Riya did not sleep.The sun didn't make the fear go away; it just made it more visible. At 6:40 AM, her alarm rang, but she was already sitting up. Her eyes were dry and her mind was sharp. She opened the chat again. No new messages. The last line was still there, etched into the screen like a dare.
Unknown Number: One day you'll look at me and realize I was never hiding.
Her stomach tightened. Fine. If he wasn't hiding, she would make him show himself. Riya didn't go to the architecture studio to study that morning. She went to set a trap.
He had said he was here. So either he was lying or he was close enough to watch her panic. She needed proof. If he was real, he would slip somewhere. A reaction. A timing mistake. A pattern.
At 9:05 AM, she walked into the architecture studio. She always sat in the back, trying to be invisible. Today, she sat right in the middle. Visible. She put her phone on the desk, screen up, set to vibrate, and waited.
If you're watching, she thought, staring at the blank screen, know that I'm ready.
The minutes ticked by in a grueling silence. 9:17 AM passed without a flicker. By 9:28 AM, her jaw was tight with a mix of relief and agitation. Maybe daylight scared him. Maybe he only existed at 2:17.
Then, her phone vibrated. A new message from the unknown number appeared on the screen:
Middle row is new.
Riya felt her heart skip a beat,
Unknown number : You wanted attention today, didn't you?
She didn't move. She didn't blink. With practiced stillness and steady fingers, she was fueled by a cold, buzzing adrenaline as she typed out a three-word challenge.
Prove you're here.
Silence followed. The cursor blinked, a mocking heartbeat. For a second, she feared she had pushed too hard, that he had slipped back into the walls. Then, the vibration returned.
Unknown number: Open your water bottle.
It was such a mundane request that it made her skin crawl. Riya stared at the bottle lying on its side. Slowly, she reached out and gripped the cap. The plastic seal broke with a sharp crack. She didn't sit the bottle up. She let it lie there.
Her phone vibrated almost immediately.
Unknown Number : Tighten it properly. It's leaking.
Her heart skipped. She looked at the bottle. Water was already spilling out, spreading across the desk and soaking into the corner of her drafting paper. She wiped the water. That wasn't a lucky guess. He was close enough to see a stray droplet. She refused to scan the room. Not yet. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her panic.
Riya: Anyone can see that.
Unknown Number: Check your bag. Front pocket.
Her breathing hitched. She pulled her bag onto her lap, her fingers fumbling with the zipper. She reached into the small front pocket, searching for her keys.
The pocket was empty. She checked again. Nothing. The small metal charm she always found first without looking, her silver keychain, was gone.
Unknown Number: Looking for this?
Before she could process the theft, a metallic clink echoed off the floor.
Riya's head snapped toward the sound.There, near the third column by the far wall, her silver keychain lay gleaming on the floor. It hadn't been there a second ago. Someone had just dropped it. Her heart began to hammer against her ribs.
Unknown Number: You didn't notice when it fell earlier.
Liar, she thought. She would have heard it. It hadn't fallen; it had been planted.
She let her eyes roam now, sharp and predatory. In the second row, a boy in a grey hoodie sat perfectly still. His eyes were fixed on his own sketches, just feet away from where the keys had landed.
The phone buzzed in her palm.
Unknown Number: Wrong person.
Riya froze. She hadn't moved toward him. She had not said anything. She hadn't even pointed. How could he possibly know where her suspicion had landed?
Unknown: Stand up.
Against every instinct of self-preservation, she pushed her chair back. The screech of metal on floor sounded like a scream. Across the room, Professor Miller paused his critique, his charcoal pencil hovering over a student's model as his eyes lingered on her for a second.
Unknown Number:Turn slightly to your left.
She obeyed, her movements mechanical. She scanned the room. She saw rows of desks, Students. Nothing unusual. And then, she saw him.
Front row, near the window. A boy named Leo was holding his phone low under the desk. The angle was unmistakable. It was tilted back, aimed directly at her.
Her pulse spiked. Got you.
Slowly, deliberately, Riya lifted her hand and gave a small, mocking wave.
The boy looked up instantly. His face didn't crumple into guilt; it twisted into startled confusion. He looked around, wondering who the girl in the middle row was waving at?
The phone in Riya's hand shivered.
Unknown Number: You're waving at the wrong one again.
Her stomach did a slow, nauseating flip. She looked back at the boy. He was staring at her now as if she'd lost her mind.
Then, it happened.
A vibration. But not from her hand.
Across the room, on the boy's desk, his phone lit up. Even from a distance, Riya could see the bright white notification banner.
Unknown Number.
Her breath caught in her throat. The boy looked down, his expression shifting from confusion to a deep, visible unease.
At that exact microsecond, Riya's own phone vibrated.
Unknown Number: Now do you understand?
Leo glanced around the room. He wasn't guilty. He wasn't calm. He looked unsettled, just like her. His phone buzzed again. So did hers.
Riya's fingers tightened around her phone. She wasn't texting him, and he wasn't texting her. That meant only one thing. The same number had both of them.
This wasn't random. This wasn't a coincidence. It was deliberate.
Her hands felt weak as the realization hit her. He wasn't just watching anymore. He was setting the scene.
Unknown Number: Sit down, Riya. You're drawing attention.
She looked up, and the world felt like it was tilting. Every student in the studio was staring at her now. Not at the boy by the window. Not at the boy in the hoodie.Professor Miller had stopped speaking entirely, his brow furrowed as he watched her stand frozen in the middle of the room.
They were all looking at her. They weren't scared. They were just curious.
The phone gave one final, heavy vibration.
Unknown Number: You thought you caught me.
Another vibration followed almost instantly.
Unknown Number: I'm not sitting where you think I am.