Chapter Sixteen: A Message Unread Aloud
454 Words
Pakhi’s POV
Her phone buzzed in the middle of a meeting.
She ignored it.
But something inside her shifted.
It was a vibration she recognized — the kind her heart had memorized without permission.
Still, she kept taking notes, kept nodding, kept pretending the rest of the world didn’t exist beyond the Teams call window.
When the meeting finally ended, she reached for her phone with mechanical hands.
She didn’t need to open w******p to know who it was from.
Rehaan.
There it was — his name again. Sitting on her screen like it had never left.
But this time… it felt heavier.
"I don’t know if I’ve earned the right to ask this, but… can we go back to how things were? Or at least talk, like we used to? I miss the real you — the one who wasn’t just ‘Regards, Pakhi Sharma.’"
She read it.
Then read it again.
The words were soft. Vulnerable. Almost afraid.
For a second — just a flicker — her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
She wanted to say,
“Then why did you go quiet in the first place?”
“Why now, Rehaan?”
But she typed nothing.
Because she had promised herself something the night before —
she wouldn’t break her own heart again.
She locked her phone and tossed it on the bed.
Pacing her room, she folded her arms. Her thoughts were spiraling, loud and unfiltered.
“He finally messaged. So what?”
“What does he even want? Friendship? Forgiveness?”
“He left me in silence and now he misses me?”
She hated that a single message could shake her like this.
She hated that part of her still cared.
She hated that her name in his sentence sounded more real than it had in weeks.
But above all, she hated that her heart… wasn’t ready to stop beating for him.
She sat down, stared at the empty screen of her laptop, then opened her phone again.
This time not to reply — but to text someone else.
Pakhi:
“Hi Arjun. I was wondering… are you free this Saturday? Maybe for lunch?”
She hit send before she could overthink it.
It wasn’t a declaration.
It wasn’t a decision.
It was her way of breathing again.
She didn’t owe Rehaan anything anymore.
Not explanations. Not emotions. Not replies.
And if Arjun was the door to peace, even if not love — she was willing to knock.
That night, she placed her phone face down again. Just like before.
Rehaan’s message remained unopened in the chat —
but wide open in her mind.
It wasn’t unread.
It was just unreplied.
And that… was a choice.
- Writer
