Chapter 1-By the Sea
The city by the sea was as beautiful as it was mysterious, hiding countless untold stories within itself.
Mornings began with the soothing sound of waves, and by evening, the entire city seemed to glow beneath the warm lights. Small cafés lined the shore, roads stretched along the sea, and the salty breeze filled the air with a charm of its own.
Living in this city had always felt special.
And I was just a small part of it.
My life was simple.
I had no huge dreams, no great secrets, and nothing particularly extraordinary going on.
There was just one person who mattered the most to me—
Bhavika.
She was my best friend.
Actually, if I'm being honest, she was the only person in front of whom I could truly be myself.
We knew almost everything about each other's lives.
But there was one thing about Bhavika's life that she was hiding from the world.
There was someone in her life.
His name was Suyesh.
Suyesh had come to the city for work, and that was where the two of them had met. Somewhere between their conversations and the time they spent together, their friendship had slowly turned into love.
Maybe even they hadn't realized when it happened.
But Bhavika knew one thing for sure—
Her family would never easily accept their relationship.
So, their love remained a secret.
And I was the only person who knew about it.
I never judged her for loving him.
In fact, whenever Bhavika was scared, I was the one who tried to make her feel better.
"If you both are serious about each other, don't let fear make you give up," I would tell her.
Bhavika would often look at me and smile.
"You know… I still don't understand why you came into my life."
I would laugh and reply,
"Because someone has to take care of you."
Little did I know that, very soon, I would actually have to be there for her.
One evening, Bhavika was talking to Suyesh over a video call.
As usual, I was sitting beside her.
In the middle of their conversation, Bhavika suddenly turned the camera toward me.
And there he was—
a face I didn't know yet.
Sitting beside Suyesh was his elder brother—
Ayaan.
His eyes rested on me for a few moments.
I simply gave him a small smile before looking away.
To me, he was just a stranger.
But perhaps…
to him, I was no longer just a stranger's face.
Some meetings don't happen face-to-face.
Some stories begin long before two people actually meet.
And that evening, without either of us knowing it…
our story had already begun...
