There was a rule —
Rule no: 2
2) Do not look at the Tulsi trees for more than five seconds.
Aarohi stared for seven.
She didn't mean to.
She just… zoned out.
But when she blinked — the tree had moved.
Not like a sway. Not breeze. Not natural.
It had shifted.
From left to right.
"That… didn't happen," she whispered.
But it did.
And she wasn't alone.
"Did you touch anything?" Ishaan asked later, in the lab room they'd set up inside the guesthouse.
"No. Just stared. A little too long maybe. Like… 7 seconds?"
Ishaan looked up sharply. "That's a break."
"You say that like I broke a plate. I broke a law of space-plant physics, Ishaan."
She paused.
"What happens now?"
Vivan entered silently, as if summoned by dread.
"It sees her now," he said. "She's part of the hour."
That evening, they explored the outer edge of Nidhivan — guided by a local sadhu who said nothing but hummed softly, like his voice was saving energy for something bigger.
In the grove, Aarohi's steps slowed.
"This place doesn't feel like trees. It feels like… they're standing guard."
Ishaan: "Or like they're in on a joke we're not invited to."
Aarohi smirked. "Great. Forest with FOMO."
Then — she stepped on something.
Paper.
Faded. Torn.
A photograph.
It was black and white.
From 1953, based on the date scribbled behind.
A group of researchers — five men, standing near the same grove.
One man in the middle looked exactly like Ishaan.
Same face.
Same posture.
Same mole near the collarbone.
Aarohi gasped.
"Okay WHAT THE ACTUAL—"
"It's a lookalike," Ishaan said. But even his voice cracked slightly.
"That man is literally you in monochrome," she snapped.
Vivan took the photo gently.
"He was here," he whispered.
"I've heard his name before. But in whispers. He never returned."
"What was his name?" Ishaan asked.
Vivan looked up.
"Dr. Ishaan Malhotra."
Silence.
Aarohi: "Okay I'm done. I want a refund from the universe. This is not cute anymore."
That night, the file had a new page.
Not typed. Not written.
Scratched.
Like by nails.
It said:
"You've been here before."
And under it…
"And she followed you."