ONE LAST TEXT
"You've had six months, Mia. Six months to find an answer, if you actually wanted one badly enough. And now, right when things start feeling real between us again, suddenly you're desperate to know. I can't help wondering if some part of you likes keeping it open. Because as long as nobody knows for sure, you get to keep hoping it's mine."
The room behind us had gone quiet enough that I knew, even before I turned my head, that the words had carried further than the hallway.
Something in my chest cracked wide open, because he'd said it, out loud, in front of everyone, the exact secret hope I'd never told a single soul, not Priya, not my mother, not anyone, the quiet, guilty wish I'd buried so