The first time Ryan stepped through the gates of his new college, he didn't feel excited.
He felt… small.
The kind of small that doesn't come from lack of confidence — but from knowing that you don't belong yet.
A new campus, new buildings, new faces. But somehow, the same feeling he always carried:
"Stay quiet. Stay unnoticed. Watch first, speak later."
He walked through the corridor, bag on one shoulder, eyes scanning faces that were already grouping up — school friends reunited, hostel mates finding roommates, loud laughs in corners, and phones out to click "first day" selfies.
Ryan didn't take one.
He didn't feel like it was a first of anything.
Just another place where he had to exist quietly.
He entered the classroom, glanced around quickly, and picked the second-last bench near the window.
Not too front to be seen. Not too back to seem like he didn't care.
That was Ryan — always in the middle, always in balance.
The day passed in awkward silence.
Teachers introduced themselves like a script they'd repeated a hundred times before.
"Welcome to the beginning of your future," one of them said.
Ryan stared at the blackboard, thinking: "I don't even know anyone's name yet."
Lunchtime came like a break he didn't ask for.
He walked to the cafeteria and sat at an empty table with a paper plate of rice and dal.
Conversations buzzed around him — unfamiliar slang, casual laughter, people already joking like they'd known each other for months.
He scrolled his phone just to look busy. Messages? Zero. Missed calls? None.
That strange silence returned — the one where you're surrounded by noise but still feel alone.
But then came something unexpected.
Back in the lab hallway, during the last period, students were asked to look at some robotics components that the seniors had displayed for demo.
Ryan, quietly curious, walked toward the table.
Metal arms, servo motors, circuit boards — it caught his attention. Not because he was a robotics expert, but because he liked figuring out how things work. Machines don't pretend. They don't lie.
He reached out to adjust a tiny sensor… and just then, a voice beside him said:
"Tu bhi robotics me interest rakhta hai?"
Ryan looked up. A boy stood there — tall, messy hair, wearing a loose hoodie with half-sleeves. Not intimidating. Just… open.
Ryan paused, then gave a small smile.
"Thoda bahut… bas dekh raha tha."
"Main bhi. Actually school me kiya tha thoda. Tereko motors ke basics aate hain kya?"
That one question became five more.
And suddenly, Ryan was talking. Slowly. Carefully. But genuinely.
Not forced. Not fake.
It was the first real conversation of college.
And it wasn't about cricket, or Instagram, or reels.
It was about sensors, motors, and how machines move when you send the right signals.
That boy's name was Yash. And from that moment, Ryan had a reason to walk into college the next day without overthinking it.
Later that night, while lying on his bed at his grandparents' home, Ryan stared at the ceiling fan and smiled to himself.
He didn't tell anyone about the conversation. He didn't need to.
But for the first time in days, he felt like this place might not be that bad.
Not yet home. But maybe… the start of something.