Sri Venkateswara College, DU. South Campus. 10:15 AM

Siya Oberoi had a system.

Front bench for lectures she liked. Back bench for days she’d been up till 3 AM answering @H_Y_A_L_E_T’s cryptic DMs. Today was a back-bench day.

Kurtis with paint stains. Hair in a messy bun. Silver Kanha Ji pendant hidden under her dupatta. Notebook open, but instead of Economics notes, she was sketching the outline of a man’s jaw. Sharp. Cruel. Too familiar for someone she’d never met.

“Earth to Siya!” Aaru hissed, kicking her under the desk. “Ma’am’s asking about price elasticity and you’re drawing your fictional husband again.”

“He’s not—” Siya slammed the notebook shut, cheeks red. “I’m just... thinking about Chapter 44.”

Lie. She was thinking about last night’s DM.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: Do you believe monsters can pray, Meera?

*@RadheWrites*: _Do you?_

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _I’m about to find out._

“Your _RadheWrites_ brain is going to get you in trouble,” Aaru muttered, but her eyes were soft. “You’ve been distracted since Ghost Boy started messaging. You like him.”

“I don’t even know his name!”

“But you know his pain,” Aaru said quietly. “And you, my sweet Krishna bhakt, have a hero complex the size of Delhi.”

Before Siya could argue, her phone buzzed under the desk. Unknown number.

*Message*: You sit in the back because you think no one sees you. I do.

The pen fell from Siya’s hand. Clattered. The whole class turned.

Outside the college gate, across the street, a black Fortuner was parked. Tinted windows. Engine running.

Inside, Kabir adjusted his earpiece. Ex-Army. Shashwat’s most trusted shadow. The man who’d killed 12 people without blinking.

And now he was following a 20-year-old art student.

“Sir, she’s in class,” he murmured. “Back row. Sketching. She looks... tired.”

Shashwat’s Penthouse, Vasant Kunj. Same Time

Shashwat didn’t pace. Kings didn’t pace.

But his office had a new dent in the wall, fist-shaped, right beside Siya’s college timetable. Printed. Highlighted. Memorized.

“Kabir,” his voice was ice, “report.”

*Kabir’s voice through the earpiece*: _Economics lecture. Professor Sharma. She’s not taking notes. Drawing again. The best friend — Aaru — keeps covering for her. No male friends. Two girls tried to talk to her about Wattpad. She panicked and said she has to go to the library._

Shashwat’s jaw ticked. _Panicked._ His enemy’s daughter, scared of her own readers.

“She eats?”

_Yes. Canteen. Always aloo patty and chai. No onion. She feeds the stray dogs behind the admin block. Keeps biscuits in her bag._

Shashwat closed his eyes. He could see it. The paint on her fingers. The way she’d break the biscuit in half for the smaller dog.

_Softness._ It was infuriating.

“I want everything,” he said. “Her schedule. Her favorite tea stall. The name of the dog she feeds. What she writes when she thinks no one’s watching.”

“Sir...” Kabir hesitated. In 8 years, he’d never heard that tone from Shashwat. “With all due respect, she’s just a college kid. Vikram Oberoi is the—”

“She is Vikram Oberoi’s weakness,” Shashwat cut in. “And weaknesses are to be studied. Then exploited.”

Lie.

He wanted to know the name of the dog because _she_ loved it. He wanted her schedule because _he_ couldn’t sleep till he knew she was home safe.

He was losing the plot. And he didn’t care.

“One more thing, Kabir. She has a temple. Every Thursday. ISKCON, East of Kailash.”

Yes, sir. 6 PM aarti. She sits in the third row, left side.

“Be there before her. I want photos. I want to know what she prays for.”

He ended the call. Looked at his phone. No new message from _RadheWrites_.

His thumb typed before he could stop it.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Did you eat today, Meera?_

Sent.

He was the Mafia King of Turkey.

And he was asking his enemy’s daughter if she’d had lunch.

Pathetic.

DU Canteen. 1:30 PM

“She’s staring at her phone like it’ll explode,” Aaru told the entire group, loud enough for half the canteen to hear. “Our Siya has a secret lover.”

“I DO NOT!” Siya choked on her chai. “It’s just... a reader.”

“A reader who texts you ‘Did you eat today’ like a possessed boyfriend?” Aaru wiggled her eyebrows. “Admit it. You’re writing your real-life romance now.”

Siya’s phone buzzed again.

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _Aloo patty. No onion. The chai is too sweet at your canteen._

The cup slipped from her hand. Chai splattered across her notes. Across the sketch of his jaw.

How. Did. He. Know.

Her head snapped up, scanning the crowded canteen. Students laughing. Professors scolding. No one out of place.

But she felt it. That chill from her balcony. That feeling of being _seen_.

“You okay?” Aaru frowned. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I have,” Siya whispered.

Meanwhile, her Wattpad was blowing up again.

*[Chapter 43: The Monster’s Watch]*

_He thought he was hunting her.

But the monster didn’t know the girl had already started hunting him back.

With words. With prayers. With a heart he wasn’t supposed to have._

*Top Comments:*

*@KanhaKiDeewani*: _DIDI THE WAY YOU WROTE ‘The monster didn’t know the girl had already started hunting him back’??? I’M ON THE FLOOR 😭😭_

*@MafiaGirl_22*: _@H_Y_A_L_E_T BETTER BE READING THIS. THIS IS FOR HIM._

*@SharmaJiKaBeta*: _Plot twist: What if @H_Y_A_L_E_T is in her college??? What if he’s watching her right now?? I’m scared and excited._

*@BookishKrishna*: _Meera feeling ‘seen’ in the canteen... Radhe pls tell me this isn’t based on real life 😳_

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _I am._

The comment section exploded. Siya’s hands shook.

Across the street, Kabir lowered his binoculars.

_Sir, she knows someone’s watching. She dropped her chai._

Shashwat’s voice was deadly quiet. “Good.”

“Should I back off?”

“No.” A pause. Then, rough: “Did she eat the patty?”

_...Half, sir. Before the message._

“Make sure she finishes it. And tell the canteen boy to add less sugar to her chai next time.”

Sir? Kabir said

“Just do it, Kabir.”

He hung up. Looked at the text he couldn’t send:

_You don’t have to be scared of me, Meera. Yet._

*[Author’s Note from RadheWrites]*

_I’m turning off comments for a while.

To @H_Y_A_L_E_T: Stop. Please. You’re scaring me.

To my Radhe family: I need a break. I don’t know who’s reading anymore.

— Radhe 💔_

*@H_Y_A_L_E_T*: _You should be scared. But you won’t be. That’s why I can’t look away._

Shashwat threw his phone again.

Revenge brought him to her college.

Obsession made him learn her chai order.

And love...

Love was the word he refused to write, even in his head.

*To be continued...*