It took Aarav months to feel normal again~~if you could call it that.
At first, he tried filling the silence.
Gym. Work. Friends. Trips he didn't enjoy. Girls he couldn't connect with. It all felt. like static noise in a room that used to echo with her laugh.
He never told anyone the full story. Just said it didn't work out. They they weren't meant to be.
But late at night, when the city was asleep and the moon stared back like a memory, he'd wonder if she ever regretted choosing a stranger over him.
~~
Anaya, too, disappeared from social media. From everyone.
Her wedding never happened.
It fell apart weeks before the date~~quietly, without explanation.
She told her parents the truth: her heart wasn't in it.
She didn't mention Aarav by name. But her silence said enough.
She moved to another city. Started over. A new apartment. A new job. A new version of herself.
But nothing she built felt fully hers.
Because the version of her that belonged with Aarav had been left behind~~in a a cafe, in a rainy goodbye, in a love that didn't get to live enough.
~~
Two years passed.
Aarav met Isha at a friend's engagement party. She wasn't anything like Anaya~~where Anaya had been calm water, Isha was sunlight. Open, warm, easy to talk to.
She didn't make his heart race. She made it rest.
And that felt like enough.
Their relationship was simple. No history, no heartbreak, no weight. Just good conversation, matching values, and quiet dinners were the silence wasn't heavy.
When Aarav proposed, it wasn't grand. No trembling hands. No fireworks.
Just two people choosing each other because it felt safe.
They married six months later.
His mother cried happy tears.
His friends said, "It's about time."
And Aarav smiled through it all.
He told himself he was happy.
He almost believed it.
~~
One Saturday evening, not long after their first anniversary, he and Isha went grocery shopping. It was mundane. Peaceful. She teased him about buying too many snacks. He kissed her cheek in the cereal aisle.
They laughed.
And then~~
He turned a corner near the spice racks...
And time stopped.
There she was.
Anaya.
Hair in a low bun, soft cardigan, eyes scanning a shelf of tea.
The same eyes that had once looked at him like he was everything.
She looked up.
Their eyes met.
She froze.
He forgot how to breathe.
Isha called out, "Babe, which rice do we~~?"
Anaya turned first.
Sha gave a small smile, then turned away without a word.
And walked to the other end of the store.
Aarav stood still.
Two lives. Two strangers.
One love that had never been buried deep enough.
Only hidden.
Beneath all the years.