They say time heals everything, but sometimes, time just teaches you how to hide the awkwardness.
After my proposal... my "unscripted" moment of madness, there were exactly forty-eight hours of silence. Two days where the air between us felt heavy, where eyes didn't meet, and words were stuck in throats. But true friendship is stubborn. It refuses to die.
By the third day, the frost melted. We fell back into our rhythm, but the music had changed. We were two friends but also we were two people walking on a tightrope of unspoken truths. We built a bond that was invisible to the world but unbreakable to us. We shared everything - the mundane details of what we ate for lunch, to the deepest fears that kept us awake at night.
One afternoon, amidst this beautiful limbo, she asked me the question that had been haunting her eyes.
"Why?" she asked, looking at me with a mix of confusion and wonder. "Why do you love me even though you know I will never accept you? Why walk a road that leads to a dead end?"
I looked at her, and the answer was simple.
"That is what love is meant to be...!!" I replied softly. "Love isn't a business deal. There are no investments and returns. It's just expressing. It's just making the person you care about feel comfortable."
I took a breath, needing her to understand. "I need you to enjoy every moment of your life. I won't be arrogant enough to say that 'only with me' will you be happy. You might find happiness elsewhere. But I can promise you one thing: You can never get a man who will love you like I do."
She looked down, a blush painting her cheeks a shade of crimson that I wanted to memorize forever. A smile played on her lips which was shy, devastating smile.
"Yeah!!" she mumbled, trying to sound annoyed but failing. "No one can love like you... waste fellow."
That scolding was music to my ears. In our language of friendship, "waste fellow" translated to "you matter to me."
The Winter of Change then came December.
December 6, 2022.
The seasons were shifting. The harsh heat of the year was giving way to the gentle, crisp winds of winter. The evenings were starting to get darker earlier, casting long, violet shadows across the campus.
It was evening. We were walking in front of the library, our usual spot, heading back towards the hostels. The leaves rustled under our feet, and the world felt quiet, settling down for the night. We were talking about something trivial, perhaps assignments or exams, when she suddenly stopped walking.
I stopped too, turning to look at her. The streetlights flickered on above us, bathing her in a soft, yellow glow. She called me with my name with gentle, calm soothing voice.
"Hmm?" I hummed, expecting a question about class.
"I love you."
The world didn't stop, but my heart did. The wind seemed to freeze. The noise of the distant traffic vanished. I stood there, blinking, convinced my mind was playing a cruel trick on me.
"What?" I managed to whisper, my voice barely working.
She looked me in the eyes, her gaze steady, her voice firm. "I said, I love you."
My brain couldn't process it. My first instinct was disbelief.
"Why are you making me say it again and again?" she teased, though her voice wavered slightly. "Is this revenge for making you wait?"
"No... no..." I stammered, my hands shaking. "Sorry... sorry. I was just... I'm still unbelieving. I'm a bit excited."
We stood there for a moment, two silhouettes under the winter sky, rewriting our entire history in a few seconds. We didn't hug. We didn't scream. We simply started walking again. But this time, the silence wasn't awkward. It was the "cute silence of love." It was the silence of two hearts that had finally synced their beats.
We reached our hostels and parted ways, but the distance felt different now. I went to my room, but I couldn't sit still. My phone rang. Her name flashed on the screen.
I stared at it. Fear, cold and sharp, mixed with the warmth of my love. I was scared to answer. Was she going to take it back? Was it a prank?
I lifted the call.
"Hello?" I whispered.
"Hi.." she said.
"Why?" I asked immediately. I had to know. "Why so sudden? Why now?"
Her voice came through the speaker, soft and sincere. "I never felt like this before... You made me feel very special. You made me feel safe. Safe like I feel when I am with my father."
The comparison broke me again.
"I know it's difficult." she continued. "I know the burden you are taking, trying on your own for me, without my support, facing my dad alone. But you are still ready to do it. You asked if there was a reason any girl wouldn't love you? Well... I couldn't find one."
My insecurity flared up. I had to be sure. "But you have restrictions," I said, my voice trembling. "Please... don't say yes because you are pitying me. Because of how I am mentally. I am fine being alone. There is no need to accept me out of fear of what might happen to me. I don't want you to carry the burden of this relationship just to save me."
"No." she interrupted, her tone sharp with honesty. "No, I am saying this with all my heart. I thought very well about this."
She paused, and then she said the words that crowned me as a king in my own life.
"Listen, I am not proposing to you because you are alone or for any other reason. I am proposing because I need you, my man. I love you so much for making me feel safe... that's it."
I need you, my man. The words echoed in my empty room. "From today!" she added, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "you are my boyfriend. But... keep it a secret. I don't want to say to others about this relation yet."
"Okay, dear." I promised, tears streaming down my face, invisible to her but heavy on my cheeks. "I promise. I will never say to anyone."
"Love you," she said.
"Love you too." I choked out.
We disconnected. The screen went black.
I laid back on my bed, the ceiling blurring above me. Anxiety, happiness, excitement it was a cocktail of emotions that overwhelmed my system. I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow, and I cried.
I cried out of a happiness so pure it needed a release. I cried because the girl who was my world had just told me she needed me.
In that dark room, amidst the winter chill, I realized the terrifying, beautiful truth:
I loved her even more than I knew.
The Secret of Happiness
And so, the second secret revealed itself to me. We spend our lives chasing happiness. We look for it in achievements, in money, in validation. We think happiness is getting what we want.
But the Secret of Happiness is this... It arrives when you stop demanding it.
I found happiness not when I proposed her about my love, but when I focused entirely on giving mine. I found it in the acceptance of a "waste fellow" and in the quiet walk under the December sky. Happiness is not a grand destination; it is the unexpected phone call that tells you, "I need you."
It is the realization that while you were busy trying to be worthy of them, they were busy falling in love with exactly who you are.
Chapter 2 ends - Lovers!!!