The next day was Tuesday.
I woke up earlier than usual.
For a few seconds, I just lay there, staring at the ceiling.
My mind was strangely quiet.
Then, almost as if someone had pressed a button inside my head, yesterday came rushing back.
Payel.
Our conversation.
Her smile.
The way things had slowly started becoming different between us.
I closed my eyes for a moment.
I didn't know what exactly was happening between us.
I only knew that I had started looking forward to talking to her again.
That feeling was new.
And at the same time, it felt strangely familiar.
I got out of bed and started getting ready for school.
As I stood in front of the mirror, fixing my hair, I caught myself smiling.
I immediately stopped.
"What am I smiling for?"
I shook my head.
Maybe I was just happy.
Maybe after everything that had happened between us, I was finally allowing myself to be happy again.
I picked up my bag and left for school.
The morning outside was ordinary.
People were going to work.
Students were walking toward their schools.
Vehicles were passing by.
The streets were slowly becoming busier.
But I felt different.
I wasn't thinking about anything specific.
At least, I tried not to.
I just wanted the day to pass normally.
I reached my school and entered the campus.
The moment I stepped inside, the familiar noise surrounded me.
Students were talking loudly.
Someone was running because they were late.
A few friends were standing together and laughing.
Teachers were moving through the corridors.
I walked toward my classroom.
I wasn't expecting to see Payel.
She wasn't in my school.
She had her own school, her own classes, her own routine.
So there was never any possibility of accidentally meeting her in the corridor or seeing her during lunch.
If I wanted to talk to her, I had to wait for a message.
And somehow, that made every message from her feel more important.
I entered my classroom and directly went to the first bench.
I placed my bag down, took out my books and sat quietly.
The first class started.
I tried to focus.
And this time, I actually did.
The teacher was explaining something on the board.
I copied the notes.
I listened carefully.
For a while, everything was normal.
Then, somewhere between writing and listening, my mind wandered.
I wondered what Payel was doing.
Was she already in her class?
Was she attending her first period?
Was she sleepy?
Was she thinking about yesterday?
I smiled slightly.
Then I caught myself.
"Bro, concentrate."
I looked back at the board.
The teacher was still explaining.
I started writing again.
The day continued.
One class.
Then another.
Then another.
I attended every class.
I didn't skip anything.
I didn't wander around.
I stayed in my classroom and completed my work.
But even though I was physically present in school, a small part of my mind was somewhere else.
With her.
It was strange how someone who wasn't even in the same building could still occupy so much space in your thoughts.
There was no Payel sitting somewhere nearby.
No possibility of seeing her suddenly.
No chance of exchanging a smile across a corridor.
Still, somehow, she was there.
In my thoughts.
In my memories.
In every little moment when my phone crossed my mind.
During one of the breaks, I instinctively reached for my phone.
I opened our chat.
No new message.
I stared at her name for a few seconds.
Then locked my phone.
"Later."
I put it back in my pocket.
I didn't want to become the kind of person who kept checking his phone every thirty seconds.
But five minutes later, I checked it again.
Nothing.
I laughed quietly at myself.
"What's wrong with me?"
I put the phone away.
The next class started.
I focused again.
By lunchtime, I was getting hungry.
I ate with my friends and talked normally.
I laughed.
I listened to their conversations.
I even joined in a couple of jokes.
Nobody would have guessed that there was a completely different conversation happening inside my head.
I kept thinking about how quickly things had changed.
Not long ago, Payel and I had been distant.
There were days when I didn't even know whether we'd talk again.
And now...
I was waiting for her messages.
That alone meant something.
Maybe not a relationship.
Maybe not love.
But something.
Something that I wasn't ready to define.
The afternoon classes began.
I tried to focus on them.
The hours slowly passed.
I looked at the clock several times.
Eventually, the final class ended.
The moment the teacher left, everyone started packing.
Chairs moved.
Bags zipped.
Students began talking about going home.
I packed my things slowly.
Then I walked out of the classroom.
