Parallel Lines: a story of memory, silence, and first love

Act 1 – Where It All Quietly Began

1.1 – First Meeting: Sparks in the Silence

"Some people don't enter your life with noise — they arrive in silence, and stay forever."

Arvind didn't believe in fate. Not until the girl with storm eyes and silence in her spine walked in and chose the seat no one dared to touch.

A new girl stepped into the classroom — Tiara Verma. Hair slightly tousled. Eyes steady but distant, like she carried stories no one had ever asked about.

She introduced herself softly, barely louder than the hum of fans overhead. Then, without waiting for permission or applause, she walked straight to the back and sat by the window — the seat no one ever picked.

The day dissolved into routine. Another sleepy math class. Another bland lecture. But Arvind kept glancing back at her.

At lunch, he noticed she was still alone. Quiet, calm. Not lonely — just... still. Like she didn't mind being invisible.

For reasons he couldn't explain, Arvind got up and walked over. Sat beside her. Said nothing at first.

He braced for the awkwardness, the rejection.

Instead, she kept eating — unbothered, almost amused.

After a long, awkward silence, he blurted,
"I don't bite."

She looked up, paused mid-chew, and smiled.
"Neither do I."

That was all it took.

The ice cracked. They stumbled through clumsy small talk. Arvind offered her a paneer roll he'd made with his mom.

She took it. Smiled again — this time not out of politeness, but something warmer. Something real.

And that's how it began.

1.2 – Childhood Magic: Friendship in Full Bloom

By the end of 7th grade, they were inseparable.

They raced bicycles through sleepy lanes, played hide-and-seek until the sky turned tangerine, and spent long evenings on Tiara's terrace talking about everything — opening a café, becoming astronauts, even training dragons.

Their favorite game was pretend-detectives. They'd scribble wild theories into old notebooks, solve imaginary crimes, and chase shadows that never existed. The point wasn't to win — it was to laugh.

They called it "Secret Flies" — because secrets, like flies, were always buzzing inside their heads, too fast to catch, too loud to ignore.

Inside, they wrote things they couldn't say out loud:

Tiara ranted about how their math teacher assigned "cruel and unusual" homework.

Arvind confessed to stealing a chocolate bar from his dad's secret drawer.

Tiara admitted to drawing angry faces on her mom's favorite magazine after a fight.

Arvind revealed he cried for hours when his cat died — and never told a soul.

They were both only children. But somehow, they never felt alone anymore.

Somewhere between the scribbled secrets and late-night laughter, they'd become each other's whole world.

1.3 – Raindrops & Realizations

8th grade brought a strange new shift.

Tiara started noticing Arvind differently — not his face or his voice, but the way he made her feel. The way her heart fluttered when he sat a little too close. How her chest tightened when he laughed at her jokes.