Parallel heart

the bell rang, the teacher went out off the class . as usual i went downstair to meet my only friend.

"Nick come here "he called from the corridor.

after the conversation faded.

we returned back to our classes

i was just wandering outside the window with rain drops dripping down the window shed .thinking something absent mindly the noise around me became a background

"Nick" someone called out from back .

"we already filled up your place"

he is one of my classmate acing as my friend but for his own reasons. He filled up all his friends in exhibitions despite of my several reminders.

"okayyy… why to worry" I murmured to myself.

the rain stopped ,slowly the corridor vacant. i reached home and sat to complete my one of the hidden work .i am writing a novle and it is almost completed it just few last touches . i was in a bit hurry because usually i complete it in whole silent house today no one even had dinner and this is my biggest mistake for my whole life .as i completed my novel and started praising myself a disaster came and i was like... just traumatised .

my brother was standing and reading my web novel and that was my last freedom from that day half of my pocket money goes to my brother .

"0h... what a terrible memory "

yes ,memory, what i told is a memory.

anyway enough about my tragic financial downfall .

i just layed down remembering my day there comes the embarrassing part .

i thought.

"why did i say that? ... why did i just go there? "

i don't know how to be social or just people make me uncomfortable .and the most hated part is that i remember all this when going to sleep.

"snhhh ... snhhh"

the tears disappeared in the pillow and somewhere in between the exhausted thoughts i fell asleep.

the scattered light from the window glass falled on my eyes.

"ohh... i wanted to sleep more "

i woke up with half closed eyes continuously staring the ceiling for whether i should go to school or not. then i reached blindly to my phone near my pillow, squeezing my eyes due to high brightness , i was just shocked i threw my blanket in hurry because i was too late for school. i got ready hurriedly and was about to be left by school bus but reached on time. i sat on bus and came to school .

in the lunch break i was searching for my friend usually he only comes to me but today he didn't came .when i searched for him he was with one of his new friend. i was just surprised after hearing there talk.

he was telling one of his secret to him that he only told to me with a great trust.

after that i started seeing subtle difference in him.

more often he remains with his new friend almost like he forgot me but yet sometimes he talks to me making my thoughts towards his behavior almost dead until the next ignorance .

now i eat my lunch alone.

just sit in my class in breaks if i come near his class i always see him with his new friend.

days passed like this .

one day i was just having my dinner i was been scolded so badly on the table for the act i didn't do .

like always a few drops of tears came out from my eyes but i supported myself.

"why to be this much sensitive Nick, this is a normal thing in this house"

every person loves there house but for me it was like a hell .

i wasn't allowed fashion means i even can’t buy clothes of my choice my father only buys for me . Even my father also don't buys for me everything for him is my marks everything of mine is compared to my annual marks even my necessities .

i was scolded for the acts i don't do.

I and my sibling were treated equally but what my brother deserves he gets more than that and what i deserve, i get less than that and this partiality is done in the name of not being partial and then also it was told that i am treated more good than my brother.

"hic... N-Nick just stop c-crying this is a normal thing"

next day when i went to school i went with just erasing my last night memory.

but the feeling of ignorance followed me till there .

just a few minutes before i came down to my friends class. he was not there.

and i searched from him.

"Jayson... Jayson" i called him.

he turned back looked towards me . i went to him, his new friend asked.

" who is he"

he replied.

"my last class classmate and my friend"

i was taken aback after hearing it means from a best friend , from a secret keeper to just a class friend.

i just murmered inside me.

"he might be saying this for some reason"

anyway i have to tell you an important thing and asked his friend to give us couple of minute for our talk but jayson said that we were in between our interesting story you can share that later .

i stood there for few minute like frozen than i silently moved to my class with a great embarrassment.

i was just moved by the incident. i came to my house kept my bag and slept without having dinner also.

next morning i woke again in some thoughts seeing my ceiling actually its my regular work,

"dng..."

a new notification, i stared at my phone for few second before keeping it.

usually, I reply to every message.

then i got ready for school.

after reaching school i have done some changes with my place,

i changed my place to the silent window corner of my class.

Now even I don't feel good to wonder out and see people. Despite many tries of forgetting the last day incident, now also it was somewhere in my head making me heavy hearted. I was just quiet but my heart was crying with bloody tears.

