[Steel]

Her heart raced reading it with a mix of fury and thrill she couldn't shake. Thrill danced down her spine with a forbidden shiver she hasn't felt in years.

She clutched her pants tighter, scolding herself, "This ain't right, get a grip girl, you're spiraling," but her fingers moved, driven by something deeper.

Her husband's face flashed in her mind, but her body hummed with something alive. She couldn't use her real account to talk which felt too risky and exposed. She wanted to play the stalker giving the taste of his own medicine.

She hasn't replied yet. Instead, she walked up to her wardrobe, grabbed an old unused phone under the sheets which she stopped using several months back as they stalled the updates. 

She quickly got back on her bed, switched it on, installed and opened Instagram, swiped to create a new profile, ShyVelvet, her hands trembling as she set it all up. Her chest tightened as she created that account. No display picture, no description and no hints.

She wanted to turn the tables, taste the power he's been wielding over her. Even though she's never done this, even though her husband's snores echoed from the past, the thrill drowned her guilt.

She thought it through until night, finally resolving to act. As soon as the family had their dinner, she got back to her room, took her old phone from her handbag, opened the stalker's profile and entered his DM. 

She typed, slow and deliberate, breathing shallow: "You think you know me, Creep?" she hit send. She waited, the silence stretching.

Ishaan's brow arched slightly with a hint of surprise as he gets a notification from an unknown account named ShyVelvet and his fingers hover over the keys.

He knew he was always the one in control, the charmer who makes girls blush, and this felt different. "Is it her?" Ishaan wonders as his heart kicks up a notch, intrigued.

Then it buzzed "Madhuri? Is that you?" A nervous laugh escaped her lips, quickly muffled by her hand.

"He's sharp, damn him," she mutters, her palms sweat, but she leans into the role texting, "Guess again stalker, I'm not who you think I am." She sent it.

Ishaan chuckled, leaning forward "I'm used to girls throwing themselves at me. But this? This could be a puzzle. I love it," he thought, ignited by the chase.

"Oh, alright, mystery girl. Let's see... you're someone who's troubled by me, huh?" His grin widened, eyes glinting with challenge.

A reply came from ShyVelvet: "Maybe, or maybe I'm just here to mess with you. Guess who would do that."

He typed and sent "Oh, I've had my share of admirers. One girl tried to push me in a pool, after I refused a kiss. Another punctured my tire when I refused to walk her home, all mushy. But you seem different, who are you?" 

A flush crept up her neck reading it as her jealousy stung her sharp and sudden. He is the kind she had always avoided.