Sky got the job .
It wasn't his dream. But it was something solid.
A place to go, a reason to wake up, a salary to send home.
And maybe --- maybe – a distraction from the ache that had been growing in the chest for weeks.
He started waking up earlier. Wearing ironed shirts.
His smile was quieter now, less full, but he smiled.
He didn't stop loving yalna—he stopped expecting anything from her.
Two weeks into the job.
A notification buzzed during his lunch time.
Yalna: " how's your day?"
He stared at it
Not a " sorry"
Not " how have you been?"
Not even " I missed you."
Just a casual, cheerful text—like she hadn't spent the past few months freezing him out.
He waited a few hours before replying.
"okay. Busy".
" you must be tired, are you eating well?"
" I was thinking about you today. I saw your favourit place and smiled."
Sky stared at those texts with a hundred emotions spinning inside him.
And all he could think was:
Where was this version of you when I needed her the most?
She suddenly changed.
She started messaging daily again.
Playful, warm—like the girl he fell for. She even called one evening, laughing as she said :
" you sound like an old man now. Job made you serious?
He laughed, a little.
But something in him was guarded now.
Something in him had changed.
"you disappeared," he said quietly.
" I know," she whispered back and I'll explain. Just not right now.
" why not."
" because if I open that part of me," she said, I'll break, and I'm scared you'll leave,"
That hit him hard.
" yalna… I already stayed, even when you left me without a reason."
Silence.
Then:
" I don't deserve you," she whispered.
" maybe not," he said softly "but I still want you."
The truth finally breaks through. It was raining when she called. Her voice wasn't steady. It trembled, even as she tried to act normal.
" sky… I need to tell you something."
He froze. He knew that tone, knew something was wrong.
"I didn't leave because I wanted to."
" then why?" he asked, trying to keep calm.
" why did you let me feel like I was the only one trying."
She inhaled shakily.
" because if I had kept loving you out loudly…. I would've lost everything."
" what do you mean?"
" they found out, sky, my family about us."
Silence.
" they didn't just say no. they lost it, they screamed, they threatened, they took my phone. They read every message, every picture, they told me—you're the only person in this world I'll never be allowed to have."
Sky felt something inside him shatter.
" what.. did you do?" he whispered.
" I told them I left you."
" but you didn't."
" I tried to," she said " tried so hard to push you away. To make you hate me, so maybe ... you'd stop hoping."
" and suffer?" sky asked " you made me feel like I meant nothing to you."
She broke down then--- completely. Crying without hiding it.
" because I didn't know how else to protect you. They made me feel like loving you was destroying you, that I was the reason you were suffering, and may be ..... they were right."
Sky stood still, wet from rain, phone shaking in his hand. Breathing like he'd run a hundred miles.
" do you still love me?" he asked.
No hesitation.
"more than anything in this world."
" then fight for us."
" I'm trying," she cried. " but I'm so tired, I don't know how long I can keep this up…."
They started hiding their emotions and love from the world.
For the next few months they talked like fugitives of their own story.
No more waiting outside her college.
No more mid- day calls.
No more names saves inn phones.
Yalna was now " a"
Sky was just a dot.
Sometimes they'd delete chats the second they ended—just in case someone check., but even in hiding, they loved fiercely.
" did you eat?"
" I saw someone who looked like you today."
" if I could hold your hand right now, I wouldn't let go."
And on really quiet nights, she would whisper:
" why does it feel like we're in love during war?"
" because we are, he'd reply. " but I'll fight till ends".
Somedays, the silence stretched too long. Sky would stare at his phone screen, praying for a single text.
Yalna would cry into her pillow, unable to message back, knowing someone was watching her phone.
They were together…. But not really. They were in love….but invisible. They dreamed…. But never out loud.
Every once in a while, yalna would find a moment.
She'd sneak out to the rooftop and call him--- barely breathing, low voice:
" talk to me. Just for five minutes. Pretend we're somewhere far away."
