Chapter 5 — A Threat in the Shadows
Varshini sent Hemanth a message during the afternoon break.
Meet me behind the old lecture block. Don't bring anyone.
He considered ignoring it, but fear made him follow the instruction. He found Varshini waiting near a quiet passage with two other seniors.
She held up her phone.
The screen displayed photographs from the humiliating makeover.
Hemanth felt the blood drain from his face.
“Delete those pictures,” he said.
Varshini smiled without warmth.
“Maybe I will. But first, you need to learn to listen to your seniors.”
She threatened to share the photographs on social media if he refused to follow her demands.
Hemanth struggled to breathe normally. He imagined the images reaching his classmates, his family, and strangers who would make assumptions about him without knowing the truth.
He was not ashamed of people seeing him in feminine clothing. He was terrified of losing control over his own private life.
“Please don't share them,” he said.
Varshini lowered the phone.
“Then don't disappoint me.”
Hemanth returned to his room in a daze. He sat on his bed, staring at his hands, unable to concentrate on his assignments.
That evening, Swetha noticed his unusual silence.
After several minutes, he finally told her about the photographs and the threat.
Swetha's expression changed from concern to anger.
“Those pictures were taken without your permission,” she said. “You haven't done anything wrong.”
She encouraged him to preserve the threatening messages, avoid confronting Varshini alone, and seek support from a trusted faculty member or the college's anti-ragging authorities.
Hemanth hesitated. He worried that reporting the incident might make the bullying worse.
Swetha did not force him to act before he was ready. She simply sat beside him and helped him think through his options.
That night, Hemanth backed up the messages and wrote down what had happened.
It was a small step, but it gave him something he had been missing: a sense that he could respond rather than simply endure.
Varshini still had the photographs.
But she no longer had complete control over his silence.
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