Sparks Of Silence - Episode - 3 What we don't say

The rain had stopped, but Rahul hadn't moved...

Rahul Mehra

{He stood in the middle of the now-empty lecture hall, fingers flexing as if he could still feel the ghost of Isha's hand in his. The air around him felt thick with something unresolved, the silence pressing harder now than it had when the storm had muffled the world outside.}

Rahul Mehra

Do you do this with every girl?

Rahul Mehra

{The words still rang in his ears, louder than thunder. And beneath the anger in her voice, he'd heard something else - fear. Maybe even disappointment. And that stung more than he expected it to.}

Rahul Mehra

{He muttered} No...

Rahul Mehra

I didn't do this with every girl...

He didn't sit in half-lit classrooms hoping their fingers might touch. He didn't look at anyone else the way he'd looked at her when the lights went out and the world felt like it was holding its breath...

Rahul Mehra

But Isha...

Rahul Mehra

I definitely didn't let just anyone gets under his skin...

Rahul Mehra

But you have done that from day one...

Rahul Mehra

And now, you walked away...

Rahul Mehra

{He exhaled slowly, picked up his bag, and left the hall.}

By the time Rahul got back to his hostel room, the air was thick with humidity and the smell of petrichor clung to the walls like perfume. His roommate was out—probably holed up in the common room watching football with the others—and he was grateful for the solitude...

Rahul Mehra

{He dropped his bag near the desk and sat on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling fan above him. It spun lazily, as though time itself had decided to slow down just to mess with him.}

Rahul Mehra

(I should've stopped her...)

Rahul Mehra

(I should've followed her...)

Rahul Mehra

{But instead, he’d just stood there. Frozen. Letting her walk away like none of it mattered.}

Rahul Mehra

“Idiot" {he muttered to himself.}

Because the look in her eyes—that mixture of confusion and vulnerability—wasn’t something he was going to forget anytime soon...

Rahul Mehra

{It reminded him of something he thought he’d buried a long time ago: the fear of meaning something to someone, of letting someone in too far.}

Rahul Mehra

She thinks you’re just playing around, {a voice in his head sneered. And you didn’t even fight it.}

Rahul Mehra

{He got up, pacing now, the floor cool under his bare feet.}

Rahul Mehra

What was it about her that felt different?

Maybe it was the way she never tried to impress him. Maybe it was the way she called him out on his bullshit. Or maybe it was just the way she looked at him—not like he was some cool senior, not like he was someone untouchable. But like he was... human...

And now, thanks to a stupid misunderstanding and a power outage, she thought he was just another guy looking for a cheap thrill...

Rahul Mehra

{He grabbed his phone, his fingers hovering over her Instagram handle. He knew he shouldn’t. Knew it would only make things worse if he messaged her now, emotions running hot.}

Rahul Mehra

You made it feel like something it shouldn’t have been...

He didn’t know if she meant that as an accusation or a confession...

Part - 1 End...