The Straight Theory

The house decided something about us overnight.

Not love.

Not strategy.

A threat.

By Day Seventeen, the whispers were louder than the cameras.

“They’re both straight,” someone said openly during breakfast.

“No gay man would risk this much,” another added.

The theory spread like relief. It gave everyone an enemy again.

Arjun stirred his coffee slowly, expression blank.

I watched him carefully. Fame had taught him how to look untouched while bleeding quietly.

Diary Room – Day 17

It’s easier for people to believe we’re lying than to accept we’re confused.

Confusion scares them.

The host announced a twist.

“For the first time,” she said, “housemates may nominate pairs.”

Murmurs. Smiles. Strategy sharpening.

Arjun’s hand brushed mine under the table.

We didn’t pull away.

The nominations were brutal.

“They manipulate emotions,” someone said.

“They’re hiding something,” another added.

“They’re either straight or worse, fake,” came the final blow.

We were nominated unanimously.

The vote would happen in forty-eight hours.

That night, Arjun finally cracked.

“I didn’t think I’d be punished for being honest,” he said, voice shaking. “I thought pretending was the sin.”

I pulled him into my arms before thinking.

The cameras caught it.

I didn’t care.

“If they vote us out,” I said, “we walk out together.”

He looked up at me. “And if they don’t?”

“Then we stop pretending.”

Diary Room – Arjun

I’ve been photographed a thousand times.

This is the first moment that feels permanent.

The internet reacted violently.

Some defended us.

Some demanded proof.

Some called it a publicity stunt.

The Straight Theory trended for hours.

On the night before the vote, Arjun whispered, “What if we were wrong about ourselves?”

I didn’t answer.

Because I was already terrified of the answer.