She didn't need me anymore.
Or maybe… she didn't realize I was still there.
But I noticed her.
She laughed more now — louder, brighter.
But not around me.
Around him.
Adithya.
I tried not to care.
Tried to tell myself it didn't matter.
But when I looked back…
I remembered that first week after I joined the school.
I didn't know anyone.
I sat alone.
And then she spoke to me.
Aysha.
She talked to me like we were already friends.
Offered me half her lunch — actually fed me with her hands.
Talked and talked and smiled and made me laugh when I thought no one even saw me.
None of the other girls were like that.
She was special.
She still is.
But now… she talks to him.
Walks beside him.
Sits near him.
And I've become… background noise.
⸻
I wondered if she even remembered that day — when she fed me, laughed with me, made me feel like I belonged.
Because I remember it.
Clearly.
And I always will.
⸻