Dhiran:
I just wanted to ask…
The typing bubble disappeared.
Reappeared.
Her heart betrayed her first. It sped up, sharp and sudden, like it had been waiting for this without her permission.
Another message came.
Dhiran:
Did you ever wait for me at the bus stop?
The room felt too quiet.
Too aware of her breathing.
Maria didn't move. Didn't blink. Didn't even think properly.
The question sat there, simple and harmless in its wording, as if it hadn't just reached into the exact place she had tried so hard to seal shut.
Wait.
She almost laughed.
Waiting was the one thing she had done perfectly.
Her thumb hovered over the keyboard.
Yes pressed against her chest, desperate to escape.
Yes, I waited.
Yes, I imagined you.
Yes, I stayed longer than I should have.
But truth, she had learned, wasn't always safe.
And Dhiran didn't sound like someone asking because he knew.
He sounded like someone asking because he didn't.
She typed slowly.
Maria:
No.
The word looked small on the screen. Insignificant. Like it couldn't possibly carry the weight of everything she had swallowed to send it.
The reply didn't come immediately.
Her heart sank anyway.
Then—
Dhiran:
Oh. Okay.
That was it.
No hesitation.
No confusion.
No curiosity.
Just okay.
Maria stared at the message until the letters blurred.
This was what hurt the most.
Not rejection.
Not absence.
But how easily he accepted her answer.
As if the idea of her waiting for him had never truly existed in his mind.
She placed the phone beside her, face-down, and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
The fan hummed softly above her, slicing the silence into pieces.
So he really hadn't known.
All those days.
All those almosts.
All those pauses she thought he noticed.
Nothing.
Her chest tightened, not with heartbreak, but with regret that tasted like something unfinished.
Because some part of her had hoped.
Not that he loved her.
But that he had at least noticed.
Sleep came late that night.
When it did, it was light and restless.
She dreamed of the bus stop again.
This time there was no Anan.
No imagined voice.
Just Dhiran, standing there, checking his phone, unaware she was already gone.
Morning arrived without mercy.
The world moved on.
Maria dressed, tied her hair, packed her bag. Everything felt mechanical.
At school, she blended in seamlessly.
Too seamlessly.
Friends talked.
Teachers taught.
Life continued.
And Dhiran existed.
Not as a message.
Not as a memory.
As a person.
She saw him near the stairs, laughing with someone else.
The sight shouldn't have hurt.
But it did.
Not because she loved him.
Because she had once hoped he might notice her trying.
Their eyes met.
And somehow, that was worse,as it gave more pain.
At lunch, her phone buzzed again.
She didn't look.
She already knew.
But the vibration didn't stop.
Once.
Twice.
Curiosity overpowered resolve.
Dhiran:
Sorry if that question was random 😅
I was just clearing some old thoughts.
Old thoughts.
So that was all it was to him.
A loose end.
Something casual.
She replied after a long pause.
Maria:
It's fine.
The conversation should have ended there.
But it didn't.
Dhiran:
You know… I always thought you were really quiet back then.
Quiet.
That was what he had seen.
Not careful.
Not waiting.
Not hoping.
Just quiet.
Maria:
I guess I was.
Dhiran:
Yeah. I never knew what you were thinking.
She almost typed neither did you try.
Almost.
She sent nothing.
The typing bubble appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Dhiran:
It's funny how we don't notice people properly until much later.
Her breath caught.
Funny.
Maria:
Yeah.
The bell rang.
Lunch ended.
Life continued.
But something inside her shifted.
Not healed.
Not broken.
Just exposed.
That evening, she walked home slower than usual.
When she reached the bus stop, she stopped without meaning to.
The bench was empty.
She sat anyway.
Not waiting.
Just remembering.
Her phone buzzed.
Dhiran:
I hope I didn't make things weird today.
Maria stared at the screen before replying.
Maria:
You didn't.
And that was true.
Weird required awareness.
And he still didn't know.
She slipped the phone into her bag and stared at the road.
Buses passed.
People came and went.
Nobody stayed long enough to matter.
That night, she opened her notebook.
She didn't write about love.
She wrote about regret.
About how sometimes the pain isn't that someone didn't love you back.
It's that they never knew they were being loved at all.
Days passed.
Dhiran continued to message her.
Small things.
Normal things.
Memes.
School questions.
Casual check-ins.
And Maria replied.
Not because she was over him.
But because she hadn't learned how to disappear yet.
Each message twisted something inside her.
A quiet hope she hated herself for feeling.
Because he was still unaware.
Still ordinary.
Still talking like nothing fragile existed between them.
One evening, a message made her heart stop.
Dhiran:
Can I ask you something honestly?
Maria stared at the screen.
Fear and hope collided painfully.
Maria:
Okay.
There was a pause.
Then—
Dhiran:
Why do I feel like we missed something?
Her breath hitched.
Not a confession.
Not clarity.
Just a feeling.
Unformed.
Unnamed.
She could tell him now.
She could let the truth exist.
Or she could protect what little peace she had left.
Maria typed.
Deleted.
Typed again.
Her fingers trembled.
Finally, she sent:
Maria:
Some things only feel missing because we imagine what they could've been.
The typing bubble appeared.
Disappeared.
Dhiran:
Maybe.
Another pause.
Then—
Dhiran:
I wonder what would've happened if we'd talked more back then.
Maria closed her eyes.
That question was the cruelest twist of all.
Because now, for the first time, he was wondering.
And she was the one who knew the answer.
She didn't reply.
Not that night.
The chapter ends with Maria staring at her phone, heart heavy, knowing something terrifyingly unresolved.
He was finally thinking about her.
And she didn't know whether that meant the beginning of something—
Or the moment she would finally have to let go.
——×——×——×——×——×——×—–
Thank you so muchhh for reading my novel guysss 🎀✨
Please support me and encourage me ✨🌹
Let's see what Maria does in next chapter... until then byee guys 👋🏻❣️
Secret★: Maria is a single child and Dhiran has a younger brother.