I made my way through the corridor and toward the school gate.
I thought the day was finally over.
I was wrong.
As soon as I came outside the school, I saw my cousin, Shreyashi.
She was standing there.
I hadn't expected to see her.
I walked toward her.
At first, I thought she might simply want to talk about something normal.
But when I saw her expression, I realized something was different.
She looked serious.
"What's up?"
She looked at me for a few seconds.
Then she asked,
"Are you and Payel in a relationship?"
For a second, I completely froze.
It wasn't the question itself that shocked me.
It was the fact that she knew enough to ask it.
My heart skipped.
But I didn't let it show.
I kept my face calm.
Inside, however, my thoughts were racing.
Who told her?
What did she hear?
How much does she know?
What exactly has been said?
I looked at her and asked,
"Who told you about it?"
She immediately replied,
"That doesn't matter."
Then she asked again,
"Is this true or not?"
I didn't answer.
I could have.
I could have simply said yes.
Or no.
But neither answer felt right.
Because what were Payel and I?
We hadn't sat down and decided on a label.
We hadn't officially announced anything.
We were just...
Us.
Whatever that meant.
There were feelings.
There was care.
There was a connection.
There was something between us that neither of us had completely explained.
So how could I give someone else a simple answer?
I looked away.
Shreyashi waited.
I remained silent.
She seemed to interpret my silence as an answer.
She shook her head.
Then she said,
"You don't have any right to spread rumours like this. Do you know that?"
I looked back at her.
I wanted to ask what she meant.
I wanted to tell her that I hadn't spread anything.
But I stopped myself.
She continued.
"Do you even understand how much this can affect her?"
Those words hit differently.
Not because I believed I had done something wrong.
I hadn't.
But because I immediately thought about Payel.
What if people were talking about her?
What if she heard something?
What if the rumour reached her differently?
What if she thought I had told someone?
That last thought bothered me the most.
I didn't want Payel to think that I had taken something private between us and turned it into something public.
I hadn't.
I would never do that.
But explaining myself to Shreyashi wouldn't change anything.
So I stayed quiet.
She kept talking.
She told me that rumours could hurt people.
That I should think before saying things.
That Payel could be affected by it.
I listened.
I didn't argue.
I didn't defend myself.
I didn't even interrupt her.
Part of me wanted to say everything.
Another part of me wanted to walk away.
I chose silence.
Maybe that was the easiest thing to do.
Or maybe it was the hardest.
Because silence can be misunderstood.
And I knew she was misunderstanding mine.
She probably thought I was quiet because I had been caught.
She probably thought I was trying to hide the truth.
But the truth was different.
I wasn't hiding Payel.
I was protecting her.
Or at least, I was trying to.
I didn't want to explain our relationship to anyone.
Because if I explained it once, there would be more questions.
And more questions would lead to more people knowing.
And once something private becomes public, you can never take it back.
I didn't want that.
Not with her.
Not with us.
So I said nothing.
Eventually, Shreyashi stopped talking.
She looked at me for a moment.
I could tell she still believed her own conclusion.
But I didn't correct her.
I simply nodded slightly and left.
I started walking home.
The entire conversation kept replaying in my head.
"Are you and Payel in a relationship?"
"Who told you?"
"Is this true or not?"
"You don't have any right to spread rumours like this."
"It can affect her very much."
The last sentence stayed with me.
I knew she was right about one thing.
Payel shouldn't have to suffer because of anything connected to me.
I didn't want her name to become something people casually discussed.
She deserved better than that.
I walked the rest of the way home quietly.
When I reached home, I changed my clothes and sat down for lunch.
I tried to eat normally.
But I wasn't really hungry anymore.
My mind was too busy.
I kept thinking about Shreyashi.
Who had told her?
How did she even hear about Payel and me?
And more importantly...
Had Payel heard anything?
I stopped eating.
That thought made my stomach sink.
Maybe I should message her.
But what would I say?
"Hey, someone asked me if we're in a relationship."
That sounded ridiculous.
