“Congrats Chandra! You have emerged as the class topper in last week’s test”, said Mrs. Vidhya, Chandra’s class teacher. “Keep up the good work and I am sure that you will secure outstanding marks in the 12th public exams too and make your family proud!”. Hearing this, Chandra cringed and muttered a ‘thanks’ to her teacher and sat down next to her best friend, Yamini Kandasamy in Chennai’s prestigious K.M.V School.

Chandra Rajendran, the star pupil of the class had the perfect five year plan in her mind, drafted by her parents – getting good marks in 12th exams, enrolling in reputed government colleges to become a medical doctor, going to the U.S or the U.K and marrying the perfect man. Her parents come from wealthy and influential backgrounds; her father is one of the top industrialists of Chennai and her mother is a famous Classical musician. Chandra is often compared by her family and relatives with her elder brother, Sanjay who had settled down in America after completing his law degree at Yale and is recently dating Ambika Mehta, former Miss India 2021 runner – up. Her parents are oblivious to the growing tensions between the siblings and often encourage it. “I hope this will be enough for my parents to get off my back, for the time being”, thought Chandra, halfway during the boring last period Physics class, while sneaking glances at Adhi, her longtime crush and her friend Yamini’s boyfriend of 6 months. Adhi or Adhitya Kumar was Chandra’s friend since kindergarten. Coming from a middle class family and losing his elder sister, Keerthy at a young age, he and Chandra were inseparable and were a part of each other’s lives. After some years when Yamini joined their school, they hung out together and were nicknamed the ‘Three Idiots’. Though Adhi and Chandra loved each other, they had never realised it, until last year when they were caught kissing in the house’s terrace by Chandra’s mother. Her parents opposed the relationship for two reasons – he did not come from a rich or influential background and he and Sanjay had a lot of bad blood, and both of them will never talk about it. Though Chandra and Adhi had broken up ‘publicly’, they are still seeing each other, thanks to Yamini’s cranky idea of staging a ‘fake’ relationship with Adhi, so that she could fool her parents that she is straight, while dating Priya, their classmate. At the end of the class hour when the final bell started ringing, both Adhi and Chandra exchanged a subtle eye contact that they would secretly meet at Jackie’s Bistro 2 kms from school, while the rest of their world’s problems could wait.