The hostel slowly stopped feeling like a place I had been forced into.
It wasn't home.
It probably never would be.
But it was becoming familiar.
I had started remembering the daily schedule without checking it. I knew which staircase was usually crowded, which corner of the hostel was quiet, and which mess items were better avoided unless I wanted to spend the rest of the day regretting my decision.
And then there were the people.
Rohit.
Subhra.
Rohan.
Raj.
Deep.
Shreyash.
Sanjay.
Rahul.
Andy.
Dev.
We weren't all the same.
Some were loud.
Some were quiet.
Some could turn the most boring evening into a comedy show.
Some were serious about studies.
Some somehow managed to study at the last possible minute and still survive.
But slowly, they became my people.
The hostel had taught me something I hadn't expected.
Sometimes you don't choose the people who become important to you.
You simply spend enough time together that one day you realize they're part of your everyday life.
Rohit was usually the one making some stupid comment whenever everyone was sitting together.
Rohan and Raj could turn almost anything into an argument.
Deep and Shreyash were the kind of people who could sit quietly for half an hour and then suddenly say something that made everyone laugh.
Sanjay and Rahul were always somewhere in the middle of whatever was happening.
Andy and Dev had their own way of making the hostel feel less boring.
And Subhra...
Well, Subhra somehow noticed things that the rest of us didn't.
Especially when it came to me.
I had a habit.
Every Friday, I became unusually energetic.
Not because I loved travelling.
Not because I was excited about getting away from the hostel.
I was excited because I was going home.
And everyone knew it.
One Friday evening, I was packing my bag.
Rohit looked at me and laughed.
"Again?"
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Ghar."
I shrugged.
"Haan."
Rohan immediately joined in.
"Bhai, tu har weekend ghar jaata hai."
"Kaam hota hai."
Raj laughed.
"Har weekend?"
"Coincidence hai."
Deep looked at me.
"Kitne coincidences ho gaye?"
Everyone laughed.
I rolled my eyes.
"Tum logon ko kya problem hai?"
Subhra looked at me for a second and said,
"Problem kuch nahi hai. Bas reason pata hai."
I knew exactly what he meant.
I smiled.
"Jo sochna hai socho."
And that was usually the end of the conversation.
But they weren't wrong.
I did have reasons.
Sometimes I genuinely needed something from home.
Sometimes I needed books.
Sometimes clothes.
Sometimes some document.
And sometimes...
I simply wanted to see Payel.
The funny thing was that I didn't even need to tell my friends.
They already understood.
My weekend trips had become predictable.
Friday came.
I packed.
I left.
And somewhere in the back of my mind, there was always the same thought.
I'll get to talk to her.
That was enough.
The journey home felt different every time.
The moment I left the hostel behind, I felt lighter.
I would watch the road through the window and imagine what I would tell her.
Sometimes I had a whole list of things.
Sometimes I had nothing.
But I still wanted to talk.
That particular weekend was different.
I had been waiting for it all week.
There hadn't been anything bad between us.
Actually, things were good.
Really good.
We had adjusted to the distance better than I had expected.
There were still days when we couldn't talk much.
There were still times when one of us was busy.
But whenever we got the chance, we talked.
And somehow, those conversations felt more valuable because they weren't available all the time.
When I reached home, I didn't waste much time.
I kept my bag down.
Talked to my mother.
Had something to eat.
And then I finally got the chance I had been waiting for.
I called Payel.
"Hello?"
Her voice came from the other side.
"Hi."
Just that.
One word.
But I smiled immediately.
"Kaise ho?"
"Fine. Tu?"
"Main bhi."
We started talking.
Nothing extraordinary.
She asked about the hostel.
I told her about my friends.
I mentioned Rohit doing something stupid.
She laughed.
I told her about Rohan and Raj arguing over something completely meaningless.
She laughed again.
Then she told me something that had happened at school.
I laughed.
And just like that, an hour disappeared.
Then another.
That's how it was with her.
We never needed a plan.
We could start with one topic and somehow end up talking about ten completely unrelated things.
Sometimes we argued.
Sometimes we teased each other.
Sometimes we simply stayed quiet while doing our own work.
Even silence felt comfortable.
At one point, I told her about how everyone in the hostel had started noticing that I came home every weekend.
She laughed.
"What do they say?"
"That I have some secret reason."
She paused.
"And do you?"
I smiled.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"Haan."
She laughed.
"Pagal."
I smiled.
"Tumhari wajah se."
There was a small silence.
Not an awkward one.
Just one of those silences where both people know what was meant.
Then we changed the topic.
I didn't push it.
Neither did she.
Later that evening, we continued talking through messages.
And then something happened that was completely ordinary.
I helped her with something.
It wasn't a big deal.
It was just something small.
A little favour.
A little help.
