Karthik sat at his desk, pen unmoving, notebook open but untouched. The rain from the previous evening still echoed in his ears—the way Ananya had whispered I like you, the way their hands had brushed beneath that fragile shelter, the quiet magic that neither of them dared define yet.
It was morning now. A Thursday. Ordinary, but not.
Because everything had changed.
He turned to the last page of his notebook, hesitated, and then began to write.
> You didn't ask for my darkness, but you stayed anyway. You didn't demand my smile, but you gave me reasons to. I'm learning that maybe… maybe love isn't loud. Maybe it's in the quiet way you wait for someone to be ready.
He stopped writing. His heart was too full.
At school, the air buzzed differently. Their classmates were too busy preparing for the upcoming annual day program to notice anything—but to Karthik, the world seemed to have shifted just a degree closer to something brighter.
And when Ananya walked in, wearing a ponytail and an oversized maroon kurti, she caught his eyes across the classroom—and smiled.
Not the usual teasing smirk.
A knowing smile.
We're okay.
We're more than okay.
During lunch break, Karthik found her by the chemistry lab stairs—their usual hideout. She was sitting on the third step, earbuds in, head bobbing slightly to music. She didn't look up when he approached, just scooted slightly to make space for him.
He sat beside her. Their shoulders didn't touch—but they didn't need to.
"I wrote something," he said quietly.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I don't know if it's poetry or just... me being weird."
She laughed softly, tugging one earbud out. "Can I read it?"
He hesitated, then handed her the folded page. She took it carefully, as if it was something sacred. As she read, her expression changed—softened, stilled.
When she looked up, her eyes were glassy.
"I don't think you're weird," she said, voice thick with emotion. "I think you're brave."
Karthik chuckled under his breath. "That's new."
"I mean it." She leaned in slightly. "You've come so far, Karthik. You're not the boy I met months ago."
He looked at her, truly looked. "Neither are you."
They stayed like that—words suspended between them, nothing loud or dramatic. Just quiet understanding. Quiet love.
As the bell rang, Ananya stood first.
"Come on," she said, holding out her hand.
He took it.
In the hallway, some classmates saw. Whispers started.
Karthik braced himself.
But Ananya just squeezed his hand tighter. Let them see.
This wasn't a grand announcement.
It was a quiet revolution.
The kind where love didn't need labels, just truth.
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END OF CHAPTER 149