Novel & Cerita When You Stop Reaching Out First

“You say that like it’s natural.” “It is.” The simplicity of his answer unsettled me—and comforted me at the same time. “I didn’t mean for it to happen like this,” I said quietly. “You don’t have to mean it for it to be true.” I thought about Maya’s voice. About the way she’d said I felt far away. About the growing distance between me and the people who used to know everything about my life. “They’re going to stop reaching out eventually,” I said. “Yes.” “And I’m not doing much to stop that.”

he persisted. I gave a small shrug. “I don’t know, she hasn’t reached out to me again. Maybe she doesn’t even want me anymore.” He flicked a glance at me and shifted his gaze back to the road. “If you keep texting someone and they continuously snub you, won’t you give up?” “I will,” I answered, my voice tight. “So you see… You should reach out to her. Stop dying in silence,” he replied. “Is she still seeing Landon?”

It seems that nothing can stop the time from moving and we need to go with it. Suddenly, here’s a call from an unknown number.

My mom’s voice kept echoing from the last visit, "Don’t shut out the people who care about you." But what if they shut you out first? What if they looked at you like they didn’t recognize you anymore? What if they were right? I didn’t hear the front door open. Didn’t hear the footsteps either. I was curled up on the couch, knees tucked under my chin, staring at my phone for the last twenty minutes. Ethan, he’d sent another message hours ago. I hadn’t replied. I couldn’t. Not yet. “Can we talk soon? Please. I can't take this anymore.”

I stared at the screen for ten minutes, just breathing. I didn’t cry. I didn’t smile. I just… remembered. Remembered the nights I begged for that message and never got it. Remembered all the times I felt disposable, quieted, confused. And now that I was gone — now that I’d stopped chasing, stopped needing — he wanted to reach back out. Of course he did. That’s how it always works with people who only miss you when they can no longer control you. I showed the message to my friend.

On the other end of the line, there was a very long pause before Sophia replied. Steph, you have to stop holding all of this inside. You deserve closure. You deserve to know where you stand with him. You deserve to know if he feels the same way. You can't just keep living in limbo, waiting for him someday to come around. Maybe if he's not giving you the love that you need, it's time for you to stop waiting and start living for yourself.

The kind where one wrong word could shatter everything. "I kept thinking about what you said," he said. "About stopping. About not asking." "I meant it." "I know." He set his cup down. Stared at the wood grain on the table. "I want to try. Really try. But I don't know how. I've been trying to figure it out for days. Weeks. I keep coming up empty." She looked at him. "Neither do I. But we start somewhere." "Where?" "We start by being here. Every day. Not hiding. Not pretending everything's fine when it's not. Just... being present."

Don’t hesitate to reach out. Her unwavering support was a balm, an anchor, but I felt the weight of the world pressing down on me. I couldn’t bring myself to reach out—every part of me wanted to keep her safe from the chaos that had become my life. Me: Thanks, I really appreciate it. Just need some time. Jenna: Okay, but don’t shut me out, Clara. I’m worried about you. I took a shaky breath, staring at the screen as the conversation faded. She was right—I was pushing everyone away. The struggle to maintain a semblance of control was taking its toll, and something had to break.

She typed a reply, deleted it, typed another one, deleted that too, then she finally replied, “Why are you reaching out now, after so long, it’s not like you care” She told herself it was closure. “That’s not true Robbin. I’ve thought about reaching out so many times. I’d check your social media to know what you’ve been up to.” “I didn’t reach out because I wasn’t sure I deserved to.” “So why now?” she asked. “I don’t know, but I miss you, I really do.” “I’d understand if you never want to see me again, but if you ever feel like it, I’ll be here waiting”

I just shook the dismay and my thoughts as I flashed a faint smile on my lips. I'm always the one who never fails to reach them out. I never blame them if they can't reply to my messages because I know how busy they are now in their careers. I never had the chance to ask them how they are as I'm not active on social media. But maybe asking for a little time from them won't hurt them right? Or maybe we just really outgrew on each other unlike before when we still didn't worry about life ahead of us.