**Chapter Seven: The Final Wait**
The sunlight crept through the curtains, casting a soft glow on the silent room, but for me, the morning felt as dark as the night before. I was still waiting. Waiting for her reply. You know the feeling—that one message that could change everything, the text that never came. And yet, even as I stared at my phone screen, watching it remain lifeless, deep down I knew that the girl whose reply I was waiting for was the same girl I had waited for all these years. The same girl from my school, the one who was supposed to be my dance partner, the girl I thought was destined to share that perfect moment with me.
But that moment had never come. Not then, and maybe not now.
As the years passed, her face faded in my memory, blurred by time and distance. I tried to hold on to her image, tried to remember her laugh, the way her eyes would light up when she smiled, but after nine long years, I had lost even that. She must have changed, grown into someone different, someone I wouldn’t even recognize if I saw her today.
But one day, fate played its hand.
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**Chapter Eight: The Reunion**
Her profile appeared out of nowhere on my social media feed, like a ghost from the past. I froze, staring at her picture, unsure of how I even recognized her after all these years. But it was her—there was no doubt in my mind. I was shocked, not just because I had found her, but because she still remembered me.
What were the odds? After all this time, she hadn’t forgotten. The rush of emotions I felt is impossible to describe—joy, disbelief, a strange kind of fear. How was this even happening?
Still, I forced myself to remain calm. I didn’t know if she felt the same way about me, if she still cared the way I did. But we chatted, and it felt easy, natural, as if no time had passed between us. Her words were gentle, familiar, and in every message, I could sense it. She had kept a space for me in her heart, just as I had for her.
We talked for days, trying to arrange a time to meet, but our exams were always in the way. Life, as it often does, kept interfering. But finally, we agreed. We picked a date—a weekend, just after our exams. It was set. My moment had finally come, after years of waiting and wondering if it ever would.
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**Chapter Nine: The Moment Approaches**
I had spent so many sleepless nights imagining this. What it would be like to tell her how I felt, to finally confess the love I’d kept locked away for all these years. Back in school, I had been too afraid to say anything. Everyone told us that love wasn’t for kids our age, that it wasn’t something we were supposed to experience while we were still supposed to be focused on studies. But love doesn’t care about rules, or timing, or what people think. It just happens, whether you’re ready for it or not.
And I wasn’t ready back then. I was scared. Scared that if I told her how I felt, I’d lose her even as a friend. So I waited for the right moment, and that moment was supposed to be during our annual school dance. We were partners, and I had planned to tell her everything that night. But as you know, that night never came.
This time, though, it would be different. I wouldn’t let fear stop me. The date was set, just one more day to wait, and I would finally tell her everything. I was so sure that she felt the same way. I could feel it in her words, in the way she still looked at me through the screen.
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**Chapter Ten: The Last Message**
Last night, I texted her to confirm our plans for today. It was supposed to be *our* day, the one I had waited for, dreamed about. The day when I would finally tell her I loved her, and she would say she loved me too.
But there was no reply. I waited all night, thinking she was probably just tired, maybe she had fallen asleep. I told myself she would text me in the morning, and everything would be fine. We would meet, and I’d finally have my moment with her.
Morning came, but still nothing. I tried not to panic, got dressed a few times, pacing back and forth in my room, trying to calm the rising anxiety in my chest. I told myself she’d message me soon, that maybe her phone had died or something simple like that.
But as the hours passed, the silence became unbearable. My heart began to sink.
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**Chapter Eleven: The Accident**
In the afternoon, I sat down to distract myself, flipping through the pages of the local newspaper. That’s when I saw it. A small article buried in the corner of the page—an accident, near her exam center. Two people were injured, one of them critically.
I froze, my hands trembling as I read the words over and over, praying that it wasn’t her. But deep down, I knew. One of the injured was her. She had been taken to the hospital, her condition serious, maybe even life-threatening.
The room around me blurred, and my thoughts spiraled into chaos. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not after all these years of waiting. I was supposed to meet her today. I was supposed to tell her how I felt, to finally have our moment.
But now, that moment seemed like a cruel joke. A curse.
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**Chapter Twelve: The Goodbye**
I sat down to write this letter because I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know if she’ll ever see it, but I have to say this, even if it’s too late. I love you. I always have, and I always will.
I planned so much for today, and when I had the chance, I should have told you. I should have said something in our messages, but I was waiting for the perfect moment. Now I see that moment was just an illusion, a dream that was never meant to come true.
I don’t know what I’m going to do next. My heart feels like it’s breaking into a thousand pieces, and I can’t seem to find a way out of this darkness. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe there’s still hope, but right now, I can’t see it.
So this is it. My moment. The one I’ve been waiting for, and the one I’ll never get to experience.
I love you, and I’m sorry.
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**Chapter Thirteen: The Silence**
The letter was found hours later, beside his lifeless body. A final message to the girl he loved, the one who had unknowingly held his heart for all these years. The moment he had waited for was never meant to come, and in the end, it was the waiting that consumed him.