NYAC | 3min Read
Published on May 7, 2026
One Fine Day
One Fine Day
It was a serene day in late July, the kind that makes you think nothing could ever change until I heard he was leaving. I tried not to think about it. But then, as usual, I failed.
I pretended to listen to the class. But all I could think of was him. His eyes, like a firefly in a gloomy sky, his smile, which I could see over a million times, his dimples, soft slopes I’d
fall into. All these are just pictures in my memories now. Or had it always been like that?
A sudden sound hit my ear and made me jump. ‘Smriti, what are you thinking?’ Maya asked. ‘Oh, nothing, Maya, I’m just listening to the class,’ I replied, trying to hide it. She would’ve found it by now.
I ran out of the classroom right after the recess bell, my heart aching to know if he’s really leaving. I asked one of my friends if what I had overheard that morning was true. She responded with a straight face, ‘Yes, Tanish is going to Mumbai. Don’t you know that?’ ‘Oh, ok, I didn’t know about that. When is he leaving?’ I asked her. ‘Tomorrow morning’, she said. T’ll talk to you later,’ I mumbled, my heart pounding, my hands shaking, hiding my anxiety.
With an anxious face, I entered the class. I tried to settle in, but my thoughts didn’t let me. ‘Maya, do you know that Tanish is going to Mumbai?’ I asked her, thinking she wouldn’t have known about it. ‘Yeah, I know about it. Were you thinking about that all this time?’ she questioned me.
“Then why didn’t you tell me?’ I roared. ‘I thought you’d be sad.’ ‘Do you believe I’m happy now?’ Maya was speechless. ‘You know that I love him, still, you didn’t think of saying it to me. Why?’
‘I..I didn’t mean to. I thought you’d be worried hearing that because you love him with your whole heart.’ Maya said softly. ‘I trusted that you’d tell me. But—’
‘Hey Smriti, don’t be serious. It’s just a small issue.’ ‘No, it isn’t. You know what, leave me alone for a while.’
My backbone hunched on the seat, my hands and legs shivering, I tried to forget everything which was never a thing that happened.
Drowning in my thoughts, I didn’t see her coming our biology teacher. She entered the class with her usual grumpy face and her purple glasses, carrying a pile of books in her hand. As she entered, she stared at m e a t my eyes-with an offended look. It was a new feeling, getting stared at by her judgmental eyes
I continued to drain into the ocean I built. Thinking of him made me cry like a baby, but that baby has a mature image in school, which she doesn’t want to ruin. So, I made sure I
blocked my ocean. But how can it be possible while he’s still in my mind?
My legs trembling, I started to walk out of my school and boarded the school bus, hoping I could hear his voice for one last time.
I dialled the number, my heart throbbing, my hands quivering. As I reached it to my ear, I heard it, his voice, like honey flowing, ‘Hello?’ He repeated it. I kept being silent. I didn’t listen to it again— forever.
Like all one-sided love stories, mine was unsaid too, with pain till the day that I die.