" we are," he'd whisper. " we're in a place where no one is watching. Where your hands in mine. Where no one tells us who we can love."
And for the five minutes.... It was enough. Enough to survive the next day. Enough to believe in someday.
In some days he has to leave for Mumbai .
Before leaving for Mumbai, sky texted her:
" promise me we'll stay the same. Even from miles away."
She replied.
" I'll be waiting. Every night."
He held onto those words like prayer.
City of silence ----- Mumbai.
Mumbai was chaos--- new job, new place, unfamiliar faces. But still, at 11:11 every night, he messaged her.
" made it through the day. Miss you."
first night: no reply.
Second night: " busy will talk later."
Third night: nothing.
By the end of the first week, her replies were clipped.
Short, emotionless.
As if texting him was now a task, not a feeling.
He called, she didn't answer.
He asked what was wrong.
She said " nothing".
And yet--- he could feel everything changing.
Every night, he stared at his phone long after midnight.
He'd replay their last conversations in his head--- every whisper, every i-love-you, every plan for "after the shadows."
But now it felt like she was disappearing again. He sent voice notes. Sweet little memories. Photos of places they once talked about visiting. Even a sketch of her from memories, she saw them but never replied.
Sky placed the Mumbai flat one evening, the city alive below him but his heart completely still.
" I don't understand," he whispered to himself.
" what did I do wrong….. this time?"
Was it the distance?
Was she afraid again?
Was her family pressuring her?
Or….. was this her way of slowly letting him go?
But no matted how much it hurt----- he didn't give up.
He still messaged her good morning.
Still prayed for her at night.
Still believed there was something real underneath her silence.
Sky came back from Mumbai with hope.
He thought may be things would shift--- may be the distance was the villain this time.
May be seeing him again would spark something back to life.
But when they met, she barely looked him in the eyes. No spark, no softness.
" hey," she said like he was a stranger she used to know.
" I missed you." He whispered.
" hmm."
That " hmm" stayed in his chest for days.
The days that follow she still replied, yes.
But only when she wanted to, only short answers.
" no I miss you".
" no I'm glad you're back."
It was like she was doing the bare minimum to keep the thread alive---- while sky was giving everything just to hold it together.
" why are you like this now?" he finally asked .
She read it.
Didn't reply.
He didn't tell anyone what he was going through.
To the world, he was fine, but inside he was drowning in doubt.
In loneliness.
In pain of watching the person he fought so hard for---- fading again.
But still ----- he stayed.
" I don't care if I'm the only one holding on."
He wrote one night.
" because I love you enough for both of us."
He waited for a reply.
He closed his eyes, and whispered to the night. " but I still won't give up on you. Not yet."
Sky became quieter.
Not because he had nothing to say, but because every time he spoke, it felt like shouting into an empty room.
He still messaged her, still checked in on her health. Still remembered the little things—like how she hated tea after 4pm, or how she always tied her hair on the left side when she was upset.
But from her end, it was all:
" hmm"
"okay"
"busy"
"Later"
She was still there—but only technically and that was somehow worse than being gone.
Every night, he had a new conversation in his head.
" may be she's tired."
" may be it's pressure again."
" may be she's just lost in her own storm."
But another voice---- the darker one—whispered:
" may be she's slowly preparing you for the end."
"may be you're the only one still in love."
And even with all those thoughts…
He never sent a message saying " I'm done", because he wasn't.
One evening, he sent her a photo of the sketchbook he hadn't touched since everything changed.
Just a blank page with caption:
" if one day you want me to draw you again… just say the word."
She didn't reply.
But three hours later, she reacted with a heart.
That single red icon on the screen made sky's chest burn.
It wasn't reply.
It wasn't clarity.
But it was something.
And sky—who had been starving for her love—treated it like a feast.
She was walking back from college.
Same road, same path.
But everything felt different now--- distant, unfamiliar.
