Neel had always been good at hiding things — his doubts, his fears, even his grief. But lately, the mask was slipping. Sophia noticed it in the way his smile faltered too quickly, in the way his gaze lingered elsewhere, and in the heaviness that seemed to trail behind him like an invisible shadow.
At the café, his employees noticed too. He was distracted, forgetful. Orders were missed, coffee left too long on the counter. The man who once poured his soul into every detail now seemed lost in a fog.
And the truth was simple: he couldn't stop thinking about Ashaas.
It wasn't just her laughter or the way she carried herself. It was the knowledge that she had become everything he once feared she wouldn't — steady, radiant, complete. And she hadn't needed him to get there. Arjun had stepped into the role Neel had abandoned, and he was giving her the life Neel now realized he had been too blind, too afraid, to offer.
The weight of it grew unbearable.
One evening, after Sophia had fallen asleep on the couch, Neel stepped outside into the cool night air. He walked aimlessly, his phone in his hand, her name glowing on the screen. He had typed and erased the same message dozens of times over the past weeks.
I miss you.
I'm happy for you, but I can't stop thinking about us.
I made a mistake, Ashaas. The biggest mistake of my life.
He deleted them all again, his thumb trembling. But the silence felt heavier than any words could.
---
Meanwhile, Ashaas was living in a different world entirely.
Her relationship with Arjun was far from perfect, but it was real. Their conflict had left scars, yes, but also something stronger — the kind of honesty that made her believe this love could endure. She no longer compared him to her past. With Arjun, she was learning to trust the present.
One night, after a long day, she found herself laughing uncontrollably as Arjun tried to cook dinner and set the fire alarm off instead. They ended up sitting on the kitchen floor with takeout, tears of laughter running down their cheeks.
"I don't deserve you," Arjun said between laughs, pulling her close.
"You're right," she teased, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "But lucky for you, I don't care."
It was moments like this — imperfect, messy, raw — that made her realize she was falling, deeply and irrevocably, in love again.
---
For Neel, however, every new step Ashaas took with Arjun deepened his torment. He stumbled upon a photo online — Arjun and Ashaas at a wedding, her hand in his, her smile brighter than Neel remembered ever making her smile.
Something inside him cracked.
That night, he finally typed the message he had been holding back. This time, he didn't erase it.
Ashaas, I need to see you. Just once. Please.
His thumb hovered over the send button, his heart pounding. He knew that if he pressed it, there would be no turning back — not for him, not for Sophia, not for Ashaas.
And in the silence of that moment, Neel realized the truth: sometimes the heaviest confessions aren't the ones spoken aloud, but the ones we carry until they destroy us.
Still, the urge to break the silence burned stronger than ever.