Chapter 4 The Hidden Letters In His Eyes
744 Words
Arjun stared at the photograph on Meera’s laptop, his fingers gently brushing the edge of the screen.
The café buzzed lightly around them, but to Meera, it felt like the world had gone silent.
She waited—patient, calm—for him to speak again.
Arjun finally exhaled.
“It’s strange,” he said softly. “I look at this picture and… I feel like I’m looking at someone I used to know.”
Meera tilted her head. “Someone younger? Happier?”
His jaw tightened. “Someone who wasn’t afraid of the rain.”
Meera waited, sensing there was more.
But Arjun shook his head, as though physically pushing back a memory. “It’s nothing.”
Tara, who had been eavesdropping shamelessly, quickly looked away when Arjun glanced at her.
He turned back to Meera, forcing a small smile. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually talk like this.”
“I don’t mind,” Meera said gently. “People share the truth only when they feel safe.”
Arjun blinked at her, surprised by her quiet understanding.
But then Meera closed the laptop slowly.
“There’s… something else I wanted to ask.”
He froze. “About the photograph?”
She nodded, searching his face. “When I saw you in the rain… you looked like you were running away from something.”
Arjun’s breath faltered.
She continued, “Or maybe… toward something.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
Meera lowered her voice. “Both can be true.”
Arjun looked away, shoulders stiffening. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m not asking to invade your life,” she said softly. “But… sometimes people carry things alone for too long.”
Her words hit him like a quiet truth he didn’t want to accept.
He swallowed. “I wasn’t running from anything.”
A pause.
“But I was running toward something.”
Meera held his gaze. “And did you find it?”
Arjun didn’t answer.
His silence was thick. Heavy.
Because the truth was—he didn’t know.
---
A Buzzing Phone
Suddenly, Arjun’s phone buzzed loudly on the table.
He looked at the caller ID. His face hardened instantly.
Without answering, he flipped the phone face-down.
Meera noticed. “You can take it.”
“No,” he said quickly, voice clipped. “Not now.”
But the call had clearly shaken him.
His hand, resting on the table, was trembling.
Meera reached out instinctively—then stopped herself halfway, unsure.
Arjun looked at her. Really looked at her.
As though trying to decide if she was someone he could trust.
Someone he could let in.
Someone who wouldn’t walk away.
His voice was barely above a whisper. “Meera… do you believe in signs?”
She nodded. “Sometimes. Why?”
“Because…” He swallowed hard. “I met you on the day something painful returned.”
Her heart tightened. “What returned?”
Arjun opened his mouth—
But Tara suddenly jumped up.
“MEERA! We forgot the grocery thing we were supposed to buy before seven!” she blurted, lying terribly but sincerely trying to protect her friend from too-heavy conversations.
Arjun stepped back emotionally, walls rising again.
Meera sighed inwardly. “Tara…”
Arjun stood up. “It’s okay. I should go anyway.”
Meera looked up at him. “Will we meet again?”
Arjun hesitated.
Then—
“I hope so.”
He walked toward the door, raincoat in hand.
Just before leaving, he turned back.
There was something fragile in his eyes.
Something like a question.
Something like a memory trying to find a voice.
Then he left.
---
Outside the Café – The Envelope
As Arjun stepped into the cool evening air, he reached into his coat to pull out his keys.
Instead, his fingers brushed against something else.
A small, old, crumpled envelope.
He froze.
He knew exactly what it was.
The handwriting on it.
The weight of it.
The unopened seal.
A letter from a past he had never been brave enough to face.
Arjun closed his eyes tightly.
“I can’t do this again…”
But the past didn’t care.
And neither did fate.
Inside the café, Meera couldn’t stop replaying the look in his eyes.
It felt like she had seen a hidden room inside him—
full of secrets,
letters,
and rainstorms.
Secrets he didn’t want to open.
Secrets she somehow already cared about.
---
- Writer