Sky had been waiting, not just there--- but in every moment of silence she'd given him. He stepped out from the shade of a tree and called her name softly.
" YALNA"
She turned, no surprise on her face.
Just… blank.
" hey"
" can we talk."
She shrugged. " we're talking."
He took a breath, not to stay calm--- but to stop his heart from breaking right there.
" why are you like this now?"
" what did I do to deserve this version of you?"
" tell me. PLEASE.
She looked at him like she was looking through him.
" I don't know".
" you don't know? After everything we've been through--- after everything I did to stay--- you don't know?
She shifted her bag on her shoulder, not meeting his eyes.
" if you want to leave…. Leave. I'm not stopping you."
That hit him like a slap he never saw coming.
"Is that it? That's all I meant to you now? You're okay if I just disappear?"
"I'm not okay," she said quietly. " but I'm not pretending either. I'm just….. as I'm."
He didn't speak.
He didn't cry.
Didn't beg.
Because something inside him finally…. Broke.
Not his love.
Not his hope.
But his belief that she was still holding on.
He nodded.
" okay".
And then he walked away----- not because he stopped loving her.
But because in that moment, he realized ----- he was the only one fighting.
The sufferings getting worse.
Day 1.
Sky stood near her college gate, eyes searching every student walking out. She came out, phone in hand, saw him--- and looked away.
Didn't flinch, didn't pause.
He took a step forward, she walked past.
No words just wind and silence.
Day 3
He brought a coffee. The one she liked, held in it both hands, waiting.
She passed by.
Glanced once.
Ignored the coffee.
He threw it in the bin after she left.
Day 6
He waited at the bus stop she arrived with friends laughing.
Her eyes met his--- only for a second.
Then she turned around like he was invisible.
" his heart shattered in that two—second stare."
Day 9
Rain, heavy.
Still, he stood under a small shed across from the gate.
Drenched, waiting.
She walked out with an umbrella.
He thought she'd at least stop.
She didn't.
He watched the raindrops blur her shape as she disappeared down the road.
Day 13
He didn't bring anything, no flowers, no coffee, no hope.
Just stood there, tired.
She came out, alone this time.
Their eyes met, and still ... she walked past.
Each day, he lost a piece of himself.
His nights became hollow.
His faith was shaking---- but not dead.
' what happened to you?" he whispered holding a photo of her."
" what happened to us."
But no matter how much it hurt…. He couldn't hate her.
Because he remembered the version of her that once fought the world just to hold his hand. And some part of him still believed, that version wasn't fully gone.
Day 14
No more pretending.
Sky stood at the college gate again. This time, his hands were trembling--- not from the cold, but from something deeper, something breaking.
Then he saw her.
YALNA, alone no headphones, no friends around, he stepped forward quickly.
"YALNA, PLEASE---- just talk to me, just tell me why."
She didn't stop, didn't look.
She brushed past like he was just air.
Sky stood there, jaw clenched, breath shallow.
He couldn't chase her again--- not today.
A few minutes later, her closest friend came out.
Sky gently stepped in her way.
" PLEASE," he said, voice low shaking.
" I'm not asking for drama. I just want to know---- what happened to her? Why is she doing this?"
That friend looked at him, caught between empathy and discomfort.
" sky… she hasn't said anything clear to me either, just that things have changed. That she doesn't want to talk, that it's OVER."
" but why? After everything? After every fight we fought together?"
The friend sighed. Sad but firm.
" she just …. Doesn't act she cares anymore, and maybe ….. maybe you should stop too."
Sky lowered his head, the words slicing through him.
" I can't he whispered." "you don't know how much I can suffer for her, I would wait a lifetime if I had to. Because even when she forgets me, I'll still remember her with love."
The friend looked at him for a moment longer, eyes glossy, then turned away---because she had no answers either.
And sky….
Stood there.
Alone, again.
But this time, it wasn't just the silence that hurt--- it was the realization that maybe he was loving someone who didn't want to be loved anymore.