Episode 2 - “ONLINE”

Arc 1 – BUSY

Episode 2 – “Online”

The strange thing about distance was how digital it had become.

You could lose someone without them actually disappearing.

They still watched your stories.

Still liked your pictures.

Still existed in your notifications.

But emotionally?

Gone.

Aanya noticed that Rohan had become more active online the less available he became for her.

It wasn’t intentional at first.

She just happened to see it.

A new story at midnight.

A random comment under someone’s post.

A reel shared in a group chat.

Meanwhile, her messages waited quietly in his inbox like people standing outside a locked room.

That morning, she woke up earlier than usual.

Not because she slept well.

Because she barely slept at all.

Her mind had spent the entire night replaying the same thoughts.

Maybe I’m expecting too much.

Maybe he really is stressed.

Maybe relationships become like this after some time.

But another thought kept returning louder than the rest:

Then why does he have energy for everyone else?

Her phone buzzed beside her pillow.

For a second, her chest tightened.

Rohan.

But it wasn’t a message.

Just a notification saying he had uploaded a new story.

A photo of his laptop, coffee, and the caption:

“Busy life.”

Aanya stared at it for a long moment.

Then laughed softly to herself.

Not because it was funny.

Because it hurt in the most predictable way possible.

At college, she barely focused during lectures.

Words floated around her without meaning. Her notebook stayed mostly empty except for small absent-minded sketches she kept drawing near the edges of the page.

Circles.

Lines.

Broken patterns.

Things that never properly connected.

A little like her relationship.

During lunch break, her best friend Niyati sat beside her under the old tree near campus.

“You look dead,” Niyati said bluntly.

Aanya smiled weakly. “Thanks.”

“I’m serious.”

“I know.”

Niyati studied her carefully for a few seconds.

“Still him?”

Aanya looked down at her untouched food.

“It’s weird,” she admitted quietly. “He’s still here… but I feel single.”

That sentence sat heavily between them.

Because it was true.

Niyati sighed. “Have you talked to him properly?”

“I try.”

“And?”

Aanya gave a tired laugh.

“He replies like customer support.”

That made Niyati laugh despite herself.

But Aanya didn’t.

Because jokes become painful when they start sounding accurate.

That evening, rain covered the city unexpectedly.

The roads blurred beneath yellow streetlights, and people rushed under shop shades holding bags above their heads.

Aanya loved rain once.

Rohan used to call her during rainy evenings.

“Go to the balcony,” he would say.

Then they’d stand silently on separate balconies listening to the same rain from different parts of the city.

Back then, silence felt intimate.

Now it felt empty.

She reached home soaked at the edges of her sleeves and dropped her bag near the couch.

Her mother noticed immediately.

“You look tired.”

“Long day.”

“Eat first.”

Aanya nodded absentmindedly and went to her room.

The first thing she did was check her phone.

Still nothing from him.

But active two minutes ago.

That tiny detail broke something inside her.

Not dramatically.

Not loudly.

Just enough to make her stop defending him in her own head.

Because there’s only so many times you can call emotional neglect “bad timing” before it starts becoming self-disrespect.

Finally, around 10:43 PM, his message came.

Rohan: Sorry disappeared again. Crazy day.

Aanya stared at the screen.

The same apology.

The same pattern.

The same emotional leftovers handed to her at the end of the day.

She wondered if he even realized how mechanical he sounded now.

This time, she didn’t reply instantly.

She kept the phone aside and stared at the ceiling.

Her room was quiet except for rain tapping softly against the windows.

And for the first time, she asked herself something honest:

When did loving him start feeling lonely?

An hour later, another message came.

Rohan: You there?

She typed slowly.

Aanya: Do you even miss me anymore?

Seen immediately.

No reply.

Three dots appeared.

Disappeared.

Appeared again.

Then finally:

Rohan: Don’t start overthinking at night again.

Aanya closed her eyes.

That word again.

Overthinking.

As if her feelings were problems instead of responses.

Aanya: Missing your girlfriend is overthinking now?

Rohan: That’s not what I said.

Aanya: Then what are you saying?

No response.

Minutes passed.

Then:

Rohan: I’m tired, Aanya.

That line hurt more than it should have.

Because she knew what he meant.

Not physically tired.

Emotionally tired of this conversation.

Of reassurance.

Of expectations.

Maybe… of her.

Aanya placed the phone down slowly.

Her chest felt heavy.

Not because she was shocked.

But because reality had finally stopped hiding itself.

She remembered the beginning of them again.

How Rohan once stayed awake till 4 AM because she was upset over something small.

How he once travelled across the city just to surprise her after a bad exam.

How he used to say:

“You never have to ask me for attention.”

Funny how people promise forever during phases they can barely maintain for months.

At midnight, Niyati called her.

“You okay?”

Aanya stayed silent for a few seconds before answering.

“I think I’m becoming hard to love.”

“No,” Niyati said immediately. “You’re becoming hard to ignore.”

That hit differently.

Because deep down, Aanya knew the truth.

She wasn’t asking for too much.

She was asking the wrong person.

Across the city, Rohan sat in his room scrolling mindlessly through social media.

Her messages lingered in the back of his mind, but he pushed them away.

He told himself he was stressed.

Busy.

Mentally exhausted.

And maybe part of that was true.

But another part was simpler.

He had slowly stopped prioritizing her while expecting her to keep understanding anyway.

At 1:12 AM, Aanya turned her phone off completely.

No goodnight message.

No checking last seen.

No waiting.

Just silence.

Real silence.

And for the first time in weeks…

it felt peaceful.

Because sometimes the most painful realization in love is this:

You are not hard to love.

You are just being loved lazily.

End of Episode 2 – ONLINE

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