Aarohi FS/ TS / OS

Aryan And Aarohi

There was a long pause before I spoke again, my voice barely above a whisper. "I felt invisible, Richa. It was easier to pretend I didn't care than to face the reality that I wasn't good enough. That maybe he didn't even remember my name."Richa's gaze softened. "And now?"Now...? Now, everything felt different. The space between the past and present had opened up so wide that sometimes it felt like I was drowning in it. I'd lived my life trying to keep up, trying to make sense of all the things I thought I wanted, but in reality, I hadn't even figured out who I was.

"I don't know. I think I'm still trying to figure that out. Who I am, without the expectations... without the shadows of what could've been."Richa nodded slowly, like she understood the weight behind my words. "It's not just about finding him again, Aarohi. It's about finding yourself in the process."

I bit my lip, the idea settling deep within me. She was right, of course. I had spent so long focusing on others—my friends, my crush, the wedding, the expectations of everything and everyone—that I lost sight of what mattered to me.

"I don't know if I can do that," I admitted. "Everything's a mess."Richa smiled, a little smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "Of course you can. It's all about small steps. And guess what? We start with one thing."

I raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?""Stop thinking about your past as if it's a prison, and start seeing it as your foundation. It's not holding you back, it's building you up. You just have to decide to see it that way."I let out a long sigh, trying to absorb her words. "I guess I can try..."

"Good. And the next time we talk about your crush, we'll make sure to take that 'crush' and turn it into something real. You never know where that could lead."

I shook my head, chuckling lightly. "Real? You mean like talking to him?"Richa leaned back in her chair, her smile wider now. "Exactly."

The idea of going back to see my friends had sounded ridiculous when Richa first suggested it. Me, traveling to a place I thought I'd outgrown? A place that reminded me of everything I wanted to leave behind? I almost laughed it off. But Richa's persistence was like an annoying mosquito buzzing around my head. It never stopped. She believed in some magical "reconnection," like everything was meant to be. And honestly, after weeks of hearing her preach about it, I started to wonder if she might be onto something.

"Come on, Aarohi. You've been stuck in this routine for too long. You need to break free. Go see your friends. Have some fun. You might even find yourself again."

"I'm not a lost cause, Richa," I'd snapped the first time. But it was her tone, that "I know you better than you know yourself" tone, that kept me from brushing off the idea completely.

So here I was, standing at the gates of the old Brila hospital. The place where my entire life felt like it had been in a holding pattern—monotony, expectations, and endless days of treating other people's problems while my own got buried under piles of paperwork. I sighed, the weight of the decision pressing down on my chest.

I'm leaving Brila.

There, I said it. It didn't feel like a massive life-altering choice, but it was. I had been working there for two years, drowning in its sterile, clinical walls, losing touch with the people who mattered most. Losing touch with me.

"I'm not running away," I muttered under my breath as I grabbed my suitcase. "I'm moving forward."

Richa's words came to me, her gentle voice nudging me forward: "You can't keep looking at life through the rearview mirror, Aarohi. There's more waiting for you ahead. You're just too scared to see it."