2 The Quiet ones

Heartbreak doesn’t always roar. Sometimes it sits quietly in your chest like a weight you carry everywhere, even in your smile.

For weeks after Fin, Ryna felt like she was living someone else’s life — moving, breathing, existing, but never really feeling. She deleted his number. She blocked his socials. But she couldn’t block the memories. They came at night, when her red scarf lay untouched in her drawer, and the rain outside sounded too familiar.

---

That’s when Krish showed up.

He was the kind of boy who noticed the little things. Like how she stopped painting her nails. How her laugh became a little too forced. How she started sitting alone in the library.

Krish never asked for her heart. He just sat with her.

Brought her tea.

Walked beside her, not ahead of her.

He made her laugh again, not with grand gestures, but with gentle jokes and stories about his dog who stole socks and slept on his head.

She knew he liked her — it was obvious in the way his eyes softened when she spoke, how his fingers always hovered close but never touched.

But Ryna’s heart was still wrapped in barbed wire.

And though she cared for Krish, she couldn’t love him. Not like that. Not yet.

---

Then came Zaro.

Zaro had waited.

Three years, in fact.

He used to send her good morning texts even when she never replied. He offered rides when she walked in the rain. He remembered things she didn’t even know she’d said.

And now, when her world had cracked, Zaro was still there — ready with gifts, flowers, and the kind of words she used to dream of hearing.

But Zaro’s love was too much — too fast, too needy.

He poured money into her hands when she needed attention.

He took her shopping when what she needed was space.

She let him. At first.

Because it felt good to be wanted. To be adored. To be someone’s first choice.

Even if she didn’t feel the same.

---

Sometimes, healing looks like moving forward.

Sometimes, it looks like standing still with someone who stays.

And sometimes, it’s a little cruel.

Because Ryna didn’t mean to use Zaro.

But she did.

She let him believe there was hope, when in her heart, there was only emptiness — and a little guilt.

---

Krish faded away quietly.

Zaro finally stopped replying.

And Ryna?

She stood alone again.

But this time… she knew herself a little better.

She wasn’t the same girl who wore red and believed love was fire.

She was learning that not all love burns.

Some of it waits.

Some of it breaks.

And maybe, just maybe, one day… some of it stays.

---

extra

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Flashback: The Boys Who Loved Softly

🌼 Krish: The Boy with the Tea and the Yellow Umbrella

It was a cold day in early December, and Ryna had forgotten her umbrella again. The sky was heavy with clouds, her books were damp at the edges, and her thoughts were somewhere between anger and sadness.

Then, like a movie scene, a yellow umbrella opened beside her.

"You're going to catch a cold again," Krish said, smiling, water already soaking into his shoulders as he tilted the umbrella more toward her than himself.

Ryna blinked. “You remembered?”

“You always forget.”

They walked quietly. Her hand brushed his once, and she didn’t move it away. But neither of them held on.

Later, in the school café, he handed her a warm cup of tea — the exact kind she liked: two sugars, no milk.

“How do you always know?” she asked.

Krish looked at her with that shy, half-smile of his.

“I pay attention.”

He always did.

He noticed when she switched from red to gray nail polish. When she stopped humming in the hallways. When she skipped lunch but said she was "fine."

But he never asked for anything in return.

And maybe that’s why she never realized how much he hurt until he was gone.

---

🌹 Zaro: The Boy Who Waited Too Long

Zaro first told her he loved her under a streetlight, three years ago. Her hair was a mess, her cheeks red from laughing, and he just... said it.

“I love you,” he blurted, nervous but brave.

She giggled. “Zaro, you’re just saying that because I beat you at UNO.”

“I’d still love you if you burned the cards.”

He waited for her reply. She changed the subject.

He never brought it up again — not directly. But he never stopped loving her, either.

Years later, he showed up with concert tickets to her favorite band. She hadn't told him about her breakup, but somehow he knew.

“I thought you could use a night of music,” he said, holding the envelope out like a peace offering.

They sat together in the third row, swaying to the rhythm, her eyes closed, his focused only on her.

When she laughed during the final song, Zaro smiled so softly, it hurt.

He thought maybe this was the beginning.

But to Ryna, it was just a nice night.

---

Zaro sent her flowers on her birthday.

Krish remembered her anxiety before every exam and always texted her, “You’ve got this.”

Neither of them ever asked her to choose.

And maybe that’s why she didn’t.

Because when love is too kind, too patient, too selfless — it’s easy to forget it’s still love.

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