Stocks & Destiny
Chapter 8
The Third Line
1,757 Words
9 Min Read
15 Jul 2026
In this country, a car had been a luxury for as long as anyone could remember.
And yet, every news channel was repeating the same thing.
Vardhan AutoSystems and the Vora Group were promising to build one that ordinary families could finally afford.
An anchor said it on one channel.
Then another anchor on another channel repeated almost the same words.
By the time Anu reached home, she had heard about affordable cars so many times that she was beginning to feel personally responsible for making one.
She collapsed onto the couch with the remote in her hand.
She pressed mute, but she did not turn the television off.
The breaking-news ticker kept scrolling along the bottom of the screen.
Anu sat there, watching the muted mouths of the news anchors.
She had wanted to speak to Rishi from the moment she saw the news during her lunch break.
But the afternoon had been packed.
Classes, one after another, without enough time to even sit down properly.
For a moment, she had actually thought about skipping her next lecture just to find him.
No.
She caught herself immediately. Skipping her own class to track down a student would not have been professional at all.
Whatever she wanted to ask him could wait until the college day was over.
By the time her final class ended, she was already tired.
She gathered her notes, looked toward the door, and thought she would finally find him before he left.
That was exactly when two students came to her desk with doubts.
Then three more joined them.
They hardly ever stayed back to ask questions.
Usually, she had to ask them whether they understood anything before they even answered.
Today, suddenly, everyone wanted to learn.
She was glad. Of course she was glad.
But why today?
By the time the last student finally packed their bag and left, the corridor outside was completely empty.
Rishi had already gone.
Anu looked away from the television and pulled her laptop onto her lap.
Her fingers were slightly stiff as she typed in the URL for her online demat account.
The interface loaded slowly, blocky and familiar.
She logged in and went straight to the portfolio tab.
Yesterday, a deep red percentage had been sitting next to Tasha Motors.
Now it was down another twelve percent.
The number made her stomach tighten.
If she had left her money there, another part of her savings would have disappeared by the closing bell.
Instead, her eyes moved to the row below it.
Vardhan AutoSystems.
The stock was locked at the upper circuit.
Green.
The maximum twenty percent rise allowed in a single day.
Anu stared at the total valuation at the bottom of the screen.
₹6,000.
A thousand rupees.
It was not enough to change her life.
But it was more money than she had expected to make from one decision taken in a few minutes.
And she had made that decision because of Rishi.
If he had not asked about Vardhan, she would never have considered putting her money there.
She would not even have looked at the stock.
How had he even thought to ask about it?
From the questions he asked, he had seemed like someone trying to understand the basics of the market for the first time.
Was it a lucky guess?
No.
It had not sounded like one.
She reached for her mobile and found Rishi’s number.
Her thumb hovered over the call button.
Then she stopped.
Calling him at this time would not be right.
She lowered the phone slowly and looked back at the television.
Kiran Vora was speaking now.
Anu turned the volume up.
“What is happening to them is a tragedy, and I will not pretend otherwise,” Vora said, his voice calm and smooth through the quiet living room. “But it was not caused by this deal. It was caused by decisions made in boardrooms far above those workers’ heads.”
Anu stared at the billionaire’s comfortable smile.
She could not prove he had planned it.
But Tasha was collapsing, Vora was stepping in at exactly the right moment, and their supplier was suddenly available for far less than it should have been.
The shape of it was too familiar.
“What a scumbag." Anu muttered
✦ ✦ ✦
"Aunty, I'm telling you, this saree color suits you perfectly. It makes you look like you're his elder sister, not his mother. Rishi definitely inherited his good looks from your side of the family."
I paused at the threshold of the living room, my college bag hanging off one shoulder.
Sameer was leaning against the kitchen counter, a massive, shameless grin on his face.
Mom was laughing... wiping her hands on her apron while handing him a steaming bowl of fresh egg Maggi.
"Oh, stop it, Sameer," she said, though she was clearly loving the flattery. "At least someone in this house notices. Look at Rishi; he walks right past me without a word."
I stared at the back of Sameer’s head, my eye twitching.
What is this idiot trying to say to my mom?
"Sameer," I interrupted, stepping into the room. "Don't you have your own house to go to? Since when did you start flirting with my mom?"
"Hey, respect your elders, Rishi," Sameer said, immediately twirling a huge forkful of noodles into his mouth. "I just came by to check on you after you went to the hos—"
He froze. His eyes went wide as the word half-left his mouth.
