What Happened to Me?
889 Words
The moment Luna's words left her lips—*"I didn't ask for this marriage"—*she felt something in Silas shift. He didn't argue. He didn't explain. He simply stood there, shoulders sinking as if a weight had been added to his soul.
"I understand now," he said softly, his voice tight. "You won't have to see me anymore."
And just like that, he was gone.
---
The next day, Silas didn’t show up at college.
Luna noticed.
It wasn’t that she was expecting him to talk to her again. But seeing the empty seat in the library where he usually sat, not passing him in the hallway, not catching glimpses of him outside between lectures—she felt it. The emptiness he left behind clung to her.
Days passed. One. Two. Three.
No messages. No calls. No Silas.
And it hurt more than she thought it would.
---
Asher stepped into the silence.
He walked her to class. Waited by her locker. Spoke about movies and music and old memories.
But Luna? Her laughs were dry. Her words were few. And every time Asher smiled, she felt like she was lying to both of them.
They were sitting on the college lawn when he finally spoke up.
"You’ve been distracted lately," Asher said, his tone light but eyes serious.
"I'm just tired," she said quickly.
"No," he replied, watching her closely. "It’s more than that. You’re here... but your mind isn’t. And every time I try to talk to you, you keep looking around."
Luna blinked. Her chest tightened.
"I thought..." he started, then stopped. "I thought this was what you wanted. Me. You. Together. But it feels like you're waiting for someone else."
Someone else.
She looked away.
Because it was true.
---
That night, Luna sat on her bed, curled up in a blanket. The city lights flickered outside her window, but her mind was somewhere else—somewhere in the past few months.
She remembered Silas in moments:
How he placed her favorite tea on the table without asking.
The way he turned his face away when she cried, to give her privacy.
How he always let her walk ahead, but watched to ensure she was safe.
He had been there. Always.
And she had pushed him away.
Why did it ache so much now?
Was it guilt? Regret? Or something else?
---
She didn’t sleep much that night.
The next morning, she avoided Asher's eyes as they walked through the campus. Her stomach twisted every time they passed a corridor where she once saw Silas leaning casually against the wall.
Every shadow looked like him. Every silence felt like his absence.
"Luna," Asher called gently, snapping her back. "You're really not okay, are you?"
She wanted to say she was. She wanted to smile and make it all go away.
But her lips wouldn't move.
He waited. She said nothing.
Asher sighed, placing a soft hand on her shoulder.
"If you're hurting, just talk to me. Please."
She wanted to tell him everything. That she was married. That she'd hurt the one person who had always stayed. That her heart didn’t feel the same anymore.
But she couldn’t.
Because how do you tell someone you once loved that your heart had quietly changed direction?
---
Another day passed.
And finally, Luna stood outside Silas's apartment.
Her fingers trembled as she lifted her hand to knock.
But before she could, the door opened. He was there.
His hair was slightly messy, and his eyes were tired, like he hadn’t slept well. But he still looked at her the same—soft, uncertain, and guarded.
"Luna," he said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I was passing by," she lied.
A small smile tugged at his lips. "You were always a bad liar."
Her throat tightened. "Silas... I didn't mean to hurt you."
He shook his head. "You didn’t hurt me, Luna. You just reminded me what I am to you."
"That’s not true," she whispered. "I didn’t realize... until you were gone... how much you meant."
Silas looked at her for a long time.
Then, with a sigh, he stepped aside and let her in.
---
They sat on the couch in silence.
Luna looked at her hands. Silas looked at the floor.
Finally, she spoke.
"I thought I loved Asher. I did. Maybe I still do. But every moment I've spent away from you... it felt wrong."
He didn’t interrupt. He didn’t move.
"I thought you were just someone I had to tolerate. Someone I was forced to be with. But now... I can’t stop thinking about the way you look at me. The way you listen even when I say nothing. The way you care."
She looked up, tears in her eyes.
"You never forced me to love you. But you made it impossible not to."
Silas's eyes softened. "Then why did it take losing me for you to see that?"
She didn't have an answer.
But she reached out, placed her hand over his, and said the only thing that mattered.
"I’m sorry. For pushing you away. For not choosing you sooner."
---
He didn’t say a word.
But he squeezed her hand.
And for the first time in days, Luna breathed freely.
Because he hadn’t given up on her.
Not yet.
- Writer
