Aaradhya typed the message with trembling fingers.
"I still think of you when it rains. Even after all these months, I haven’t moved on. Maybe I never will. I wish I could hate you. But all I do is miss you. Every single day."
The words stared back at her like old wounds reopened. She had rehearsed them in her head for weeks, maybe months, always stopping short of sending them. The message wasn’t meant to revive anything—it was meant to *end* something. A way to finally let go of Aarav, the boy who had walked out of her life without a reason.
Their breakup had been as quiet as dusk—no fights, no dramatic goodbyes. Just a slow fading into nothing. Aaradhya had waited—one week, two weeks, a month—for him to return. But instead, she was left with unanswered texts, a ghosted presence, and eventually, a profile that stopped existing.
She sighed deeply and hit send.
Seconds later, her phone buzzed.
"Hey... is this meant for me?"
Her heart stopped.
That wasn’t Aarav’s name on the screen.
It was Karthik.
Karthik—her best friend.
The one who had held her through every heartbreak, stood by her side in her loneliest moments. The one who made her laugh when tears refused to stop. The one who never missed a call, even if it came at 2AM. The one who always stayed, even when she was hard to stay for.
And now he had just received a confession.
About someone else.
Aaradhya stared at the message, panic bubbling under her skin. She wanted to disappear. Her fingers hovered over the screen as she began typing:
"No. Sorry. That wasn’t for you."
But she paused.
There was no point pretending. He had read it. Maybe more than once. He deserved the truth.
"No… it was for Aarav. Sent it by mistake. I’m so sorry."
She hit send and flung the phone onto her bed.
Minutes passed. Long, suffocating minutes. The silence in her room seemed to echo her heartbeat.
Then another message appeared.
"You still love him?"
It wasn’t like Karthik to ask questions. He had always been the listener, the calm after her storms. The question stung—because it mirrored what she kept asking herself.
She replied:
"I don’t know. I think I just never got answers. And I can’t let go of something that’s unfinished."
A pause. Dots appeared, disappeared, then reappeared.
"You know… sometimes people don’t give answers because they’re afraid the truth will hurt more than silence."
She read it. Once. Twice.
Before she could reply, another message arrived.
"And sometimes… someone stays. Quietly. Loving you through all your heartbreaks… hoping one day you’ll notice them."
Her breath hitched.
Was he saying...?
She typed with shaky fingers:
"Karthik… are you saying…"
"Yes."
"I’ve loved you for years. Since the day you walked into class with that ridiculously oversized bag and forgot your notebook. I didn’t say anything because you loved him."
The phone slipped from her hand.
Everything around her slowed. Her heart raced—not from sadness, but from something unfamiliar. A warmth that spread through her like a sunrise breaking through winter clouds.
Karthik had seen her fall apart and helped her rebuild. And all this time, he had been quietly loving her. Without expectations. Without demands. Just there.
She didn’t respond that night.
The next morning, Karthik waited near the canteen like always. Leaning against the red-brick wall, sipping tea from a paper cup, smiling like nothing had changed.
But his eyes… his eyes held a storm.
He handed her a chocolate bar. Her favorite. Like always.
“Friends?” he asked with a lopsided smile.
Aaradhya looked at the chocolate. At him. Then shook her head.
“No.”
The word cut through the morning air like a whisper.
His smile faltered.
But then she smiled.
“I don’t want to go back to being *just* friends.”
Karthik’s eyes widened. His cup trembled slightly.
“You sure?”
She nodded, her voice firm.
“For the first time, I’m completely sure.”
She reached for his hand. This time, she didn’t let go.
That evening, they walked through the park near their college. It had rained earlier, and the scent of wet earth clung to the air. Children chased each other with paper boats, while old men sat on benches, talking politics and prices. Aaradhya and Karthik walked in silence, their hands intertwined.
Under the giant gulmohar tree, she turned to him.
"Thank you for waiting."
He smiled, brushing his fingers against hers.
"You were always worth the wait."
They sat on the bench under the tree. Aaradhya looked at the dusky sky, then at the rippling puddles around them. "It still hurts sometimes," she admitted. "The unanswered questions. The memories."
Karthik nodded. "Closure isn’t always a moment. Sometimes, it’s a decision."
She rested her head on his shoulder. "You always know the right thing to say."
He chuckled. "Only for you."
They watched the sun set behind the college gates, painting the sky in orange and pink. Slowly, peace settled into the spaces that had long been filled with ache.
A week later, they went on their first official date. Nothing fancy—just a small café tucked behind the college library, with fairy lights and vintage music. Aaradhya wore a simple dress, but her eyes sparkled in a way they hadn’t for months. Karthik, nervous yet overjoyed, pulled her chair out like a gentleman, earning a playful laugh from her.
Over shared fries and steaming cups of coffee, they talked about everything and nothing. About dreams. About past wounds. About how a single wrong message became the right turn.
When they walked back to campus, Aaradhya stopped under the lamppost where Karthik first comforted her after a bad breakup. She looked up at him and said, "This time, I’m not scared."
He smiled and whispered, "Neither am I."
The consequences of a wrong message turned into the beginning of the right story.
*THE END*
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