I got up from my bed and got ready. A festival was going on for nine days, and it was already the 8th day. I had to go out with my family for the whole day to enjoy the fair.
I went with them and didn't open Instagram the entire day. Instead, I was playing my favourite game on my phone while we were in the car.
Later, we got out of the car and went to the temple. We all sat down on the floor there, and that's when I decided to open Instagram—it had already been six hours.
I opened the app and saw 4+ messages from Max. I opened his ID and started reading them. They went like:
"Heyyy, why aren't you messaging?"
"Are you mad at me?"
"Hey, I'm really sorry, but what's wrong?"
There were many more messages. I replied,
"Hey hey, chill out. I'm not mad at you. What's wrong?"
He asked,
"Why were you putting my messages on seen and not replying?"
Wait… what? I hadn't even seen his messages. Was it Aria?
I explained,
"Hey, listen. I was busy all day, and it might be Aria who saw your messages because she has my ID."
He then told me to make another ID because it scared the shit out of him.
I didn't want to make another ID, duh. So I just said,
"By the way, never mind. I'm busy right now."
Then I went offline.
At night, we had a little conversation, and then he said,
"Good night."
I replied,
"Hehe, good night."
Then suddenly he confessed,
"I love you."
I liked his message and replied,
"Love you too."
Ahhh… I just sent it. Will he be shocked? Gosh.
But he didn't react much—he just liked my message and went offline.
The next day, I woke up early and wished him good morning. He wasn't online. He came online after two hours, wished me back, and went offline again.
I tried to start a conversation. I even sent him reels, but he left them on seen and didn't talk to me at all. It hurt, but we were nothing more than friends… right?
Days passed like this. I didn't tell anyone about him. But one day, I messaged Aria, one of my friends.
"Heyy, I'm not feeling good."
She asked,
"Why? What happened?"
I told her,
"Arhh, you know there's a boy from our school… he proposed to me, and when I already fell for him, he started avoiding me."
She replied,
"Ohhhh, who is it???"
I answered in a bored tone,
"I can't trust you with this, or else you'll tell everyone."
We went offline.
The next day, we met at our morning tution. We were sitting together when she suddenly said,
"Hey, by the way… is it Max?"
I got shocked.
"Huh? What??"
She said,
"I'm talking about the one who proposed to you."
Then I remembered—she had my ID.
"Did you check my ID?" I asked.
She said,
"No, I just saw that he was messaging you."
I told her,
"I saw that you were putting his messages on seen that day."
She explained,
"I didn't see your messages. Don't worry."
I calmed down and told her everything about him and how we barely talked these days. She said,
"Brooo, I'm telling you, he's a playboy. I know him well."
No. That couldn't be true. I really loved him. And as days passed, I was falling deeper and deeper. I couldn't even move on like I did with my ex.
I put an Instagram note:
"I am in love <3"
He replied so quickly and asked teasingly,
"Who is he? Hnn hnnn?"
I said,
"I can't tell you."
He kept forcing me and then said,
"Okay, at least tell me his name's first letter. I'll make a list."
I replied,
"M."
He said,
"Okay, now I'll find him out."
Gosh… how could he not realise that I was in love with him?
I finally said,
"I was talking about you…"
He replied,
"I just can't trust the fact that someone can love me."
I said,
"Even I used to not trust that fact, you know."
He then sent me a voice note while singing and said,
"I'm sorry, but my situation is not good right now. As I told you about Kate, please give me some time."
I had no choice but to accept it.
Then he said I looked like the moon, but without spots. Yeah, I have light skin and clear skin—but I'm not that beautiful that he should call me his moon.
We went to sleep.
The next day, while we were talking, I posted a picture of myself with the caption "I need you", because that was the song's name.
In the evening, he took a screenshot and asked,
"Is it about me too?"
It wasn't about him. But if I said that, it would hurt him. So I had no choice but to agree.
Then he sent me a voice note:
"Let me tell you something clearly. I can't accept you right now. You know about Kate. Even if she's cheating on me, I can't hurt her—that's my biggest fear. I already know about her past, so I can't leave her. And I can't get into a relationship with you either. I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you because you're the first person who told me you love me. You can get someone better. Actually… there's no worse man than me."
I got hurt so badly listening to him.
I replied,
"Umm… it's okay. I'm used to getting hurt, so it won't hurt anymore, hehe."
He replied,
"Same problem."
Why did it hurt so much? He didn't care about me at all—only about her. Then why did he propose to me? Do I mean nothing to him?
After thirty minutes, he messaged,
"Heyyy, good night."
I replied coldly,
"Hnn. Gn."
I went offline and cried so badly that I could barely breathe.
To be continued…