Then I saw her.
Samriddhi.
The name that had been haunting my mind for days finally had a face.
I held my phone, hesitating before opening the image my brother had sent. It was from a mutual friend's profile—three girls smiling under the sunlight. The middle one is her, he wrote. He even sent two more pictures.
When my eyes landed on her, I paused. There was a softness about her… an innocence in her smile that felt untouched by the world's chaos. She wasn't the kind of girl who would take your breath away with glamour, but there was something calmly beautiful about her—something that made sense of everything Shresth had ever told me.
I remembered how he once said, "I like girls who don't hide behind filters or layers of makeup, girls with hearts pure as hers." And at that moment, I understood exactly what he meant.
She was lucky, I thought. Lucky to have had a boy like him by her side—a boy who loved her so fiercely he could burn the world for her. He told me how mature she was, how sensible and grounded, qualities I knew I didn't fully possess no matter how hard I tried.
Being the eldest daughter in a loving family, I never faced serious responsibilities or teenage struggles like some did. My parents adored me, I didn't grow up with heavy household burdens, nor did I have scars from neglect. But even with all that love, I carried my own insecurities, my own quiet flaws. Life isn't as simple or perfect as it looks on the surface—everyone has their unspoken battles.
Through Shresth's words, I realized he didn't just date her. What they shared was beyond the shallow teenage romances you scroll past on social media. It was… pure. It was the kind of bond that made him put in effort, made him imagine a future with her. And that's why stepping into his life felt complicated. I was walking into the shadow of something unshakably deep.
Letting it go would have been the easiest thing to do. When I met him, I wasn't even looking for love. But somehow, I found it in him. And when I tried to pull away, it felt like the universe kept pulling me back—like there was some unseen force that didn't want me to let go.
It wasn't that I thought I was the right person for him. If Samriddhi was truly the one who made him happy, shouldn't he be with her? At least, that's what I told myself. At that age, love couldn't possibly run so deep so quickly—could it? It could just be attraction or infatuation. But no matter how much I tried to deny it, my feelings for him only grew heavier with every passing day.
Later that evening, I gathered the courage to ask. I texted him, attaching the picture.
"Is this her?"
He replied almost instantly. "Where did you get it from?"
I didn't respond at first. Then I finally said,"I have good connections in MaxwellAcademy." (His ex-school, Samriddhi's school, my cousin's school.)
He replied, "Okay… but you didn't need to do that. I don't want people to know we had a relationship. We're just in the same friend circle now. That's it."
I also sent the picture to my little trio—Priyanka and Prem. They didn't judge. They just asked where I got it and said, She's fine. But it doesn't matter what she looks like. If Shresth loved her soul, you'll never truly know what it was about her that made him fall so hard."
Those next few days were… heavy. For both of us. He was stuck in his own storms, trying to fix himself. I was caught between my heart and my mind, asking myself why I couldn't back off. Why was it so hard to let go?
My friends supported me, but it didn't make things easier. Soon it all got more complicated—confessions, betrayals, and choices that would hurt no matter what. And just like that, we were tangled into each other's lives in a way that neither of us could escape.
Sometimes you love someone so deeply, but you never get that love back. Maybe it's life's way of making you pay for the hearts you've unknowingly broken. Because when you hurt someone who truly loved you… you don't get away unscathed either.
I wasn't perfect. I wasn't innocent. I had hurt someone too. Someone who loved me despite my flaws. Someone I didn't mean to hurt but did anyway. I lied. I hid things. I ignored feelings I knew were real. And eventually, karma found its way back to me.
Because when you break a heart that only ever wanted to love you… you end up holding the pieces of your own.
Teaser for the next chapter:
But who was that person I hurt? The one who silently adored me, who brought me flowers and chocolates, who loved me for who I was? He never confessed, and I never admitted it either. Yet, I knew… I was breaking his heart every time I chose someone else. His story is upcoming soon.
"And maybe that's what life teaches you—you can't hold love with stained hands. The pain you give always finds its way back. Little did I know, the price of my choices was yet to be paid."