When You Stop Reaching Out First Novels & Stories

CAPTAIN: Stop texting me, Noam. CAPTAIN: You’re making me miss important updates. Shit. He even manages to get my name wrong on text. Anyway, yes, I might have been texting Theo like some crazy ex ever since Nancy gave me that advice. Don’t blame me. And naturally, I never receive a response. ME: Very, very sorry, Captain. ME: This won’t help my case, but I’ll try to explain everything to you. I had shit to do and lost track of time. Only saw the calls at the last minute.

He said to me and I have to pause on my track thinking that Xavier is about to reject me. Pushing me away is the first step to rejection.

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 only way to stop something like this— Is not to fight it. Not to disrupt it. To end the interaction entirely. “We remove the connection,” I say. Ezra frowns. “How.” I take a breath. Because this is it. The final step. The one we can’t take back. “We stop interacting with it completely,” I say. Matteo blinks. “…That sounds like the opposite of what we’ve been doing.” “It is.” “And that’s supposed to work.” “Yes.” Ezra studies me.

Without me? “At least now we know that there are things we need to discover, so we won’t be caught off guard anymore. And we can start over, try to have a bond the right way now so we can stop fighting. I don’t think there’s a time limit to having another bond so we have time to resolve our issues first and…”

Slowly, I open a new email, type out the request, pause only briefly before finishing it, and then, after reading it over once more, I hit send. It’s not closure, and it’s not forgiveness, and it isn’t healing but it’s something. A step forward. And for now, that has to be enough.

Steady. Real. And when I step away this time, it doesn’t feel like losing ground. Because for the first time since this whole thing started, I stopped trying to win. And started trying to be understood.

The trust that once held our partnership together has begun to fray, leaving me questioning her true intentions. "Damn it," I mutter under my breath, finally deciding to respond to her persistent attempts to contact me. I carefully craft a polite message, explaining that I am on a business trip and will not be discussing any matters related to her at the moment. As I hit send, I can't help but wonder how much longer our partnership can last, knowing full well that I need to find a way to sever ties with her.

And sometimes, loving yourself begins with noticing when someone else is slowly teaching you how not to. I lay back on my bed, phone in hand, staring at his last message: I miss you. Before, I would have replied instantly. Now, I took a breath first. cleared my head and started to think of something else just to distract myself it hurts a lot. I try to avoid thinking of it But what can i do??

It’s strange how a single response from someone can hold so much weight when you genuinely care about reconnecting. Still, I stayed patient. I reminded myself that opening up means allowing space for people to respond in their own time. As I sat there waiting for Mirabella’s reply, I realized that this moment was bigger than just a missed call or a text message. It was about me choosing effort over distance. Instead of withdrawing after one unanswered call, I stayed open. I reached out, expressed myself honestly, and gave the moment room to breathe. And even while waiting, I could feel that I was slowly becoming more comfortable stepping out of the silence I had been hiding in for so long.