part of the chaos in the group chat.
While I was talking like that, suddenly my boy bestie messaged me.
I quietly came out of the GC and opened his chat.
We started talking, and soon it turned into a silly fight between us again.
I rolled my eyes and typed,
"Woah… relationships are not for us."
He just laughed.
After talking and having fun for a while with my boy bestie, I came back to the group chat.
The chaos was still going on like before, and I slowly joined in again, laughing and replying to everyone.
But then I noticed something different.
A few messages kept repeating in the chat—
“Where is Rudra?”
“He didn’t come online today.”
“He didn’t even talk a bit.”
I paused for a moment.
Rudra?
Who is he… and why is everyone talking about him?
I thought about it for a second, but didn’t take it too seriously.
I just shrugged it off and continued having fun with everyone in the group chat.
While I was having fun with everyone in the group chat, I suddenly noticed someone familiar in the member list.
A guy who felt similar to Rahul and Siri in vibe.
I quickly typed a message.
“Yoo Satwik… I didn’t know you’re here too 😄”
Soon, I started talking with Satwik and a few others, and the conversation kept flowing again with laughter and chaos.
After some time, I said good night to everyone in the GC, including my boy bestie.
I turned off my phone and kept it beside me, a small smile still lingering on my face.
Today was actually fun…
I made new friends, I laughed a lot, and for once I didn’t feel that constant stress from family pressure and studies.
Somehow, this group chat made everything feel lighter.
I leaned back, still smiling.
Maybe I’ll meet more people like this tomorrow too… especially those who weren’t active today.
Just as I was thinking that…
A name suddenly came back to my mind.
Rudra.
