Lately, I've noticed something.
Arskaan is still there… but not like before.
He still smiles. Still laughs. Still acts like everything is fine.
But it's not the same.
He doesn't tug at my hair clip anymore.
He doesn't send me reels privately — only in the group.
He doesn't sit beside me like he used to.
It's like we're standing inches apart but on opposite sides of a glass wall.
And I don't know when that wall started to grow.
Maybe when I started walking with Adithya more.
Maybe when I stopped replying as often.
Maybe when I forgot he was quietly waiting.
⸻
I remember a moment.
A small one, during lunch break.
I offered him food from my lunchbox, like I always used to.
But that day, he just smiled and said,
"I'm full."
He wasn't.
He just didn't want to accept anything from me anymore.
And that… hurt more than any silence.
⸻
Because once upon a time, I was the only one who talked to him.
I made him laugh. I made him open up.
I made him feel like he mattered.
He didn't say it — but I could feel it.
In the way he listened.
In the way he waited.
And I forgot all that.
I forgot what we were.
⸻
With Adithya, my world felt exciting.
But with Arskaan… it had depth.
Something gentle. Quiet. Irreplaceable.
And now?
He's slipping through the spaces I didn't realize I left empty.
He's distancing himself —
Not out of anger…
But maybe out of pain.
And guilt is a quiet monster.
Because I see it now —
He didn't stop needing me.
He just stopped expecting me to be there.