“Absent… Except to Me”

Meera liked Arjun for a very long time, but she never said it. Not because she didn’t have the courage, but because Naina—her best friend—liked him too. Meera knew that from the way Naina’s voice changed when Arjun’s name came up, the way she suddenly cared about small things he did, and the way she pretended she didn’t care while caring too much. Meera noticed everything. She just chose silence over confession, because losing a crush felt easier than losing a best friend. What Meera didn’t know was that Arjun liked Naina too. And Naina liked him too. But both of them were too afraid to ruin what they thought the other didn’t feel. So they stayed distant, careful, almost like they were protecting something fragile that only existed in their heads. And Meera… stood quietly in between, thinking she was part of the story when she was actually just watching it happen. Every day, she still saved Arjun a seat. Every day, Naina still sat beside her, laughing at things that felt a little less real each time. And Arjun still treated Meera like a friend who was always there—reliable, safe, invisible in the way that hurt the least at first. One afternoon, everything almost slipped out. Meera saw Arjun and Naina standing near the corridor, talking a little too softly, a little too close. Naina was smiling, but her eyes were shaking. Arjun looked like he had been holding words in for too long. Meera stopped, hidden where they couldn’t see her. “I think I like you,” Arjun finally said. Naina didn’t reply immediately. When she did, her voice broke. “I thought you didn’t.” And in that one sentence, everything Meera had ever felt quietly collapsed. Because she understood in that moment—not only did they like each other… they had always liked each other. They had just been waiting for a signal that was never sent. Meera turned away before anyone could notice her there. Her steps felt heavy, like even the ground had started remembering what she was trying to forget. She walked home without crying at first. Not yet. That night, her phone lit up. A message from Arjun. “Thanks for always being there, Meera. You’re really important to me.” She stared at it for a long time. Her fingers trembled as she typed I liked you, then deleted it. Typed It’s okay, then deleted that too. Because nothing she said would ever fit inside what she felt anymore. So she didn’t reply. And that silence was the first time she finally accepted it completely. She was never chosen. Not because she wasn’t enough… but because she arrived in a story where all the love had already found its direction—just not toward her. That night, Meera cried quietly into her pillow, not for Arjun, not for Naina, but for the version of herself that kept hoping she was part of something that was never hers to begin with.