"February 4th.
I don't usually write things down. But sometimes, thoughts feel too loud inside my head. Ananya said writing helps. So here I am."
Karthik sat cross-legged on his bed, a small spiral notebook in his lap. He held the pen like it was a delicate secret, unsure whether to speak or stay silent on the page.
"I think I'm changing. Not in a big, dramatic way. Just… little shifts. I laugh a bit easier. I speak without rehearsing. I even looked into someone's eyes and didn't flinch."
He paused, chewing on the end of his pen.
"It's all because of her."
Karthik didn't write her name. He didn't need to. Her presence was stitched into every sentence.
Downstairs, his mother called out for dinner, but he didn't move.
The soft tick of the clock kept him company.
"Today she said I wasn't background noise. That I mattered. That I help her stay grounded. And all I could think was: what did I ever do to deserve that kind of light?"
He stared at those lines. They felt too vulnerable, too raw. But he didn't cross them out.
"I'm still scared. Not of her. Not anymore. But of myself. Of ruining this. Of becoming the version of me that used to live in the shadows."
Karthik leaned back, head resting against the wall.
The ceiling stared down at him, indifferent. But the diary, the empty page waiting below his last line, felt different. Like it was listening.
"I love her.
Not the way people in movies shout it.
Not the way books make it poetic.
Just… quietly.
Like breathing."
He closed the book gently, like he was afraid it would escape.
Outside, the wind rustled the neem tree. Upstairs, in a quiet Chennai bedroom, Karthik Iyer smiled to himself in the dark.
Because for once, the voice inside his head wasn't angry.
It was in love.
---
END OF CHAPTER 146