Chapter 30: The Truth Behind the Fake

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens in the immediate aftermath of the dawat. Once the guests have gone home, Ishu's house feels oppressively empty — the silence pressing in after a day of Bengali chatter. She changes out of her salwar kameez and removes her makeup, but her mind refuses to settle. Two people dominate her thoughts: Hani and Nik, both of whom she wishes she could stop thinking about.

In bed, Ishu pulls out her phone and opens her text thread with Nik. The last messages between them were from the day Nik came home to surprise the family, which now feels like an eternity ago. Ishu types a tentative opening — just a greeting — before pausing. She doesn't know how to ask her sister whether Nik accidentally discovered the truth about the fake relationship, nor what Nik might plan to do with that knowledge. The possibilities — especially the idea that Nik could use this secret to win back Abbu and Ammu's favor — make her feel sick. She erases the message.

She then switches to her Instagram DMs with Hani. Ishu is still trying to make sense of what happened in her bedroom earlier that day — that fleeting, inexplicable moment when she was sure she and Hani wanted the same thing. But the moment passed quickly, and Ishu wonders if it was just a moment of weakness, triggered by the fear that someone now knows their secret. She drafts a message asking whether they should talk about what happened, but erases it almost immediately. She reasons that Hani isn't the kind of person who confronts things head-on — even coming to Ishu about Nik seemed to pain her — so a message like that would likely make Hani run for the hills.

Instead, Ishu ends up on her Instagram timeline, where the first photo she sees is Hani's post from the dawat. It shows the two of them sitting side by side, each holding a plastic white bowl of mishti. Both are half-smiling — Hani looking down, Ishu staring straight into the camera — and the awkwardness between them is almost palpable in the image. Ishu wonders if Hani posting the photo is a roundabout way of saying something, or if it means nothing at all. Either way, it makes her happy.

She closes her eyes, hoping sleep will bring clarity about both the Nik and Hani situations. But when she wakes on Sunday morning, her thoughts are still a jumble. She spends the day helping Ammu clean the house, her mind whirring the whole time. As she cleans, she considers whether to bring up the subject of her and Hani — and whether she should bring it up at all. The last time she tried, Hani shut her out. Ishu worries she might be building everything up in her head, that Hani might not feel anything for her, and that she could blow up their tentative friendship over nothing.

She wishes she had someone to talk to. Hani at least has her friends, though Ishu doubts Hani would ever ask them for advice about her. The only person Ishu has ever had is Nik. She recalls Nik's last words to her — an offer of support, a promise that Ishu could come to her. Nik had seemed so sincere, and Ishu can almost picture the sympathy on her face. She wanted to believe her, and still wants to. But Nik and Ishu have never been sisters like that, not even before their academic competition began. And now Nik holds all the cards. Ishu sighs and returns to her cleaning, putting Nik out of her mind. Her sister is definitely not someone she can trust, not even if Nik pretends she is.

Key Events

The dawat ends, and the house falls into an unsettling silence.
Ishu tries to message Nik but erases her text, unable to ask whether Nik knows the truth about the fake relationship.
Ishu drafts a message to Hani about what happened in her bedroom but erases it, convinced Hani would avoid the conversation.
Ishu sees Hani's Instagram post of the two of them with mishti from the dawat and feels a flicker of happiness.
Ishu sleeps poorly and wakes Sunday with unresolved, jumbled thoughts.
She spends the day helping Ammu clean, weighing whether to raise the topic with Hani.
Ishu ultimately decides Nik cannot be trusted, despite Nik's earlier offer of support.

Character Development

Ishu is the sole focus of this chapter, and her internal state is laid bare. Her inability to send even a simple message to Nik reveals how deeply the secret weighs on her — she is paralyzed by the fear of exposure and by the uncertainty of what Nik might do with the truth. Her decision to erase the message to Hani shows a similar paralysis, but for a different reason: she is afraid of pushing Hani away, of misreading the moment they shared, and of destroying the fragile friendship they've built.

The chapter also deepens Ishu's sense of isolation. She has no one to confide in — Hani won't confront things directly, and Nik, the only person she's ever had, is now the one holding the power over her secret. Her final rejection of Nik's offer of support is a significant character beat: despite Nik's apparent sincerity, Ishu's history with her sister and the power imbalance between them make trust impossible. This is not a decision made lightly; it's the result of a lifetime of sibling rivalry and the current stakes of the fake relationship.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Silence and emptiness: The chapter opens with the house feeling