"Nick..."

This was the second call from my teacher. I immediately stood up.

"Where are you ... I think mentally you are anywhere else"

My face was pale.

" You are looking worried"

"No... I am fine.. just didn't had a proper sleep last night"

I somehow completed my classes and came back to house.

" What a nice person..." I thought

" Everyone is same... Jayson was also like him" i answered to myself.

Actually, I was thinking of a person I met on my way to home from school I was sitting on a bench near the seashore infront of my favourite ice cream shop.

He was an enormous boy .

He came out from the shop holding two ice cream.sat beside me and asked you are looking upset.

I just asked.

"W-who are you?"

" He can say me as your friend..." He replied.and offered me an ice-cream.

With pale voice I replied directly

"No"

He said that he have to buy an extra icecream due to some misunderstanding of shop staff.

And this began our half an hour friendship I shared with him that the ice-cream he shared me is my favourite ice cream even I buy this from the particular shop he buyied.

He was looking a pure heart person.

"Everyone are same only"

And with these thoughts I slept.

"Tak... Tak..."

I was moving to my class than my class teacher came.

"Nick... There is a new boy in our class.. he will be sitting with you" he said to me

After reaching to the class I saw that he was the one who offered me ice cream.

"Hlo..." He said

I just gave a warm smile. Than I just sat beside him.

"Yesterday... We met but didn't introduced to each other" he said looking towards me .then he passed his hands towards me and said

"I am Rustin"

I replied by shaking with his hand.

"I am Nick"

"you seems to be silent every time..."

he asked after some time. i slowly murmured

"no..."

somehow talking to him didn't felt tiring.

which was strange.

usually ,conversations felt forced and a burden to me after few minutes.

but with him silence even felt normal.

during lunch break he followed me to the corridor.

"you always sit alone?" he asked casually.

"mostly"

"that's depressing" he said.

"no... it's peaceful" i replied.

after many days i had someone to have lunch with talking without even thinking of time.

after returning back to class i slept. and it was a peaceful nap.

"Nick... Nick..."

"What happened...d?"

"Teacher is calling you"

I woke up hurriedly.

"heh... i just pranked to you" Rustin said.

"don't do all this silly pranks with me" i remarked.

immediately controlling his laugh he said sorry.

after coming back home. again my thoughts started disturbing me.

i started remembering about Rustin,

"how he would have felt ? he is new in our class sitting beside me without having any friend and was trying to make one so i misbehaved with him ..."

"Nick..."my brother called me.

"please bring me a bottle of cola"

i replied "i am exhausted...d"

after saying no he started to move slowly from my room as threatening me by actions and unfortunately I have to bring him from the money i saved to buy a comic.

even that also he would have snatched from me after bringing it home.

i was sleeping peacefully as it was my holi day my phone ringed .

"who have called...d ?" i murmured to my self.

"hello..."

"is Nick speaking..."

"Yes..., who are you ?"

"Rustin..."

I was shocked. But I didn't asked him that how he got my number. Just I said sorry for the last day.

He asked for some class works. And hanged up.

Now rusting calls me either for homework,notes and more.

We have a closer friendship. And now, somewhere I started feeling comfortable around him i wait for him in classe, lunch break, call him .

I felt lonely when he remain absent and also upset.

Sometimes I think that why I am thinking much of him.

"Does I have feelings for him....no..no..no it's not possible"

I feel good when he keeps his hand on my shoulder but I can't accept it.

I hated admitting that to myself.

Rustin, meanwhile, stayed completely normal.

He still talked casually. Still joked around. Still acted like nothing between us had changed.

Maybe that was exactly why understanding my own feelings became harder every day.

Sometimes during conversations, I would suddenly become too aware of him for absolutely no reason.

The sound of his voice. His random laugh during serious moments. The way he casually appeared beside me wherever I was, as if finding me had somehow become part of his routine.

Small things started affecting me more than they should have.

And the worst part was that none of those things were even special.

To Rustin, they were probably ordinary moments.

But somehow, my mind remembered every single one of them.

Especially the phone calls.

At first, they were completely random.

Calls for homework. Calls for notes. Calls to ask unnecessary questions he could’ve easily searched online himself.

Yet somehow, those five-minute calls slowly started turning into one-hour conversations without either of us realizing it.

