The Day After Silence
After two years of silence, fear, and locked doors, school reopened.
It was my first day back as an 11th-grade student.
The world hadn't gone back to normal, not really.
The masks were still on, and people still kept their distance.
Even laughter sounded different - like it had forgotten how to be loud.
But for me, that day was something else.
It was the first time I got to see my friends again.
People I used to sit next to, fight with, laugh with.
I didn't know how much I had missed them... until I saw them again.
We were separated by schedules -
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Those were the days our group came to school.
Split batches, thanks to what the world had become.
Back then, I didn't know about her.
She didn't walk into my story yet.
Not until that moment.
---
Our school principal had sent for me.
He told a junior boy to bring "Ryvan" to his office.
I didn't question it. I just followed.
I walked in, stood quietly near the door, waiting.
And she was there.
I didn't see her properly.
Not her face. Not her eyes.
It was one of those strange moments where you cross paths with someone...
but neither of you truly notices the other.
She was sitting. I stood far away.
We didn't talk.
We didn't even look at each other.
And then I left.
---
Later, during lunch, one of my friends came running.
He was curious, almost too curious.
"Bro," he said, "there's this girl from the other class. Everyone's saying she's beautiful. You were in the principal's room with her, right? How does she look?"
I paused.
And I told him the truth:
"I didn't see her."
I didn't lie. I truly didn't.
But I wish I had looked.
---
The next day - still normal, still regular -
I came to school with zero expectations.
But fate has its own timing.
Before class began, that same friend pulled me out.
"Bro, she's coming to school on our days! Same batch. You'll see her."
I didn't say anything.
But inside... something shifted.
---
Break time.
I was standing in front of my class, leaning casually in the corridor.
And then...
she passed by.
She wasn't alone.
She was walking with her friends, laughing, talking, just... existing.
I wasn't supposed to care.
But I turned to look.
And that's when I saw them.
Her eyes.
I had never seen eyes like that.
Not in movies.
Not in dreams.
Not even in the mirror when I looked at my own.
There was something about them -
depth, calm, gravity.
Like they had stories inside them.
Like they could tear me apart without even trying.
In that one moment,
I fell.
Not for her smile. Not her laugh.
I didn't even know her name.
But those eyes...
They held me.
---
And that's how it all began.
With a coincidence.
With silence.
With a pair of eyes that would never leave my memory.
I didn't know then that this story would remain unfinished.
That I would never hold her hand.
Never confess what I felt.
Never get to call her "mine."
But I did fall.
And some part of me never got up.
---
~ To Be Continue
End of Chapter 1
Next: Chapter 2 - Will Be Soon 🖤
