Chapter Four: What Remains Unsaid
524 Words
Rehaan's POV
There was something about silence at night in Bangalore — not the absence of sound, but the presence of everything unsaid.
Rehaan sat on the balcony of his third-floor flat, the city humming quietly beneath him. A soft breeze carried the smell of wet leaves and faraway biryani stalls. His coffee had gone cold hours ago, but he hadn’t moved.
Pakhi’s last message still lingered on his phone:
“Maybe not. But I’m listening anyway.”
He hadn’t expected that. Not from her. Not this early.
He liked her. More than he should. More than he wanted to admit.
And that was exactly the problem.
Because four days ago, when he hadn’t responded, it wasn’t because he was busy with work.
It was because Zara was in town.
Zara, who his parents had quietly reintroduced into his life — the daughter of his father’s closest friend. Someone he had known since childhood. Their families had always dreamed of this match, and somewhere deep down, they had too.
But life had drifted them apart. She moved to Canada for her MBA, and he had built his own quiet life in Bangalore.
Still, when she landed for a “short visit” and their families nudged them into spending time together, it all began to feel like a script he hadn’t agreed to—but couldn’t walk away from.
Four days.
He had spent four entire days being polite, catching up, pretending like there was something still there.
He wasn’t cold to her. Zara had always been kind, sharp, thoughtful.
But it wasn’t love.
And it never had been. Not the kind that made you forget time on a call. Not the kind that made you smile just reading a name.
Not the kind he had started to feel for Pakhi.
And the guilt of that — of not messaging Pakhi while Zara sat across the table — ate at him.
Zara had even asked him, half-laughing, “You’re distracted. Someone else on your mind?”
He hadn’t answered.
Because the truth was... yes.
A girl he had never even seen.
Just a voice.
A laugh.
A moment in time that felt more real than anything those four days had held.
The worst part? Zara had said nothing about marriage, but he could see it in their parents’ eyes — the planning, the hoping, the silent expectation that this reunion was meant to lead somewhere.
And all he could think was:
What if I don’t want what they want?
What if I already feel something for someone else?
Someone from a different world.
Someone his parents would never accept.
Someone like Pakhi.
He leaned back against the balcony wall and looked up at the dark sky. No stars tonight. Just clouds drifting without direction — a little like him.
He read Pakhi’s message one more time:
“I’m listening anyway.”
And he wondered what would happen if he told her everything.
Because the truth wasn’t that he didn’t want her.
The truth was that he was starting to want her too much —
in a life where she could never truly be his.
- Writer
