Their worlds orbit with polite near-misses. She is learning the language of independence—public transport, late-night study sessions, friendships that are their own kind of daring. He rehearses courage in the privacy of his room, practicing confessions in front of a mirror and arranging bouquet ideas in a document labeled “sincere.” In their shared spaces—library tables, festival plazas, the cramped sanctity of a shared auto-rickshaw—the air thickens with things unsaid.