Most nights ended the same way now.

"Dng… Dng…"

My phone screen lighting up with Rustin’s name.

“What now?” I would answer tiredly.

“Wow,” he’d gasp dramatically. “Such a warm welcome.”

“It’s midnight.”

“Hang up.”

“ok"

And somehow, instead of ending the call, I always stayed.

Listening to his random stories. His unnecessary complaints. His terrible jokes.

Sometimes we barely even talked properly.

He would just stay on call doing something in the background while I finished assignments silently.

Yet strangely, the silence never felt awkward with him.

One night, the call became quiet for a long time before Rustin suddenly spoke again.

“You know,” he said softly, “you laugh more now.”

I froze slightly.

“What?”

“Before meeting me, you looked like someone who hated existing.”

“That’s rude.”

“But true.”

I looked at the dark ceiling above me quietly after that.

Because maybe he wasn’t completely wrong.

Somewhere between those random conversations, school corridors, and late-night calls, Rustin had unknowingly become the calmest part of my life.

And that terrified me more than it should have.

I started noticing ridiculous things afterward.

How my mood depended on whether he came to school or not.

How I checked my phone more often than necessary waiting for his messages.

How the first thing I searched for after entering class every morning had become him.

It was pathetic.

Genuinely pathetic.

Because Rustin himself remained completely unaware of everything happening inside my head.

He still acted the same way he always did.

Casual. Comfortable. Easy.

Meanwhile, I was the only one slowly becoming confused by feelings I didn’t even know when I started carrying.

Sometimes I genuinely wondered if loneliness had simply made me emotionally attached to the first person who stayed long enough.

Maybe that was all this was.

Maybe I only liked the comfort of being understood.

Because anything beyond that would be impossible.

Rustin never looked at me differently.

Never acted strangely.

Never gave me any reason to believe the feelings inside me could ever exist on the other side too.

And perhaps that was why I kept trying so hard to bury them before they became impossible to hide.

"Dng...dng..."

I picked up the call. But didn't answered anything because I was busy.

"Are you busy now?" I replied yes with the reason that I am packing up my bag.

"Why ?... Are you going somewhere?"

"For few weeks... Actually my parents are going on their business trip so she told me to live for the days in her friends house... Actually, best friend "

"Oooo.."

"Ok i am leaving now"

I reached to the apartment my mother told. There I reached at the given floor and saw a girl standing scrolling in her phone.

“Excuse me,”

I called out while checking the room numbers again.

“Do you know where room 407 is? I think this building was designed to mentally torture people.”

The girl standing near the door looked up from her phone.

“Fourth floor.”

I looked around dramatically.

“And this isn’t the fourth floor?”

She stared at me for a second before shaking her head lightly.

“No.”

“Wow. That’s embarrassing.”

“A little.”

“You could’ve told me earlier instead of watching me roam around like an idiot.”

“I thought you enjoyed it.”

“You’re surprisingly calm for someone being this rude.”

“And you’re surprisingly talkative for someone who’s lost.”

I placed a hand over my chest in fake offense.

“I’m not lost. I’m exploring.”

“Right.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Not even slightly.”

I let out a quiet laugh before looking at her again.

“Anyway, where exactly is 407?”

Instead of answering immediately, she pointed toward the staircase behind me.

“One floor above.”

“See? That wasn’t hard.”

“Neither was checking the floor number.”

“You really enjoy winning arguments against strangers?”

“Only when they make it easy.”

I clicked my tongue softly.

“You know, you’d be slightly nicer if you smiled more.

“And you’d be quieter if you talked less.”

“That sounds impossible.”

“I can tell.”

than i went upstairs .found the flat aunty opened the door and took me to my room. then i came out to have dinner.

"you"

she was the same girl i met downstairs asking address.

after having dinner i came back to my room.

i called rustin.

"you have reached successfully " Rustin asked

"yes"

"you seems to be upset? Is there anything?"

"no..."

"yes there is something go ahead and say"

"okay... , you asked me always why i remain upset all the time she is the reason"

"i didn't get that "

"we both were in relationship i was being treated like a side character in everyone's life... and one day my friend did same to me and he was my only friend i was totally exhausted that day and after reaching home i called her for emotional support but she declined my call and blocked me..."

