Comparison and Ego

Chapter 3 —

If Meera Sharma’s life was built on responsibility,

Aarav Malhotra’s life was built on expectations.

Aarav lived in a huge house with marble floors, glass walls, expensive cars, and more rooms than he could count. From the outside, his life looked perfect.

But inside that house, nothing was ever enough.

Especially not Aarav.

Every report card day was the same.

His mother would sit on the sofa, open his report card, and the first question was always the same:

“Who came first?”

Aarav would stay silent for a few seconds and then say quietly,

“Meera Sharma.”

His mother would close the report card and say, “Again? Aarav, you go to the best school, best tuition, best facilities. That girl’s mother works in houses and still she comes first. Don’t you feel ashamed?”

His father was even worse.

He never shouted.

He never scolded loudly.

He just said one sentence that hurt more than anything:

“You are always second. Remember that. In business and in life, second place has no value.”

That sentence stayed in Aarav’s mind for years.

Second has no value.

Second is equal to losing.

Second means you are not good enough.

And the person because of whom he was always second was Meera.

Slowly, Meera stopped being just a classmate.

She became his ego problem.

He started noticing everything about her:

She always sat in the first bench

She always answered correctly

Teachers always praised her

Principal knew her name

She always got scholarship

She never talked to anyone

She never complained about anything

And the more people praised her, the more angry Aarav felt.

One day, after unit test results, Aarav came second again. His friends were talking and laughing, but he was in a bad mood.

He looked at Meera sitting quietly and studying even after school.

His friend Kabir said jokingly, “Bro, just accept it. She is smarter than you.”

Aarav’s ego hurt immediately.

“She is not smarter than me. She just studies all the time. I can beat her anytime if I want.”

Kabir laughed. “Then beat her in exams.”

Aarav looked at Meera again and said something that he didn’t even realize would change both their lives.

“I don’t need to beat her in exams. I will make sure she cries because of me. Let her come first in class.

I will come first in making her life miserable.”

Kabir laughed, thinking it was just a joke.

But Aarav was not joking.

From that day, bullying was not random anymore.

It became intentional.

He would:

Hide her notebooks before tests

Spread rumors about her

Make fun of her old bag and shoes

Tell classmates not to sit with her

Laugh when teachers praised her

Call her “Scholarship Girl”

Clap slowly whenever she answered

Once he even told her directly:

“Listen Meera, next time you come first again, I will make sure you regret it.”

Meera looked at him for a few seconds but didn’t say anything.

She just picked up her bag and left.

Her silence made him even more angry.

He wanted her to fight.

He wanted her to shout.

He wanted her to complain.

But she did nothing.

And that made him feel like he was not even important enough for her to fight with.

That hurt his ego more than anything.

So he bullied her more.

He didn’t know that while he was fighting a rank competition,

Meera was fighting life and death with her mother.

He was angry because he was second.

She was studying because if she became second, she might lose her education, her future, and the only hope she had left.

But Aarav didn’t know her story.

And Meera never told anyone.

So the distance between them kept growing —

One with ego,

One with pain.

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