Aarohi sat with her back against the wall, her fingers gripping the blanket as if it were the only thing anchoring her to reality.
Her chest rose and fell too quickly.
Arin placed a gentle hand on her arm.
"Aarohi… something's coming again, isn't it?"
Aarohi nodded slowly, her eyes distant and glassy.
"I think… this memory isn't loud.
It's not painful like the others.
It's quiet.
Too quiet."
Arin frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Aarohi's breath trembled.
"It feels like… a moment where their silence said everything."
And before he could say another word, she slipped under—
into Aara's skin,
Aara's breath,
Aara's heartbeat.
---
PAST LIFE
It was after school.
The evening sky glowed orange, fading into a soft purple.
Students left in groups, laughing and shouting.
But Aara sat alone under the old banyan tree near the gate, hugging her bag tightly.
She waited.
Not because she needed to.
But because she wanted to.
Riaan found her minutes later, his hair messy from running, his breath uneven like he'd rushed just to reach her.
"Aara—sorry, I got caught up again."
Aara shook her head softly.
"It's okay. I didn't mind waiting."
Riaan smiled, sitting beside her.
They began walking slowly, their shadows stretching long on the ground beside them.
Aara noticed something strange.
He wasn't talking as much as usual.
His steps were quieter.
His eyes softer, almost heavy with thought.
"Riaan?" she whispered.
He hummed.
"Are you… okay?"
He paused mid-step.
Then he sat down on the low wall beside the pathway.
Aara joined him, confused but patient.
Riaan stared ahead at the dusty road, the sunset painting his face gold.
Finally, he whispered:
"Aara… do you ever feel like you're afraid of the future?"
Aara blinked.
"My future?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"I meant mine."
Aara tilted her head.
"What scares you?"
Riaan took a long breath.
"That everything good in my life will disappear someday."
Aara's chest tightened.
"What do you mean?"
He didn't look at her.
He couldn't.
"Whenever something feels important to me," he whispered, "life finds a way to take it away."
Aara's heart softened painfully.
"Do you… have something important now?" she whispered, almost afraid of his answer.
Riaan looked down at his hands.
"Yes."
Her breath caught.
He continued, softer:
"And that's what scares me."
Aara's fingers trembled on her lap.
She whispered:
"Riaan… I'm not going anywhere."
He looked at her then.
Really looked.
And she saw it —
the fear
the longing
the vulnerability
and the unspoken truth.
"You don't know that," he whispered.
Aara reached out, hesitated—
Then placed her hand slowly on top of his.
Riaan inhaled sharply.
Aara whispered:
"I'm here now."
He turned his hand under hers, their fingers brushing.
She could feel his palm trembling.
He whispered:
"Aara… do you ever wonder why I always come back to you?"
Aara froze.
Her heart began to race in her ears.
"I… I don't know."
Riaan leaned slightly closer.
"The truth is… I don't understand it either."
Aara swallowed hard.
"Then… why do you?"
Riaan exhaled shakily.
"Because being beside you feels like… breathing."
Aara's chest tightened painfully.
She whispered:
"Riaan…"
He looked away quickly, breaking eye contact.
"Sorry. I shouldn't have said that."
Aara shook her head.
"No. Don't apologize."
Then silence fell.
But it wasn't empty.
It was alive.
Their hands rested close, fingers brushing lightly with every shift.
The wind whispered through the trees.
The sky darkened slowly above them.
Aara felt her heart fill with something heavy and warm and terrifying.
She didn't say she loved him.
He didn't say he loved her.
But the silence said it for them.
Two hearts beating too close.
Two souls breathing the same moment.
Aara whispered like a confession:
"Riaan… please don't disappear from my life."
Riaan closed his eyes.
"I won't," he whispered.
"Not willingly."
The silence wrapped around them, holding their unspoken love.
---
PRESENT
Aarohi snapped back into her body with a sharp gasp.
Her fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Her breathing stuttered.
Her eyes filled instantly.
Arin caught her wrists.
"Aarohi! Are you okay? Tell me what you saw!"
Aarohi sobbed.
"It was… quiet.
So quiet it hurt."
Arin shook his head.
"What happened?"
Aarohi pressed her shaking hand to her chest.
"They were sitting together…
And their silence… it was like a confession neither of them said out loud."
Her voice broke.
"They loved each other without saying it.
And that moment… it was so real.
So soft.
So human."
Arin felt something inside him fracture.
"And now you feel that love too…" he whispered.
Aarohi shook her head violently.
"No, Arin! I don't love him!
But I felt her love.
I felt his fear.
I felt their silence."
Arin clenched his jaw, tears forming.
"Aarohi… I'm losing you to emotions that aren't yours."
Aarohi reached out, grabbing his shirt desperately.
"You're my present. You're the person I choose."
Arin hugged her tightly, burying his face in her shoulder.
But while he held her—
A cold breeze brushed Aarohi's hair.
A warmth pressed against her back.
And a whisper breathed against her neck:
"Our silence said everything, Aara…
Even the words we were too afraid to speak."
Aarohi froze.
Arin didn't hear it.
But she did.
Because Riaan wasn't a memory anymore.
He was near.