An-EXIT

CHAPTER 28 (FEEL SOMETHING)

MITANSH

"Ahaana!" I called out her name again. What happened so suddenly? Everything was going so well, she was smiling, talking and, out of nowhere she said that it's none of her business if I overthink or not.

"Ahaana Listen-" Why is she running away?

"What the fish!" Why do I fail to understand anything when it comes to Ahaana? Her words, her letters and now her ways, what does she mean to tell me?

Wait... Wr-writer's club. I remember mentioning it in the letter. But it does not conclude- Stranger... FISH! How can I be so careless with my words?

"Ahaana stop. What did I do wrong?" I can't come to a conclusion on my own, I should ask her, talk to her, before blaming my stupid mouth for its mistake of not keeping itself shut.

"HEY!" She still... didn't stop. She didn't even turn around for a single second. I messed up.... Messed up really bad this time.

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*Alarm rings*

I stretched my arm out to dismiss the alarm. With a yawn I threw my hands up in the air. Without wasting a second I sat up on the bed and my feet touched the floor. I placed my right foot inside the slipper in a quick hurry. "Let's call it a day. I'm not feeling good. I'll meet you tomorrow, probably." Ahaana's words came rushing back to me. I inhaled roughly and leaned my body behind, "So, she is definitely not talking to me then, huh?" A sigh left my lips when my back touched the wall. Will she come for our daily jog? She is not picking up my calls and even ignoring my text messages. Does this mean it's the end? I should at least try some more. I can't give up this, on us so soon. I pressed my lips tight and looked at the ceiling. Tracing the outline of the ceiling fan, my eyes fell at the window on my left.

Is my sun dark today?

I patted my hand around the bed in search of my phone. It was 4:30 in the morning. I squeezed my eyes with my fingers and tried to gain some motivation to go for the jog. I walked to the washroom like always and followed my morning routine before leaving for jogging. I came out of the dorm and closed the door from behind. I pressed the power button on my phone and clicked on the messages app. Still no reply.

I started running towards the direction of Ahaana's PG, coming outside the campus area, with a hope that she might be seated near her window just like that day. Throughout my way to her PG, I battled with numerous different questions. Some were stupid, some were confusing and some were painful. But I tried to tackle them with all the will I had. After a few minutes, I reached there and looked straight towards her window. It was dark, silent and the curtains were drawn.

Is there any chance that she might be peeping through the spaces of the curtains? If I pretend like I'm throwing a pebble at her window, will she stop me? Should I call out her name? Her phone is also switched off! Does she really know that I'm her receiver? What have I done?

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It's been five days and she hasn't talked to me since we last met in the garden. No text, no call, she hasn't even shown me her face on the campus. This feels like a torture. Her ignorance..... It's scary. I know that I shouldn't have kept this a secret, her being my receiver, but, it all happened on its own.

I thought of finding the person behind it through the PRN number, yet even after canceling the plan, fate had already prepared my answer.

All I thought was, If I told her about the secret, she would stop writing letters. She would stop expressing herself through them and continue bottling up everything within her. Her not talking to me was my worst thought among all, and now, what have I done? I just wished her to express herself openly without any fear of judgment. If I told her about it, she might have never reached out to the poems. She loves writing them. How can I snatch away her happiness? I didn't want to hide it, but-