That day, after the call ended, I sat still, waiting for his texts, while a storm raged inside my mind.
What's next?
I kept hearing Priyanka's words echoing in my head, her suggestion to step back, to protect myself. But I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to do. It had only been three days. Just a few conversations. Just a few flirty lines—nothing too deep. Life could go back to normal, I told myself.
But the thing that hurt the most was this—
The very day I texted him for the first time… that same night, he broke up with his girl.
And that fact… it stung.
Even if today we have something between us (which I won't reveal yet—because this journey is a roller coaster, and you'll feel every twist with me), that memory still lingers. I knew Shresth cried during his breakup. He was heartbroken. For days after, he wasn't fine. Sometimes he would go completely numb.
And I couldn't help but think… Can a person who loved someone so deeply ever move on?
Could I convince my heart to let go of him?
Till date, he doesn't know what my exact state of mind was back then. I ended the call saying, "I can't explain how I feel right now. Can I text you at night? We'll talk then?"
Because I couldn't speak it. It was too heavy. I needed words on a screen to hold the weight of my thoughts. That was when I discovered the writer in me—when pouring out emotions felt easier through letters, paragraphs, or sometimes even poems.
I always believed that kind of love—where you'd cross oceans for someone, where you'd love them more than yourself—only existed in movies. But he proved me wrong. Love actually existed.
And I fell… too fast.
It took me months to understand if it was really love. But when tears fell for a guy I barely knew, when I felt pain in silence, when not talking to him left a strange emptiness—that's when I realized it was real.
Later that night, I sent him a few voice messages.
"It's all fine. I understand your situation. It must've been so tough going through all this alone, without telling anyone. You didn't even know what your mistake was. You're really strong… a real man… to open up about this so soon."
I felt strange—how after a breakup, he was casually talking to a long-lost friend the very next day. But when I put myself in his shoes, I realized he was just distracting himself.
He would use phrases like, "If you say, I'm totally free for you."
Little things like that made me believe maybe… we could hang out. Maybe we could be friends. Maybe, in the future, there could be more.
He was exactly like the guy I had imagined in my little delusions—manly, loved cars, from a business family, respectful, rooted in cultural values. And so I picked all these tiny things as signs.
But deep down, I knew this wouldn't be simple.
It had been just three days, but I already felt attached. I didn't yet call it feelings, but my heart wasn't ready to give up.
When he listened to my messages, he replied softly, agreeing, "Yeah… it's been tough for me too."
Later, I came to know he cried as well.
Today, when I was reading our old texts just to write this chapter, I felt this strange nostalgia. That first gust of attachment and love——it was so raw. And I wanted to keep it that way in my memory. Because this isn't a fictional love fantasy.
This is more like a Colleen Hoover book—messy, real-world problems, raw emotions, love that isn't perfect. And this story? It's not even entirely about Shresth.
Yes, he's been in my life for a year now. Yes, he holds the biggest secrets of my life. Yes, he became one of the most important people to me.
But this is my story
How life turned for me.
How, in every page… I somehow found him.
No matter how many storms life brought, he was the strange peace in that journey.
But coming back to what he said that night…
It came as a warning:
"Charu, I'll say one thing. If you stay with me, you're going to suffer. I'm not an easy person to deal with. And I don't know how much time I'll take to get out of this. I can't assure you I'll move on."
Those words crushed the tiny hopes blooming in me. But I wasn't ready to give up.
I thought, If this was it, why did God make me meet this person? What was the reason?
I told him, "I know it's my mistake too. I just expected too much when I shouldn't have. It's only been three days… I'm being too clingy. I feel embarrassed."
He replied gently, "Charu, don't take it in the wrong sense. I'm just worried about you, that's why I'm saying this."
So I told him something that came straight from my heart:
"I pray that the person you love and deserve comes back into your life, and you get your happiness back."
And he said something I'll never forget:
"Thank you. You said that without even thinking about yourself or your happiness. That's… a big thing. Thank you for understanding me."
It all felt so formal after that.
I said, Don't stress. We'll just be friends. I won't expect anything more than that."
And his reply was like a quiet closure:
"Yes. We're friends. That's it."
Just like that, I ended it with a few simple questions—"Did you have dinner? Are you okay?"—because I didn't want to stretch the conversation.
He was already suffering, yet he still said, "Charu, I understand your feelings. Believe me, I do. But I'm helpless."
He even requested me not to talk about all that anymore, because it was making him restless, keeping him awake at night. That's also why he didn't want to show me her picture. He couldn't bear to see her face again and again—it would break him all over again.
So we skipped that topic.
I remember each line he said because I couldn't sleep that night either. He told me he was open to friendship, but he couldn't give anything more right now. He confessed something that made me go silent—
She was someone he mentioned in his prayers.
That sounded so pure, I wanted to cry.
I said softly, "I have faith in God. And I trust you too. Everything will be fine."
And just like that, we ended the night.
But did it give me peace? No.
I was more confused than ever. I didn't know whether to feel good or bad about it.
The next thing my heart wanted was to see Samriddhis picture. The curiosity could kill me. But Shresth denied sending it.
And now I keep thinking about that one line—"Just friends. That's it."
Did he really mean it? Did he truly maintain that?
Did his words match his actions?
And did I… actually let go?
Or did I hold on, waiting for a hope that might not exist?
You'll know soon.
Keep reading—because this story is just beginning