Olivia: i am feeling some type of regret or empathy for nick after listening to his talks.

"no, it can't be"

The week after their first meeting in the apartment felt strangely familiar and irritating at the same time.

Nick and Olivia argued about almost everything.

They argued over directions in the apartment building.

They argued over whose fault it was when they accidentally bumped into each other in the corridor.

They argued over music, food, and even the weather.

Yet neither of them ever walked away first.

Every evening, Nick would somehow find himself standing outside her door, and every evening Olivia would somehow have a reason to continue the conversation.

"What do you even do all day?" Olivia asked one afternoon.

"Trying to survive your personality."

She rolled her eyes.

"You're still dramatic."

"And you're still impossible."

For the first time in a long time, Nick found himself smiling naturally.

Days passed.

The awkwardness between them slowly faded.

The conversations became longer.

The arguments became lighter.

The silences became comfortable.

Neither of them talked about the past.

Neither of them mentioned what had happened between them.

It was as if both were afraid that mentioning it would destroy the fragile peace they had built.

Then one evening, everything changed.

They were sitting on the rooftop of the apartment building watching the city lights.

Olivia was unusually quiet.

Nick noticed it immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

For several moments she didn't answer.

When she finally spoke, her voice was softer than usual.

"My parents are getting divorced."

Nick remained silent.

"I found out things about them I wish I never knew."

She laughed bitterly.

"I used to think they were perfect."

The smile disappeared from her face.

"But they weren't."

For the first time, Olivia told someone everything.

The arguments.

The betrayal.

The nights she spent crying alone.

The fear that relationships always ended badly.

Nick listened without interrupting.

When she finished, neither of them spoke for a while.

Then Nick quietly said,

"You should've never had to carry all that alone."

Olivia looked away quickly.

That was the first time she felt truly understood.

After that conversation, something changed between them.

Not romance.

Not yet.

Trust.

The next two weeks felt different.

They spent more time together.

They watched movies.

They shared meals.

They walked through nearby streets after sunset.

They became what they should have been from the beginning.

Friends.

Real friends.

For the first time, Nick understood Olivia beyond the version he had created in his memories.

For the first time, Olivia saw Nick beyond her fears.

Everything seemed perfect.

Until one evening.

They were sitting on a bench outside the apartment complex.

The sky was slowly turning orange.

Nick had spent days thinking about what he wanted to say.

Finally, he gathered enough courage.

"Olivia."

"Hm?"

"I never completely moved on."

She became still.

Nick looked down at his hands.

"I thought I did."

He laughed quietly.

"But every time I tried to forget, something reminded me of you."

Silence.

The world seemed unusually quiet.

Then Olivia spoke.

"Nick..."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"The things I told you about my parents..."

She paused.

"That was part of the reason."

Nick looked up.

Olivia continued.

"But it wasn't the whole truth."

For a moment she struggled to find the words.

"I started noticing changes in you."

Nick frowned.

"You seemed distant."

"You replied less."

"You seemed interested in other things."

"I kept convincing myself that I was becoming less important to you."

The confession sounded almost childish.

But it was honest.

"I was scared."

She laughed weakly.

"So instead of talking to you, I pushed you away first."

Nick stared at her.

Years of confusion suddenly made sense.

Years of unanswered questions finally had an answer.

Neither of them had stopped caring.

They had simply misunderstood each other.

For a long moment, neither spoke.

The evening breeze moved softly around them.

The noise of the city felt distant.

Finally, Nick smiled.

A genuine smile.

The kind he hadn't shown in years.

"You know," he said quietly, "we're both idiots."

Olivia laughed through watery eyes.

"Absolutely."

For the first time, there was nothing left unsaid between them.

No misundertandings.

No anger.

No unanswered questions.

Just two people who had finally found their way back to each other.

The wind picked up, carrying the sharp, crisp chill of late autumn. As the temperature fell, she shivered, her breath blooming into a soft cloud of white in the dimming light.

He stepped into her space, closing the distance between them until the cold air could no longer reach her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against his chest. She leaned into his warmth, tilting her chin up.

For a moment, they just looked at each other, the quiet winter settling around them. Then, he leaned down. Their lips met in a slow, steady kiss—a silent promise that whatever winter brought, they would face it together.

The world around them faded into a quiet blur, warm and still.

THE END