Chapter 2: Almost Confessions
295 Words
Every night, Arjun stared at his phone, fingers trembling over the keyboard.
> "Do you ever wonder if we’re more than this?"
> "I think I love you. Not in a 'bro' way. In the real way."
> "Please don’t hate me."
Delete. Delete. Delete.
He could draw whole worlds, whole galaxies of emotion — but he couldn’t say five words out loud.
Meanwhile, Kabir had started talking to a girl named Meher. She was sweet, kind, and had liked him since 10th. Kabir didn’t even know why he said yes to going out with her. Maybe because it was easier. Maybe because people expected it. Maybe because it made everything feel normal.
Arjun found out from Rohan, one of the other art kids.
“Did you hear?” Rohan said. “Kabir and Meher are a thing now.”
Arjun laughed — or tried to. “Cool.”
That night, he didn’t text Kabir like usual. And for the first time in a year, Kabir didn’t say goodnight either.
They sat beside each other in class. Ate lunch together. Walked home together.
But something had shifted.
Kabir could feel it — the space between them growing heavier, tighter, colder.
He missed Arjun’s quiet smiles, the way he used to show him sketches with embarrassed pride, the way they’d talk about nothing and everything late at night.
Kabir tried to act normal. But he wasn’t. Not anymore.
Meher was lovely — but Kabir couldn’t stop thinking about Arjun. About how he once saw Arjun sleeping on the bus and felt something stir inside him he didn’t have words for. About how holding Meher’s hand felt… wrong. Forced. Empty.
He wasn’t being fair to her. Or to himself.
Or to Arjun.
But what could he do?
- Writer
