Time didn't pass quickly. It passed quietly.
Days turned into semesters, semesters into years~~and Anaya and Aarav became two people living parallel lives, separated by time zones and the weight of growing up.
The texts slowed down.
The late-night calls turned into unread messages and missed signals.
And eventually, without meaning to, they just... stopped.
~~
Anaya adjusted quickly to Singapore. The city was clean, fast, and filled with people who walked like they were late to something important. She buried herself in literature classes, group projects, part-time jobs, and library deadlines.
But at night, when the world quieted, she still thought of him.
Sometimes she's scroll back to old messages. Look at pictures they'd taken~~fuzzy selfies under the school banyan tree, a blurry snap of their shoes side by side., the half-sketch of her from his notebook.
She never deleted any of it.
But she stopped opening the folder after her second year.
~~
Aarav, in Bangalore, had his own version of growing up.
He got into one of the best engineering colleges. He was smart, but not driven like he used to be. His grades were good, but not enough to distract him from the ache he refused to name.
He dated other girls.
Smiled in group photos.
Got internships.
But nothing ever stuck.
Every time a relationship started to feel real, something inside him would pull away. As if he was saving a space that never quite emptied.
~~
Three years passed.
Neither of the, reached out.
Not out of pride.
But because neither of them knew what they'd say.
Because "How are you?" felt too small for the ocean of silence between them.
~~
And then, on a rainy August morning, Aarav received a wedding invitation from a college friend.
Destination wedding. Goa. Beachside. Everyone from high school would be there.
He almost didn't go.
Until he saw her name on the guest list.
Anaya Rao.
Back from Singapore.
Single.
And attending.
His heart didn't skip a beat.
It sprinted.
~~
On the other side of the world, Anaya stood at her closet, holding a pale blue dress~~the one she used to imagine wearing if she ever saw him again.
She didn't know if he's be there.
But still, she packed the dress.
Just in case.