A Stranger With Chocolate
Chapter One – A Stranger With Chocolate
“Some stories begin with a smile... Mine began with a heartbeat I never learned to forget.”
Love?
If someone had asked Aarna what love meant that day, she probably would have laughed.
To her, life was simple—college lectures, endless assignments, coming home exhausted, and falling asleep every night with her favorite playlist playing softly through her headphones.
Relationships belonged in Instagram stories, not in her world.
She had never written someone’s name in her diary.
She had never waited for a message.
She had never looked at someone and felt her heartbeat lose its rhythm.
But life, perhaps, had other plans.
“Seriously, yaar,” Shruvi sighed as she took another sip of her iced coffee in the college cafeteria. “Everyone in our group is dating except you.”
Without even looking up from her fries, Aarna shrugged.
“So?”
“So... get yourself a boyfriend.”
Aarna burst into laughter.
“I don’t have time for that.”
“That’s not called wasting time,” Shruvi teased. “That’s called falling in love.”
“Love?” Aarna rolled her eyes dramatically. “I’m here to earn a degree, not become the heroine of some Bollywood movie.”
The entire table laughed.
To everyone else, it was just another joke.
But none of them knew that this silly conversation would quietly become the beginning of the biggest story of Aarna’s life.
That same evening, Shruvi sent her an Instagram profile.
@ayaan._07
“He’s a really nice guy. My cousin knows him. Just talk to him once.”
Without much interest, Aarna opened the profile.
A few pictures of motorcycles.
A family photograph.
A couple of random selfies.
Nothing extraordinary.
“What’s so special about him?” she whispered to herself before locking her phone and tossing it onto the bed.
A few minutes later...
Ayaan started following you.
She stared at the notification for a moment before accepting the request.
There was no dramatic background music.
No cinematic moment.
Just a simple follow request.
One that would slowly change her entire life.
The next morning, her phone vibrated.
Ayaan: Good Morning. 😊
Aarna read the message.
She typed a reply.
Deleted it.
Typed again.
Deleted it once more.
Finally, she sent only one word.
Aarna: Morning.
Barely ten seconds later, another message appeared.
Ayaan: That’s it? I was expecting at least a smiley.
A tiny smile escaped her lips.
“How does he reply so fast?” she wondered.
That morning, they chatted for almost thirty minutes.
The next day, it became an hour.
Then it became a routine.
Somewhere between “Good Morning” and “Have you eaten?”...
Between “Take care” and “Good Night”...
A stranger quietly became a part of her everyday life.
Two weeks later...
At exactly five in the evening, Aarna stood outside the city’s botanical garden.
She checked the time for the third time.
5:02 PM.
“Why did I even come?”
Her palms felt cold.
Her heart refused to slow down.
It pounded against her chest as if it already knew something she didn’t.
“Excuse me...”
A soft voice interrupted her thoughts.
She slowly turned around.
A boy stood a few steps away, wearing a black shirt and blue jeans. His hair was slightly messy, and an awkward smile rested on his face.
In his hand...
A bar of chocolate.
“You’re... Aarna?”
She simply nodded.
He held out the chocolate.
“I wanted to bring flowers,” he admitted with a shy smile. “But then I thought you might feel uncomfortable. So... I brought chocolate instead.”
Aarna accepted it carefully.
“Thank you.”
It was the first complete sentence she had spoken to him in person.
Ayaan chuckled.
“So... you do speak.”
For the first time, Aarna couldn’t help but smile.
They walked into the garden together.
There were long moments of silence between them.
Oddly enough...
Those silences didn’t feel awkward.
They felt peaceful.
“So...” Ayaan finally asked, “are you always this quiet?”
“I guess.”
“You never get bored?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He laughed softly.
“Good. Then I’ll do enough talking for both of us.”
This time, Aarna laughed openly.
And for a brief second...
Ayaan forgot everything else.
He simply stood there, watching her smile.
They spent barely an hour together.
No confessions.
No promises.
No dramatic declarations of love.
Just conversations about college...
Favorite songs...
Childhood memories...
And little pieces of life.
As the sun slowly disappeared behind the trees, it was finally time to leave.
Ayaan smiled.
“Next time... you bring the chocolate.”
Aarna looked at him for a second before replying,
“We’ll see.”
His smile grew wider.
“So... that means you’re meeting me again?”
Instead of answering, she smiled.
Then she turned around and walked away.
But somehow...
That smile stayed with him.
And on her way home, Aarna couldn’t stop asking herself one simple question.
Can someone you’ve only just met really make your heart this happy?
That night, she opened her diary and wrote just one sentence.
“Today, someone gave me a chocolate... but somehow, it’s his smile I can’t stop thinking about.”
She had no idea...
That the same smile making her blush today...
Would one day become the reason behind her sleepless nights and silent tears.
🖤
“Some people walk into your life carrying nothing more than a bar of chocolate...
And somehow leave with your entire heart.”
