CHAPTER-2

The school was loud after class, the usual chaos of students refusing to leave.

Nila sat at her desk, closing her notebook as slowly as she could. Her mind wasn’t in the classroom anymore.

Aiden.

He sat a few rows away with his friends—who were clearly enjoying this far too much.

“Bro, you’re really going to say it or what?” one of them nudged him.

“Shut up,” Aiden muttered, trying to sound annoyed.

“Shut up? Or scared?” another friend laughed.

Their laughter spilled into the room. Nila kept her eyes on her desk, pretending not to hear—while hearing everything.

Then someone called out, loud enough for half the class to turn.

“Hey, Nila.”

She stiffened.

“Will you listen to what he has to say or not?” the voice pressed, grinning.

“Poda,” she murmured under her breath, but her heart didn’t get the message.

Aiden stood up.

Not all at once, but slowly—like he was giving himself time to change his mind.

The room quieted. Even the noise from outside felt farther away.

Nila tightened her grip on her pen and finally looked up.

Aiden met her eyes. He hesitated.

Everyone was watching.

He opened his mouth—

Then he exhaled and looked away.

“...Never mind.”

For a second, the silence held.

And then the room exploded.

“Bro backed out!”

“Classic Aiden!”

Laughter rushed back in, louder than before. Aiden dropped into his seat like nothing had happened, while his friends roasted him relentlessly.

Nila opened her notebook again, but she didn’t write a word.

One thought kept circling her mind:

What was he going to say?

And worse—

why did it feel like she needed to know?

School ended, and students slowly began spilling out of the campus.

The corridor was a messy mix of noise—laughter, footsteps, the thud of bags, last-minute gossip thrown over shoulders as people walked.

Aiden moved with his friends, but something about him was off. Not nervous exactly—just… hesitant, like he was arguing with himself.

“Bro,” one of them said, nudging him, “just go tell her already.”

“She’s right there. What are you waiting for?”

Aiden didn’t look at them. “Shut up.”

His voice had the usual sharpness, but the confidence behind it was weaker than normal. His friends noticed. Of course they did.

“You two would actually look good together,” someone said, grinning. “Just talk to her properly.”

Aiden stayed quiet, but his eyes drifted to Nila—once, then again, like he couldn’t help it.

On the other side of the corridor, Nila walked with her friends, trying to act like the whole classroom scene hadn’t happened.

“Edi, he definitely likes you,” one of them teased.

“Just talk to him, da.”

Nila shook her head immediately. “I have a boyfriend.”

She said it fast, casual—like dropping a full stop at the end of the conversation.

But her friends weren’t done.

“Still… what if you just try once?”

Nila forced a smile and looked away, unsure what she was even supposed to feel.

Outside, the bus arrived. Everyone rushed in like they were afraid it would leave without them.

Nila climbed aboard, found her seat, and stared out of the window the whole way home, letting the day replay itself in fragments—laughter, eye contact, that “never mind.”

That night, in her room, she opened Instagram without thinking.

She typed the name before she could talk herself out of it.

Aiden.

His profile appeared.

He was already following her.

Nila stared at the screen, her thumb hovering.

Why is he following me?

After a brief hesitation, she followed him back.

Almost immediately, a new message popped up.

Hi — Aiden

Her chest tightened in a stupid, unfamiliar way.

She didn’t reply.

Not yet.

She set the phone down. Picked it up again. Read the message like it might change into something else.

A simple word, waiting for an answer—like a door left slightly open.

Nila stared at it until the screen dimmed.

And even then, she didn’t close it.

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