🏙️ “Long-Distance Love, Close-Distance Pain” - Chapter 8

 

Chapter 8: Push and Pull

"Healing isn’t always a straight path. Sometimes, the heart trips over memories it swore it had buried."

Three weeks later.

The Ravelle campaign was in full swing.
Meetings, drafts, approvals, brand shoots — everything moving smoothly.
Professionally, Aditi had never felt more in control.

But personally… something was slipping.

She hated it.

She hated how his presence no longer caused pain — just confusion.
She hated how he stopped trying to explain, and just started showing up — consistently, quietly, respectfully.

And most of all, she hated how her heart had started listening again… despite her mind’s every warning.

It began with little things.

He started staying late after meetings, helping her organize slides.
He brought coffee without asking — and still remembered she liked it extra strong, no sugar.
He never overstepped. Never flirted. Never reminded her of the past.

He simply existed in her space… differently now.

Not as the boy who left.

But as the man who had learned why he shouldn’t have.

Tuesday. 8:30 PM. Office Balcony.

They both stepped out for air after back-to-back review sessions.

Mumbai lights sparkled below. Distant horns, sea breeze, and the hush of evening surrounded them.

Aditi leaned on the railing. Her eyes stared ahead, but her heart was loud.

Aditya stood beside her, not too close.

“I never thought we’d be in the same city again,” he said.

She didn’t respond.

“I saw your ad in the paper once, before I moved back. Your campaign for that women’s NGO. It was brilliant.”

Her voice came, calm. “It was based on my mother.”

He smiled softly. “You’ve become… everything you once dreamed of.”

Aditi looked at him, something sharp in her eyes. “And I had to do it without the one person I thought would stand beside me.”

That silenced him.

But she wasn’t done.

“You know the hardest part, Aditya? It wasn’t surviving the silence. It was questioning my worth every day because you chose not to explain.”

He swallowed. “I didn’t think I was worth your love anymore.”

Her voice cracked, but she kept it steady. “You weren’t. But I gave it anyway.”

They stood in silence, the air between them thick.

Then Aditya whispered, “I don’t want to rewrite the past, Aditi. I just… want to be part of whatever story you write next. Even if it's just as a side character.”

She looked at him.

Eyes softer now. Walls trembling.

But then she stepped back. “Don’t try to be poetic. This isn’t a script.”

He smiled sadly. “No. But it used to be our stage, didn’t it?”

Her expression faltered.

And for a moment… just a brief flicker… the girl who once loved him returned.

But only for a second.

Then Aditi straightened. “I need space. Not memories.”

He nodded, stepping away.

“I’ll wait. This time, without walking away.”

Sometimes, love doesn’t knock. It waits silently outside the door, hoping the heart opens again… without force.

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