The email arrived while Nandini was in the library.
Subject: Regarding your submission.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Accepted.
For publication.
With edits.
With her name.
She read the line again.
And again.
She closed her eyes.
All her life, she had written like she was whispering into empty rooms.
This time, someone had heard.
She walked back to the hostel slowly.
Like the words might spill if she moved too fast.
When she told them, Pihu screamed.Ananya hugged her so tightly her glasses tilted.Meher smiled like she was witnessing something precise and rare.
That night, Nandini lay awake.
Not anxious.
Not scared.
Just… awake.
Her thoughts weren't noise.
They were forming sentences.
For the first time, the quietest girl in Room 407 didn't feel invisible.
She felt… readable.