"Beyond The Boundary "

When the Whole World Moved On

Four More Months Later - The Pain Still Lingers

The rain in Kolkata had arrived early this year. August was sweltering. But inside the Gupta house, there was only cold. Cold eyes. Cold meals. Cold silences.

Rihi was still gone.

Aashna had stopped expecting miracles. Each morning she woke up, brushed her teeth, tied her hair back, and faced the same house of shadows. Her parents barely spoke. Her own mind floated through lectures and classes, her body in college, her heart trapped in the past.

She was now in the second year of college-what once felt like a promise now felt like punishment. Her friends had stopped asking about Rihi. Teachers spoke in hushed tones. Some thought she ran away for love. Others whispered mental health.

But Aashna knew. It was heartbreak. It was abandonment. It was Shubman Gill.

She had started preparing for Air Force entrance exams quietly. Not because she wanted to fly, but because it gave her something to do that didn't involve crying.
She knew she would get selected .

Every corner of their house had become a shrine. Rihi's parents had photos of Rihi in every room. Her mother still placed her favorite slippers neatly under her bed. Her father still paid her phone bill.

The only thing missing was her voice.

---

Another Blow - The News That Pushed Her Further

One quiet August evening, Aashna lay on the sofa. Her phone buzzed with a notification.

She almost ignored it. But something about the headline made her eyes flicker.

"Double Date? Shubman Gill, Sara Tendulkar, Abhishek Sharma & Laila Faisal spotted outside a Bandra bistro. Wedding bells next for Team India's heartthrob?"

Aashna blinked.

There it was. A collage of pictures. Shubman's arm around Sara's waist. Abhishek walking hand-in-hand with Laila Faisal. All of them laughing.

The same men who had loved and destroyed her sister.

The air around Aashna shrank. She gasped and dropped the phone. She looked across the living room-her eyes landed on her parents, hunched over a dusty album. Her mother was whispering something to her father watching her and Rihi's childhood pictures. Aashna didn't need to ask what.

They were remembering Rihi's childhood. Again.

Whereas Rihi's father's eyes were glassy. And Her mother was tracing her finger along a photo of little Rihi in a yellow frock.

Aashna watched them, heart breaking all over again.

Everyone had moved on. Everyone but them. Everyone but her.

---

November - The Trip That Changed Everything

Two months later, her college announced a week-long industrial visit to Mumbai. Most were excited. Aashna was not.

But she signed up anyway.

She needed to breathe a different air. Maybe this time, she would find something. Maybe fate would take pity.

The group arrived in Mumbai a week before the World Cup was to start. The city was buzzing. Posters of cricketers, lights, chants, media vans everywhere. One evening, after the last presentation, Aashna excused herself from her group and stood quietly outside the Wankhede Stadium.