The next morning felt… heavier.
Neha entered the classroom with hesitant steps, scanning the room automatically.
Riyan sat in the third row, leaned back in his chair arms folded, jaw tight, eyes glued to the window.
He didn't even look at her.
Neha swallowed.
For the first time, she missed his annoying greetings.
His stupid "Miss Khan". His shoulder bumps. His dumb songs.
She sat two rows behind him.
Throughout the class, she tried glancing at him once, twice, a hundred times.
He didn't even turn around. Not once.
During break, she slowly walked to where he stood near the canteen gate, chatting with two boys. She waited until they left… then took a deep breath.
"Riyan…" she called out, softly.
He turned slightly only to glance at her, then looked away again.
Her throat tightened.
"I… I didn't mean to yell like that yesterday," she said, barely audible. "I was just…"
"Forget it," he cut her off, voice flat. "You made yourself very clear."
Her eyes widened. "No, that's not—"
"It's fine, Neha. You don't need to explain anything."
And just like that, he walked past her.
No smirk. No teasing.
Just silence.
And somehow…
that silence hurt more than all the names he'd ever called her.
The next few days were quiet.
Too quiet.
No teasing.
No random singing.
No Miss Khan echoing down the hallways.
Riyan stopped showing up to class after that morning.
At first, Neha thought he was just avoiding her.
But then…
On Thursday, during lunch, a whisper spread through the corridors.
"Did you hear? Riyan left the school."
Neha blinked. "What?"
"Yeah," someone said. "His dad got transferred. Whole family's shifting to Jaipur. He didn't even tell anyone, just submitted the transfer form and left."
Her heart dropped. Literally dropped.
She stood there frozen.
The last conversation they had… echoed in her mind.
"Forget it."
"You made yourself very clear."
And he just… left.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
Not even a last look.
That night, Neha stared at her diary for hours, pen in hand, words stuck in her throat.
"He left… and I never even got to say sorry properly."
"Was I really that easy to forget?"
After Riyan left, Neha felt like school had lost all its noise.
But just when she was starting to process it.
March 2020 hit.
And suddenly,
the world shut down.
School closed.
Exams postponed.
Everyone was online. But nothing felt real.
Neha started waking up late.
Eating quietly.
Staring at screens for hours, not absorbing a single word from online classes.
The only place she truly visited now… was her mind.
Where she rewrote that last conversation with Riyan a thousand times.
Where she imagined what would've happened if she had just stopped him that day.
Where she wondered if he thought of her too… or if he forgot her the second he stepped out of the school gates.
She never told anyone how much it broke her.
She just smiled in front of her family, nodded in front of relatives, and replied to her friends with one-word texts.
But in her diary the one hidden beneath her pillows every page screamed his name.
But weeks turned into months.
Seasons changed. But her room stayed the same.
She missed school.
Missed her friends.
But strangely… she missed him the most.
Not because he made her happy.
But because he was part of her chaos.
And now the chaos felt empty without him.
Her brother got on her nerves even more.
Her mother kept comparing her with others.
And every time she spoke up for herself, she was told
"Bhut zyada bolne lagi hai ye ladki."
So she stopped speaking.
Her room became her world.
Her diary, her best friend.
And her silence? A shield.
Sometimes, she would scroll through her old class photos squinting at the back benches, hoping to spot his half-smile, his messy handwriting on the desk corner, his irritating pose during class photos.
But there was nothing.
He left just like that.
And somewhere between lockdown Neha changed.
The soft-hearted girl who cried easily and got angry at silly jokes…
Was now someone who kept things inside.
Avoided people.
Became more polite… and more distant.
Because when people leave without saying goodbye…
you stop giving people the power to say hello too.
To be continued...