Maybe I should just ask how her day was.
Normal.
Casual.
Like nothing had happened.
I took my phone.
Opened our chat.
Her name appeared on my screen.
For a moment, I just stared at it.
There were so many things I wanted to say.
But none of them seemed right.
I typed,
"Hey."
I looked at it.
Deleted it.
Then typed,
"Oye."
Deleted that too.
I sighed.
"Why am I overthinking a simple message?"
I finally typed,
"Oye sun."
I sent it.
Then I waited.
Nothing.
I placed the phone beside me.
I took another bite of food.
My eyes went back to the phone.
Nothing.
I checked again.
Still nothing.
I tried to distract myself.
I finished lunch.
Went to my room.
Sat on my bed.
Opened a book.
Read the same line three times.
Didn't understand a word.
My mind was still with the phone.
I picked it up again.
Still no message.
I locked the screen.
A few seconds later, I unlocked it again.
"Bro, seriously?"
I laughed at myself.
I was becoming impatient.
Then suddenly—
My phone vibrated.
I immediately picked it up.
A message from Payel.
"Oye sun na ek baat tha"
A smile appeared on my face.
There was something about her way of texting.
Something simple.
Something familiar.
I replied,
"Haan bol."
Then I waited.
The typing indicator appeared.
Three dots.
Then disappeared.
A few seconds later, it appeared again.
I stared at the screen.
My smile slowly faded.
Why was she taking so long?
Was she trying to figure out how to say something?
Was it serious?
Was it about Shreyashi?
Had someone told her something?
My mind immediately started creating possibilities.
I shook my head.
"Don't overthink."
I waited.
Then another message arrived.
"Ruk na."
I smiled again.
"Accha."
I put my phone down.
But I didn't move away from it.
I sat there, waiting.
Outside my room, everything was normal.
The afternoon was slowly moving toward evening.
The fan was spinning above me.
There was noise coming from outside.
Someone was talking in another room.
A vehicle passed somewhere on the road.
But inside my room, my entire attention was fixed on one small screen.
I wondered what she wanted to ask.
Maybe it was something completely normal.
Maybe she wanted to tell me something funny.
Maybe she had a problem.
Maybe she wanted to talk about yesterday.
Maybe she had heard something about the rumour.
The possibilities kept multiplying.
I didn't know why I was so nervous.
It was just Payel.
The same girl I'd talked to before.
The same girl whose messages had made me smile countless times.
The same girl who had slowly found her way back into my life.
And yet...
Something about those words—
"Oye sun na ek baat tha."
—made me feel like this conversation was going to be different.
I looked at our chat again.
I started remembering everything that had happened between us.
The distance.
The silence.
The misunderstandings.
The moments when I thought we were completely done.
And then, somehow, we started talking again.
Slowly.
Carefully.
One conversation at a time.
One message at a time.
One little moment at a time.
Maybe that was why I was scared.
Because when you lose someone once, getting close to them again feels different.
You become careful.
You start noticing every word.
Every pause.
Every change in their tone.
You start wondering whether you're imagining things.
You start asking yourself whether the other person feels the same way.
And sometimes you don't ask because you're afraid of the answer.
I looked at her name.
My thumb hovered over the keyboard.
I wanted to send something.
But I stopped.
I didn't want to rush her.
So I waited.
Then—
Typing...
My heart skipped.
The three dots disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, her message came.
I read it.
Then read it again.
Four simple words.
"Ek baat hai tu promise kar bura nahi manega"
I stared at the screen.
For a moment, I didn't know what to do.
My fingers were already above the keyboard.
I was ready to reply.
But something inside me told me to wait.
Because somehow, I knew that whatever came after those four words...
was going to matter.
A lot.
I took a slow breath.
And looked at the screen again.
"Ek baat hai tu promise kar bura nahi maanega?"
I still had no idea what she was going to say.
But for the first time that day, I felt genuinely nervous.
Not because I was afraid of her.
But because I was afraid of what her next words might mean.
And all I could do was wait.