A City of Strangers

By the time Aadesh boarded his flight the next morning, the hotel room felt colder — and emptier.

Anika stood at the window, watching the distant blinking lights of planes taking off. She had walked him to the bus terminal that would take him to the airport, exchanged a tight hug and half a dozen promises. They didn’t cry. They didn’t need to. Their bond wasn’t made of words — it was made of the years they had survived side by side, of secrets whispered across pillows in the dead of night.

Now, it was just her.

Alone in a city that didn’t know her name, with only a merit letter and two thousand rupees in her wallet.

The reality of what she had done was beginning to settle in. She had no dorm yet — student accommodation would only be available closer to the term start. She had no job. No one here she could trust.

Her phone buzzed.

Low battery — 5% remaining.

She pulled up her contact list, thumb hovering. She had deleted almost every number connected to the village before she left — a clean cut. No way back.

Except one.

Aasha.

Her childhood best friend. They had shared more than just classes and mango trees — they'd dreamed together. About city lights. About medicine. About being women who wrote their own futures.

Aasha had moved away two years ago on a scholarship. They hadn’t spoken in months. Still…

Anika tapped the call button and held her breath.

It rang twice before a groggy voice answered. “H-Hello?”

“Aasha?” Anika whispered.

“Wait. Ani? Anika? Is that you?”

Tears pricked at the corners of Anika’s eyes. “Yeah. I’m in the capital. I— I left home.”

There was a beat of stunned silence.

“Wait, what?! Where are you? Are you okay? What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” she murmured, her voice trembling. “But I’m fine. Sort of. I just need a place to stay. Just for a few months until college starts.”

“I wish I was there!” Aasha exclaimed. “But I moved to the UK. I started my internship here last month.”

Of course.

“But listen,” Aasha continued, “my brother still lives near your college. He has a place. He could help.”

Anika’s heart skipped. “Your brother?”

“Yeah. Remember him?”

Sort of. He had always been a quiet, distant presence in Aasha’s house. Older. Moody. Eyes like cold steel and headphones always on. She remembered once walking in on him surrounded by open laptops and wires, typing faster than her eyes could follow.

“You think he’d help me?”

“I already texted him,” Aasha replied. “He’ll be there in an hour. He said yes.”

Anika blinked. “Just like that?”

“He doesn’t say no to me,” Aasha said confidently, then added, “But… be prepared. He’s weird. A bit of a recluse. Doesn’t talk much.”

“That’s okay,” Anika said. “I’m not looking for conversation.”

“I’m proud of you, Ani,” Aasha added softly. “You did what most of us only dreamed of. You actually walked away.”

Anika looked out at the city — at the traffic, the smog, the relentless noise. It wasn’t a dream yet. It was barely survival.

But she had no regrets.

“Thanks, Aasha. I owe you.”

“You don’t. Just promise you’ll be okay.”

“I’ll try.”

They hung up.

Anika checked her reflection in the mirror. Tired eyes. Dust-streaked cheeks. Determined chin.

She didn’t look like a girl who was about to meet a stranger. She looked like someone on the edge of something — a life, a war, or maybe both.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped out into the street, where the capital hummed like a living beast. Somewhere out there, Aasha’s brother — the mysterious Rayan — was on his way.

She didn’t know it yet, but this meeting would change everything.

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