But sometimes… it ties you tighter to the past.

Aarohi hadn’t slept much.

The letter lay beside her pillow like a heartbeat.

She had read it five times.

Every word.

Every pause.

Every piece of emotion Vivaan had folded into it.

She could still hear his voice in the back of her mind.

Still feel his unspoken love in the spaces between lines.

And with that came a question…

“Why didn’t you stay?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

---

The next day at school, Aarohi walked in differently.

Not louder.

Not stronger.

Just… lighter.

Neha noticed.

“You okay?”

Aarohi nodded.

“No. But maybe I will be.”

It wasn’t about forgetting Vivaan.

It was about finally knowing — he had felt it too.

That evening, Aarohi opened her notes app.

Stared at the blinking cursor.

And typed:

> “I read your letter.”

“I don’t know when you wrote it. Or why you never gave it to me.”

“But it mattered. It mattered more than you’ll ever know.”

“I wish you had stayed.”

She stared at the message.

Read it over and over.

Her thumb hovered over ‘Send’.

Paused.

And…

She didn’t send it.

She just saved it.

Closed her phone.

Breathed.

---

Next morning.

She checked her phone absentmindedly.

No notifications.

Just the usual.

Then…

1 New Message

Vivaan.

Her heart dropped.

Shaking fingers opened the screen.

It said:

> “You found it?”

Just three words.

But they hit her like thunder.

He knew.

He remembered.

He waited too.

Aarohi stared at the screen.

Smiling. Crying.

Frozen.

Because after all this time…

She wasn’t alone in the memory.

---

End of Chapter 6