Chapter 3: Ink and Solace
The café was quiet, apart from the low hum of ceiling fans and the occasional clink of spoons in teacups. Nivedya’s gaze shifted from Kisha’s eyes to the ceramic cup in front of him. The tea had gone cold. Maybe like their story.
Kisha broke the silence first, her voice light but hesitant.
“Do you still write?”
He looked up slowly, pausing. “Sometimes. But... the words don’t bleed the same anymore.”
She nodded. “That’s how I feel when I paint now. Like the colours know I’m lying.”
A dry smile spread across his face. “Funny, right? We once promised we’d never fake anything for the world.”
She laughed — soft, broken. “And now we fake everything just to survive in it.”
That moment, that tiny sentence, hit both of them like truth being spoken out loud for the first time. They were different now. Older, not by years — but by losses.
Between them wasn’t just the table — it was the space of all the things they could have been but never dared to become.
And yet, no one said, “Let’s try again.” Because sometimes, what once was is too fragile to risk re-breaking.
Nivedya took a deep breath.
“I came here today,” he began, “not to bring back what we had. I know we left that behind. I just... needed to see you once. To feel less incomplete.”
Kisha swallowed hard, her eyes moist. “I know. That’s why I came too. I didn’t want to carry your silence as guilt anymore.”
He looked at her, really looked — not as the girl he once imagined his life with, but as the woman who unknowingly taught him how to love... and how to let go.
“You don’t owe me anything, Kisha,” he whispered.
“I do,” she said. “I owe you an explanation... for vanishing like that.”
He stayed quiet.
She continued, her voice shaking.
“When I left for Paris, I thought I was choosing myself. And I was... but I didn’t know how to carry both — my dream and us. I thought I could, but I wasn’t strong enough.”
“It’s okay,” he said, gently. “Some journeys are meant to be walked alone.”
Kisha blinked slowly, trying not to cry. “You were never a mistake, Nivedya. You were my peace.”
“And you,” he said, “were the silence I never learned to break.”
For a while, they just sat there.
Two people who once understood each other without words, now reduced to soft sentences and long pauses.
And yet, in that fragile stillness, there was no blame. No regrets. Just a strange, aching gratitude — for having shared something pure once.
“I’m leaving tomorrow,” she said finally.
“Back to Paris?”
“No. This time... I don’t know where I’m going. But I know I need to go.”
He nodded. “Then go. And don’t look back unless your heart does.”
She smiled. For the first time that day, it was a real smile.
“I hope you write again,” she said, standing up.
“And I hope you paint again,” he replied.
Their eyes met — one last time.
Not to restart. Not to undo. Just to remember.
As she turned and walked away, the chair beside him felt heavier than before.
He didn’t stop her. He didn’t call out. He didn’t run after her like in the movies.
Because sometimes, love doesn’t mean holding on. It means letting go without hating the goodbye.
Outside, the city moved as usual. People ran, phones rang, horns honked. But inside Nivedya’s heart, everything had paused.
He sat there long after she left.
And for the first time in a long time, he smiled.
Not because it didn’t hurt anymore... But because he had finally learned to feel the hurt — and still stay whole.
He opened an old notebook — a gift from Kisha. A note fell out:
“To the boy who makes silence sound like poetry. Don’t forget your magic, even when I do.”
He smiled.
And that night, he wrote. Not about her. Not about loss. Just about what it feels like to breathe when your lungs are no longer full of someone else’s echoes.
Healing didn’t mean forgetting. It meant remembering — and still moving forward.
From the Book: Unsaid Yet Felt
This story is taken from Unsaid Yet Felt, a collection of 15 heartfelt stories written by Rishabh Bhatt. Each story explores emotions of love, heartbreak, healing, and self-discovery. If this chapter touched your heart, you can get the complete book and experience the journey.
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