To avoid a gaze is often more exhausting than meeting one. For Bhoomi, every inch of space she created between them was a fortress built to protect a heart that couldn't afford any more cracks. Drishti stood frozen, the silence of the rejection louder than any argument they had ever had. In that hallway, the distance wasn't measured in feet, but in the deliberate coldness of a sisterhood turned to shadow.

The hallways of the house felt narrower today, heavy with the unspoken words that had piled up between them. Bhoomi could feel Drishti’s presence before she even saw her—a familiar pull that she now had to resist with every ounce of her will.

As Drishti turned the corner, her eyes searching for the connection they once shared, Bhoomi made her choice. She didn't look up. She didn't falter. With a sharp, practiced turn of her head, she focused on a mundane detail of the wall, letting her footsteps quicken.