With tear-filled eyes, Raha returned to her seat and sat down.
Subin looked at her helplessly, while Raha kept her head lowered.
She was deeply hurt,
yet she didn't express anything.
She felt like crying endlessly, but she forced herself to hold it in.
As she sat there, she kept thinking about how wrong she had been about this school.
The teacher failed to calm the class down.
Angry and frustrated, he walked out of the classroom.
Meena immediately followed him, calling out,
"Dad! Dad, listen to me!"
At that moment, Raha realized—
Mr. Lee was Meena's father.
She stayed silent.
A few moments later, Meena rushed back into the classroom, grabbed her bag, waved goodbye to Raha, and hurried out.
She was in such a rush that Raha couldn't ask her anything.
Meena looked extremely tense as she left.
Raha wrote to Subin and asked,
"Is Mr. Lee Meena's father?"
Subin replied,
"Yes."
Raha wrote again,
"Who is Rabina? Why did Meena freeze when she heard that name?"
Subin glanced around carefully and whispered,
"I'll explain later. Don't mention that name right now."
Raha was surprised but stayed quiet.
The teacher returned, and the class resumed.
When it was tiffin time, they went to the cafeteria and sat down with their meals.
Suddenly, Aisha came and sat beside them.
"Hey, Raha. How are you?" Aisha said casually.
Raha was surprised by her sudden friendliness.
She had already understood what kind of students studied in this school.
The same girl who had been mocking her earlier was now talking to her nicely.
Neither Raha nor Subin could digest it.
Raha didn't respond or use any gestures. She simply continued eating.
Aisha laughed and said,
"Oh! I heard you're mute—but I didn't know you couldn't hear either."
She laughed loudly.
Subin immediately said,
"Look, please—"
Aisha cut him off with a smirk.
"Hmmm. His time will come too."
She gave Raha a sideways, mocking look and walked away.
Raha quickly wrote and asked Subin,
"Why did Aisha suddenly come here? And what did she mean by 'time will come'? What was she saying?"
Subin's face lost color, but he still didn't explain clearly.
He replied,
"It's okay. It's nothing."
Raha felt doubtful—but she didn't ask anything more.
After school, Raha returned home.
She saw that her mother had prepared many different dishes for her.
Seeing this, Raha ran to her mother and asked through gestures,
"Why so much food?"
Her mother smiled and said,
"For you, my child. Forget all that. How was your first day at school?"
As soon as she heard that, scenes from school flashed before Raha's eyes.
Still, she didn't tell her mother anything and gestured that everything was fine.
Her mother then said,
"The house where I work—their son studies in your school too. He went on a tour for a few days. Do you know where?"
Raha nodded while eating, asking silently,
"Where?"
"Paris," her mother replied.
Raha looked at her mother in surprise and slowly nodded.
"Yes," her mother continued.
"They're very rich. His father is the director of your school."
Raha was shocked again.
While eating, her mother said,
"Listen, I worked very hard to get you admitted to this school. Study sincerely, okay?"
Raha wrote and asked her mother,
"Was there a party at their house? Is that why there's so much food? Did they give you this too?"
Her mother replied,
"No, dear. I told you—their son just returned from Paris. All his favorite dishes were made."
She smiled and added,
"Not less than a prince, right?"
Raha simply nodded.
Then she wrote another question:
"What is the boy's name?"
Her mother answered,
"His name is Rohan."
After finishing her meal, Raha gestured that she was going to sleep.
She had to go to school early the next day.
Her mother smiled warmly.
"Go, my child. Get some rest."
Raha went to her room and lay down on her bed.
She kept thinking about school.
How wrong she had been.
How would she ever tell her mother about all this?
Meanwhile, Subin couldn't stop thinking about Raha.
How calm and gentle she was.
How cruel they were—recording her videos like that.
They will never change, he thought.
The poor girl didn't even do anything…
Ms. Garcia had been kind too, yet they hadn't spared her either.
Why did this girl ever come to this school?
He sighed.
"God," he whispered,
"please protect her."