Never Noticed Novels & Stories

Burning. But Roman didn’t even notice her.

Viviane ☩═✦═☩ If there’s one thing I pride myself on, it’s my attention to detail. I don’t just notice things; I see them, really see them. Once something crosses my line of sight, it’s locked in. Faces, places, the way someone nervously taps their foot—those things stick with me. It's what keeps me ahead of the game. Knowing what others miss, seeing what they don’t. It’s like playing a mental chess match where I’ve already memorized all the moves.

She turned to look at me, brows raised. 'Why are you asking me that?' 'Why shouldn't I ask you? One day, you were fine with doing video call, the next, you weren't. What happened?' She looked at me for a while, her eyes growing thoughtful. I knew what she was thinking. 'So, the last time we did a video call, you did not notice anything?' I nodded. 'Anything at all?' 'Yes, of course. What happened? Was I supposed to notice something?' She shook her head hurriedly.

No one knows about that. Well I think it's obvious because I feel very uncomfortable when everyone's attention is on me. But no one pointed out this before or may be no one noticed it. But He noticed and he is not anybody. We ate our breakfast in silent but siddharth stealing glance to me. I can feel it.

I slow slightly without meaning to, watching the way she doesn’t look up, doesn’t shift her attention, doesn’t acknowledge anything beyond where she’s going. Usually there’s something, even if it’s small, even if it’s just a brief glance that disappears as quickly as it comes, but this time there’s nothing at all, no pause, no hesitation, no sign that she’s even aware I’m there. That’s new, and it sits wrong in a way I can’t immediately explain, because ignoring people isn’t unusual, but this doesn’t feel like that.

Not rehearsed. Not strategic. Ours. She didn’t correct him. *** It happened slowly. Not in a single moment. But in accumulation. He noticed when she was cold before she did. He noticed when she avoided mirrors after reading articles. He noticed when she deleted drafts of emails to her mother because she didn’t want to worry her. He noticed when she pretended not to hear microaggressions in social settings. He noticed when she braced before entering rooms filled with his surname. He noticed everything.

He had fixed the light fitting in the hallway that had been loose for three weeks because she had mentioned it once in passing and he had noticed she mentioned it and had gone and fixed it without making anything of the fixing. She had noticed that he noticed things. That was the part she had not been prepared for. She had been prepared for someone who was present. She had been prepared for someone who listened. Marcus had been listening to her since a grocery store on a Sunday morning months ago and she had known from early on that he was the kind of person who paid attention. What she had not been prepared for was the specific quality of his attention. The way it landed on small things. Th

My vision was already a blur from my fever, and when I finally managed to shamble my way home, I took some medicine and quickly fell asleep. It was not until late at night when I was woken up by footsteps. I knew it was Mark, but my body hurt all over and I wasn't in the mood to entertain him, so I kept pretending to sleep. Still, even though my eyes were closed, I could still sense his piercing glare. I knew he was upset with me for not keeping the lights, waiting for him to come home, and greeting him But when I used to do it, we used to get in fights, and he would call me annoying, telling me nonchalantly that I should be more understanding.