Four days had passed like a blur — each one slower than the last. For Ananya, every sunrise brought hope, and every sunset stole a little more of it away.
She had stopped counting the hours; instead, she measured time in missed calls, unanswered messages, and sleepless nights. But that morning, her phone finally buzzed with a message from Kunal:
"He's back home, Ananya."
The moment her eyes caught those words, her breath hitched. Her fingers trembled as she reread the message, afraid it might disappear. He was home. Arav was finally home.
Without a second thought, she rushed to her mirror, brushing her hair and straightening her dress, trying to hide the exhaustion that sleepless nights had carved onto her face. She wanted him to see her smile — not her tears.
But beneath her nervous excitement, something heavy tugged at her heart. A quiet fear whispered, Will he still be the same Arav I knew?
The college felt unusually calm that day. People whispered in small groups, throwing glances her way — everyone had heard about the fight and Arav's arrest. Ananya ignored them all, walking quickly to the old tree where she and Arav often met between lectures.
Her heart raced as she saw him standing there, leaning against the trunk, looking down at his phone. The sunlight fell gently on his face — the same familiar face she had missed so painfully. But there was something different about it now.
His eyes.
They looked tired, distant, almost shadowed — as if they had seen something the world wouldn't understand.
"Arav…" her voice came out soft, almost breaking.
He looked up, and for a moment, time froze. His lips curved into a faint smile, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Anu," he said quietly. "You're here."
Before he could say anything else, she closed the distance and hugged him tightly. Tears slipped out as she whispered, "You scared me so much. Why didn't you call? Do you know how I felt all these days?"
He didn't hug her back right away. It took him a moment — too long of a moment — before his arms slowly wrapped around her.
"I'm sorry," he said, his voice low. "Things… got out of hand. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
Ananya pulled back slightly to look into his face. "Then why didn't you tell me? You could've at least called once."
He looked away, his jaw tightening. "They took my phone. And I didn't want you to see me like that."
There it was again — that wall. The invisible distance between them that hadn't been there before.
They sat down on the bench nearby. Ananya held his hand, her thumb brushing gently over his fingers. "You're safe now. That's all that matters. Promise me you'll stay away from those boys from now on. Please."
He didn't answer immediately. His gaze drifted toward the field, where students were laughing and playing. "Yeah… I'll try," he said, though his tone lacked conviction.
"You'll try?" she repeated softly, her heart sinking. "Arav, you promised me before too."
He turned to her then, forcing a small smile. "Anu, please. Not now. I just got back. Let's not talk about it."
His voice wasn't harsh, but it wasn't warm either. It was weary — like someone too tired to care.
Ananya watched him in silence. The boy who once couldn't stop teasing her, who used to look at her like she was his world — now couldn't even meet her eyes for more than a few seconds.
Something inside her twisted painfully. She wanted to believe that things would go back to how they were, but deep down, she felt it — the distance, the change, the beginning of something she didn't yet understand.
Before they left, Arav received a call. He glanced at the screen quickly and stood up. "I have to go, Anu. I'll call you later, okay?"
"Who was that?" she asked gently.
He hesitated. "Just… a friend."
But Ananya noticed how his tone softened, how his eyes shifted away when he said it. For the first time, doubt crept into her chest.
"Okay," she said quietly. "Just don't disappear again."
He smiled faintly and walked away, leaving her sitting alone beneath the tree — the same tree where everything once began.
The wind rustled through the leaves above her, carrying a strange chill that made her heart uneasy.
She looked up at the sky, whispering to herself, "You came back, Arav… but did I lose you somewhere along the way?"
That night, she stared at her phone screen again, waiting for his name to light it up.
Hours passed. Nothing.
And when the message finally came, it wasn't what she expected.
"Busy right now. Talk tomorrow."
Just four simple words — but they hurt more than silence.
Ananya closed her eyes, the faint flicker of hope she had held on to slowly dimming again. Something between them had changed, and deep down, she knew — this was only the beginning.