My mother turned around instantly, her brow furrowing. "Hospital? Who went to the hospital?"
My heart stopped for a beat.
That idiot was about to spill everything.
I had not told Mom about the hospital because she worried too much. If she found out I had collapsed and gone there without telling her, she would not let me hear the end of it.
I should never have let Sameer inside the house.
Sameer swallowed the noodles hard, clearing his throat as he forced his usual grin back onto his face.
“Hospital?” he repeated. “I meant he almost collapsed near the canteen.”
Mom turned around instantly, her brow furrowing.
“You collapsed?”
“It was nothing,” I said quickly. “I just hadn’t eaten properly since morning. I felt a little dizzy.”
Sameer nodded, still holding his fork in midair.
“Yeah, aunty. He went pale for a minute, so I made him sit down. That’s all.”
Mom looked at me carefully.
“You didn’t eat again?”
“I was busy.”
“Busy enough to faint?”
“I didn’t faint,” I said. “I just felt dizzy.”
She sighed, the worry in her face softening into irritation.
“Go wash your hands. You’ll eat first. No arguments.”
“Okay, Mom.”
I picked up my bag and headed toward my room before either of them could say anything else.
Behind me, I heard Sameer let out a breath.
The idiot had nearly ruined everything.
Sameer closed the door behind him and looked at me for a few seconds.
"What?" I asked.
He leaned against my study table.
"You know, for someone who supposedly only felt dizzy, you look like you're about to interrogate me for saying one wrong word."
"You almost told her I went to the hospital."
"Because you did go to the hospital."
I didn't answer.
Sameer's smile faded a little.
"Rishi... why have you been strange since you collapsed?"
I looked away.
The question landed harder than it should have.
Maybe because I had been waiting for someone to ask it.
Or maybe because, until that moment, I had been able to pretend that if I stayed quiet long enough, all of it would somehow stop feeling real.
It was not that I didn't trust Sameer.
He had been there when I collapsed. He had come to the hospital. And even now, he was standing in my room because he had almost ruined his own evening trying to make sure I was okay.
If anyone deserved an answer, it was him.
But what answer could I give him?
That I had seen a strange glow beside a stock name before Tasha Motors crashed?
That I had seen it again before Vardhan AutoSystems rose?
That every time it happened, I felt less like I had found something and more like something had found me?
I still did not understand why it was happening.
I did not understand what the mark meant.
I did not understand why I had collapsed in the first place.
How was I supposed to explain something I could barely admit to myself?
"Nothing," I said finally.
Sameer stared at me.
"That answer is worse than the hospital lie."
I let out a breath and sat on the edge of my bed.
"I know."
He stayed quiet.
For once, he did not try to make a joke.
"I'll tell you," I said. "Just... not until I understand it myself."
✦ ✦ ✦
Sameer left only after finishing every last strand of Maggi.
Mom made me help clean up after him.
I stood at the sink, rinsing the plates while she packed the leftover curry into a steel container. Behind me, the refrigerator door shut with a dull, heavy thud.
“Eat breakfast properly tomorrow,” she said, her voice filled with that quiet, constant worry.
“I will.”
“And don't skip lunch.”
“I won't.”
She gave me a look that made it entirely clear she did not believe either answer.
I nodded anyway.
Honestly, I was not sure I had even heard half of what she said.
My mind was still stuck on Sameer's question, looping it over and over.
Why have you been strange since you collapsed?
By the time I finally escaped to my room, the house had gone completely quiet.
I changed out of my shirt and lay back on the bed for a few seconds, staring at the cracks in the paint. The ceiling fan creaked above me, the rhythmic sound filling the empty space.
It should have made me feel better.
It didn't.
I sat up and looked at the old desktop on my study table.
The monitor was off.
For a few seconds, I almost left it that way.
Then I got up.
The CPU whirred to life. The monitor flickered once before the screen slowly came on, filling the room with its pale blue light.
I opened my notebook from the drawer.
On a fresh page, I wrote:
Tasha Motors
Glow. ₹130. Crash.
Vardhan AutoSystems
Glow. ₹255. Rise.
I stared at the two lines until the screen’s pale light began to hurt my eyes.
Then I drew a third line beneath them.
And left it blank.
Glossary
Demat account—A digital account that holds stocks and securities electronically , used by retail investors in india
Egg Maggi—Instant noodles(Maggi brand) cooked with egg, a common quick home snack
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