Season 1, Episode 8 of "Before She Knew My Heart"
It started with stories.
Ayla had begun posting more often again —Smiling in new places, with new people.Most of them I didn't recognize.Except one face that kept appearing.
Tall. Stylish. Effortless grin.And always… always close to her.
His name?
Reyan.
At first, I didn't think much.A new friend, maybe. Someone from her batch.
But slowly, the pattern formed —He was always in the frame.And I wasn't.
I'd known Ayla long enough to read between her words.Even in the ones she never sent.
She didn't talk about Reyan.Not to me.But that silence?It said enough.
I saw it in the way her smile changed —Like she was trying to move forward,Trying to forget… something.
Maybe someone.
We met once in the corridor outside her house.
She had just returned in an auto, laughing at something on her phone.He stepped out behind her.Not her classmate.Her ride.
I stood still.She froze too — just for a moment — when she saw me.
Her laugh dropped into an awkward smile.
"Aarav… hey! This is Reyan."
He extended a hand.
Confident. Smooth.Too smooth.
"Bro, heard a lot about you," he said.
I shook his hand.Firm grip. Fake warmth.And eyes that scanned me longer than they should.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
It wasn't jealousy.I'd never felt entitled to Ayla.
But something in my gut didn't sit right.Not because she was smiling with someone else.But because… she didn't look like herself anymore.
There was a pause behind her laughter.Like she was trying too hard to be okay.
The next few days blurred.
She started texting a little more —But the warmth was… curated.Surface-level updates.Nothing deep.
And Reyan?
He was everywhere now.Study sessions, coffee breaks, late-night strolls in campus corridors.
Every update that once used to include me,Now echoed with his presence.
I didn't say a word.
Because I'd promised myself —I'd never be the reason she felt caged.
If she was happy, truly happy —That's all I ever wanted.
But one evening, her sister messaged me.
"Hey… who's this new guy Ayla's always with?"
That hit me.
If her own sister was asking…
Then maybe Ayla didn't really talk to anyone anymore.
Not about what mattered.
Still, I said nothing.
Just observed.
Watched as Reyan slowly took up more space in her world.In photos. In captions. In memories I was no longer a part of.
But what Reyan didn't know…
Was that I wasn't just her past.
I was the boy who had silently loved herSince she couldn't even spell the word "love" properly.
And I wasn't going to let someone like him rewrite our story.
Not without reading the first few chapters.