Narrator's pov..
Teenage. A word that carries both sweetness and storms. At that age, everything feels bigger than life itself — friendships feel eternal, heartbreak feels like the end of the world, and every rumor spreads faster than fire in dry grass. It is the stage of firsts — the first crush, the first fight, the first time you realize not everyone who smiles at you is your friend, and the first time your heart beats differently because of someone's presence.
And at the center of this chaos was Isha.
She was just a girl trying to figure out the world, caught between assignments, family expectations, and the unspoken feelings that kept tugging at her heart. To everyone else, she was quiet, sometimes stubborn, sometimes lost in her own thoughts. But inside her, a storm always raged — a storm named Vihaan.
Vihaan wasn't extraordinary in the eyes of the world. He was just another boy, with a mischievous grin, a natural charm, and a knack for standing out without even trying. To Isha, though, he wasn't "just another boy." He was the boy. The one her eyes searched for in every crowded hallway, the one her heart quickened for when his name popped up on her phone screen, the one who, without even knowing, had the power to make her day or break it.
Their story didn't begin with fireworks or confessions under the stars. No, it began quietly, almost shyly. A first glance. A first shared smile. The subtle start of something that neither of them admitted aloud. But in Isha's heart, it was enough to plant seeds of a love she didn't know how to name.
But teenage love isn't easy. It never is.
It comes with complications, with insecurities, with the weight of what people say. And in their story, rumors played the role of villains. One day, Vihaan told her words that left her breathless: "Hey, I just wanted to tell you that I may remove you from following and maybe unfollowing because I have heard rumors that I am in a relationship with you."
For Isha, those words cut deep. Not because of what he said, but because of what it revealed. He cared more about whispers in corridors than about the truth of what she felt. She wanted to scream that love wasn't a rumor, that her feelings weren't something to be ashamed of. But instead, she stayed silent.
And silence… it can be louder than any scream.
Still, there were moments she could never forget. The way he once called her "Mohtarma" before his birthday, his teasing tone making her heart flutter in ways she couldn't explain. The casualness in his actions, the warmth in his presence — they were small things, but to her, they meant the world.
Every memory was like a fragile thread, holding her heart together even when it wanted to break. She told herself that maybe he never meant to hurt her. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was confusion, maybe it was just teenage immaturity. After all, boys at that age rarely knew how to handle hearts with care.
But the truth was harsh — fragile ropes snap too.
There were days when she hated herself for loving him so much. She would sit with her textbooks open, numbers and theories blurring into nonsense, because her mind was always somewhere else. With him. Always with him. It wasn't fair, she thought, how one person could live rent-free in her head, while she might be nothing more than a passing thought to him.
And yet, every time she tried to move on, life betrayed her resolve. His laughter in the corridor, his name flashing on her phone, his face in a crowd — it all reminded her that some people are impossible to erase.
That's the thing about first love — it doesn't ask for permission to stay.
Vihaan, meanwhile, was a puzzle. Oblivious, perhaps. Or maybe not entirely. He noticed the way her eyes lingered, the way her smile shifted when he was near. He wasn't blind. But teenage boys are strange — they want and they fear at the same time. They hide behind jokes, behind games, behind the safety of indifference. Vihaan wasn't cruel. He was just unprepared.
And so, their story continued in silence.
One loving loudly, but only in her heart.
The other pretending not to notice, though deep down, he did.
But time has a way of revealing truths. It doesn't let feelings stay buried forever.
Isha's heartbreak began to change her. She grew stronger, even in her pain. She poured her emotions into words, into late-night journal entries, into quiet prayers. She began to realize that love wasn't always about having someone — sometimes it was about carrying them with dignity, even when they didn't belong to you.
Vihaan, too, wasn't untouched. He began to notice the silence she left behind. The missing likes. The absence of her name in his notifications. The quiet withdrawal of her presence. It was subtle, but enough to remind him that even the smallest constants leave the biggest voids when they disappear.
It's strange, isn't it? How we only realize someone mattered once they're gone.
But fate wasn't cruel to them. Not this time.
Because this is not a tragedy. This is not the story of two people who almost loved and then lost each other forever. No — this is the story of how teenage, though messy and confusing and heartbreaking, can still surprise us with moments of joy. How, even after rumors, silence, and tears, love can find its way back.
And that's exactly what happened.
Isha didn't know when it began again. Maybe it was the day he looked at her differently, as if finally seeing her for who she was. Maybe it was when he realized how much his words had weighed on her. Or maybe it was just time, healing wounds that once seemed too deep.
But one day, the silence broke. The distance began to shrink. The glances turned into conversations. The unsaid became spoken. And what was once an "almost" began to grow into something real.
Suddenly, all those nights she cried into her pillow, all those days she told herself she was foolish, all those rumors that once hurt her so badly — they became memories of another time. Lessons, not scars.
Because here he was, smiling at her like she was the only one in the room.
And here she was, realizing that sometimes happy endings don't come easily — but they do come.
And that is where their story truly begins.