Jaanvi couldn't sleep.
Not after those messages.
She curled tighter under the blanket, back still to Aditya, phone clenched in her hands like a lifeline she couldn't let go of.
The last message lingered in her mind like a whisper she couldn't unhear:
"You should really sleep with one eye open, sweetheart."
The room was quiet. Too quiet.
Even the usual snoring—Ron, Rey, or someone who breathed like they were in a wind tunnel—had stopped. The kind of silence that pressed on your chest.
Aditya hadn't moved. But he wasn't asleep either. She could feel it—his awareness, coiled and still like a storm waiting.
Then, her phone buzzed again.
1:22 AM
Unknown Number:
"You don't remember what you said last year, do you?"
Her blood turned cold.
She stared at the words, trying to make sense of them.
Last year?
Before she could think too much—
Buzz.
1:23 AM
"You said you'd never leave him."
Her breath caught.
She turned slowly toward Aditya, phone in hand.
"I—um—there's more," she whispered.
He sat up again. Instantly.
Jaanvi turned the screen toward him. He read, brows furrowing tighter with every word.
Another message came in before either of them could react.
1:24 AM
"Liar."
Aditya's jaw clenched.
"Who the hell—" he started, but another message came.
1:25 AM
"Maybe he should know what you really said. Or should I remind him?"
Jaanvi's voice was barely audible. "What... what did I say?"
Aditya reached for the phone, but she pulled it back, holding it close to her chest.
The room suddenly felt like it was closing in. Like someone was watching from inside the walls. Not outside.
"I don't get it," she said, voice cracking. "Is this someone who knows me?"
Aditya stared at her, thinking. Hard. Calculating like he did in debate—except this wasn't about points.
It was about her.
"They're not guessing anymore," he said. "They're baiting you."
Jaanvi's hands shook.
And then—buzz.
1:26 AM
"Maybe I should remind him first. After all, he's right there."
She froze.
The room spun.
They knew.
They knew she was next to Aditya.
Aditya stood up instantly, scanning the darkened windows. He moved like instinct—not loud, not panicked, but precise. He pulled the curtain back an inch and stared out into the night.
Nothing.
Still, nothing.
He turned back to her. "You're not leaving my sight tonight."
She nodded, unable to speak.
But the buzzing didn't stop.
1:27 AM
"Do you think he'd still want you if he knew the truth?"
"What truth?" she whispered.
Aditya didn't answer.
He crouched down beside her again and pulled the blanket tighter around her, like a barrier. One arm braced across his bent knee, his body angled toward the door, the windows—everything.
He didn't say he was protecting her.
He didn't need to.
She already knew.
Buzz.
1:28 AM
"You lied to him. You lied to all of them."
She looked up at him, eyes wide, voice small. "I don't know what they're talking about."
Aditya's voice was flat, cold. "They do. That's the point. This is calculated."
She leaned against him before she could stop herself. Just barely. But enough.
His muscles tensed.
Then slowly—reluctantly—he let her rest against his shoulder.
And just like that, she exhaled for the first time in hours.
But the messages kept coming.
Each one cutting deeper.
More precise. More manipulative.
By the time the clock hit 2:00 AM, the phone had buzzed seventeen times.
And one of them said—
2:00 AM
"Maybe you should check under the couch."
Aditya froze.
He stared at the message.
Then at the couch behind them.
Some fear crawls in quietly.
Some threats don't hide outside.
And some invisible threads were never meant to be pulled.
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