The letter of 1857

Chapter: Cracks We Don't Name

21st Century – Iman's POV

"Tu pagal hai kya? Do you even listen to yourself?" Sarah tossed a juice box in Iman's direction as they sat behind the library block, half hidden by the wide neem tree.

Imcaught it just in time, avoiding a sticky explosion. "You're the one who's been MIA for weeks, and now you're yelling at me like I forgot to water your plants."

"I was abroad," Sarah narrowed her eyes, "not out of the planet. You could've texted."

"I was... busy."

Sarah gave her a flat look. "Busy pushing feelings into a zip file named 'ignore.zip'?"

I didn't answer. I just looked ahead—beyond the dusty school courtyard where Ahad was laughing with Zaffar and that loud junior who still sang Pyar Hua Ikraar Hua like it was a Grammy-winning anthem.

Sarah followed my gaze.

"Hmm," she said after a pause, "he looks normal. Like—pre-fight with Hafiz, pre-jealousy storm, pre-all this weird vibe—normal."

I tore open the juice box. "That's what's making it worse."

Sarah blinked. "You want him to be dramatic?"

"No! I mean... I don't know what I mean." I sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk. "He's being how he used to be. All boyish and casual. But... it feels different."

Sarah cocked her head. "And you? Still pretending you don't care?"

"I'm not pretending."

"You like him."

"I don't."

Sarah arched a brow. "You don't like him."

I winced. "It's not that. I just don't want to like him."

Sarah let out a soft laugh. "Beta Iman, you're in a full-blown plot twist, and you don't even know it."

"I swear to God, I will staple your mouth shut."

"Staple away. But let me say one last thing."

I narrowed my eyes.

Sarah grinned. "He looks at you like you're a spoiler he's dying to read."

I looked away from Sarah, the laughter in her words lingering but no longer light. There was something deeper. And maybe that was what scared me.

"He's changed," I finally said, peeling the corner of the juice box like it had answers tucked beneath. "Not just after the fight with Hafiz. He was changing long before that."

Sarah tilted her head. "You noticed."

I nodded slowly. "He used to be this... carefree, loud, dramatic idiot. My idiot. But then he started being... serious. Watching things more than saying them. And then Hafiz—"

"Yeah," Sarah leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "That day was insane."

"I didn't know how to process it," I confessed. "Ahad—he didn't just fight Hafiz. He fought the idea of someone even trying to get close to me."

Sarah stayed quiet, for once.

"It was like…" I shook my head, searching. "He wasn't defending me. He was possessing me. And I couldn't... I couldn't be okay with that. I needed space. I needed my head clear."

Sarah watched me carefully, like I was a delicate thread about to snap.

"I've been feeling like he's not seeing me as his best friend anymore," I said quietly. "And I don't know what I am to him now. But what scares me is—I don't know what he is to me either."

The wind rustled the neem leaves above. Somewhere, someone hit a volleyball too hard and it bounced off the tin roof with a bang. We both flinched.

I looked at Sarah and said what I hadn't been able to say out loud to anyone yet—not even myself.

"But I've made one thing clear now. Whatever I feel, or don't feel—he's my best friend. And I don't want that to ever change."

Sarah gave a tiny smile, that knowing kind that only best friends share. "Then maybe stop pretending he's invisible?"

I chuckled under my breath. "Fair enough."

"And if he ever pulls a stunt like that again?"

"I'll kick him in the ego so hard he'll feel it in 1857."

We both burst out laughing.

Then, softer, I added, "But seriously... I'll never ignore him again. He deserves better. Even when he's being stupid, loud, reckless, or dangerously silent... he's still mine. My best friend."

Sarah leaned back, smirking. "Well, now that's a spoiler worth reading."