A few minutes later, my phone vibrated.
I looked at the screen.
Her message was waiting.
"thnx bby ✨"
I stopped.
I read it once.
Then again.
And then one more time.
I don't know why such a small message affected me so much.
But it did.
That was the first time she had called me "bby."
I smiled at the screen.
Then I put the phone down.
Then picked it up again.
Read it again.
I laughed at myself.
"Bhai, kya ho gaya mujhe?"
Nobody was there to answer.
And honestly, I didn't want anyone to.
I took a screenshot.
I knew it was silly.
But I wanted to keep it.
Not because it was some life-changing declaration.
It was just a word.
A tiny word from the girl I loved.
But sometimes tiny things carry huge feelings.
I stared at the message for a while.
Then replied normally.
"Anytime."
I wanted to write something more.
Something romantic.
Something that would show her how happy that little word had made me.
But I didn't.
I kept it simple.
Because sometimes you don't want to make a moment bigger than it needs to be.
You just want to enjoy it.
The rest of the evening passed normally.
We talked.
We laughed.
We argued about something stupid.
Then we made up five minutes later.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing extraordinary.
Just us.
And somehow, that felt perfect.
Later that night, we were talking again.
It was getting late.
She told me she was tired.
I told her to sleep.
She said I should sleep too.
I said I would.
Neither of us actually left.
We kept talking.
Then finally, after another few messages, her reply came.
"byeeeee loveeeeee✨❤️"
I stared at the screen.
Again.
That stupid smile appeared.
I leaned back.
For a few seconds, I didn't type anything.
Not because I didn't know what to say.
Because I knew exactly what I wanted to say.
I wanted to tell her how much those words meant to me.
But instead, I simply replied:
"Byeeee ❤️"
I put my phone down.
And sat there smiling.
It was ridiculous.
I knew it.
But I didn't care.
Those were the moments I lived for.
Not expensive gifts.
Not dramatic promises.
Not some perfect movie scene.
Just a few words on a screen.
A tiny photograph inside my notebook.
A voice on the other side of a call.
A weekend at home.
A girl who could make an ordinary day feel special.
That night, I went to sleep happier than I had been in a long time.
The next morning, I woke up and looked at my phone.
The messages were still there.
I opened them again.
"thnx bby ✨"
"byeeeee loveeeeee✨❤️"
I smiled.
Then I locked my phone.
I didn't know it at the time, but those messages would become the kind of memories that stay with you long after the conversations themselves are gone.
Because when you look back at a relationship years later, you don't always remember the biggest moments.
Sometimes you remember the smallest ones.
The first time she called you something special.
The first time she said "love."
The way you smiled at your phone like an idiot.
The way one message could completely change your mood.
Those little things become important only later.
At the time, they just feel normal.
And maybe that's what made them beautiful.
They were normal.
We weren't trying to create memories.
We were simply living.
That weekend, I spent more time with Payel than I had been able to in the previous weeks.
And for a while, I forgot about the hostel.
I forgot about the distance.
I forgot about the uncertainty.
I forgot that our lives had already started moving in different directions.
I just felt happy.
On Sunday evening, I packed my bag again.
The same bag.
The same journey.
The same hostel waiting for me.
My mother asked,
"Next weekend bhi aaoge?"
I laughed.
"Dekhenge."
She smiled.
But I knew myself.
I'd probably find another excuse.
When I reached the hostel, everyone was already there.
Rohit looked at me.
"Bhai aa gaya."
I dropped my bag.
"Haan."
"Enjoy karke?"
I smiled.
"Haan."
Subhra looked at my face and immediately understood.
"Bohot khush lag raha hai."
I shrugged.
"Bas."
Rohan laughed.
"Payel?"
I looked at him.
"Chup kar."
Everyone started laughing.
I laughed too.
There was no reason to hide it anymore.
They knew.
And honestly, I was happy that they knew.
That night, I sat with everyone for a while.
We talked.
We joked.
We argued about stupid things.
The hostel suddenly didn't feel so lonely.
Maybe because I had something waiting for me every weekend.
Maybe because I had people around me who were slowly becoming friends.
Maybe because I had started learning how to live between two worlds.
The hostel during the week.
Home during the weekend.
And Payel somewhere in between.
I didn't know what the future held.
I didn't know how long this happiness would last.
I didn't know whether the distance would make us stronger or slowly change us.
At that moment, I didn't want to know.
I just wanted to enjoy what I had.
Because sometimes the happiest parts of our lives are the ones we don't realize are temporary.
And that weekend...
I was happy.
Really happy.
I had no idea that one day, I would look back at those little messages and realize just how precious they had been.
"thnx bby ✨"
"byeeeee loveeeeee✨❤️"
Two tiny messages.
Nothing extraordinary.
But at that moment, they meant everything to me.
To be continued...