"It wasn't closure I was looking for.

It was a way to breathe again?

without her name sitting heavy in my chest."

It had been months.

Life had moved.

Classes changed. People drifted.

I had started writing again - not for her, but for me.

And that's when I saw her.

In the college caf�, alone by the window, sunlight tangled in her hair. Just like the first time I fell in love with her.

Sia.

Time hadn't changed the way my heart reacted to her presence.

But it had changed me.

I walked over, unsure why. Maybe because some ghosts deserve to be laid to rest in the light.

She looked up - surprised, maybe. But she didn't smile like before.

There was something heavier in her eyes now.

"Aarin," she said, soft. "Hey."

"Hey," I replied, sliding into the seat across from her.

A pause.

The weight of unspoken years hovered between us.

"I heard? about everything," she began. "Meera told me."

I nodded. "She should have."

Another pause.

Then she added, "You hated me, didn't you?"

I looked at her, and for the first time in years, I didn't feel that same ache.

"I never hated you," I said quietly. "I hated the version of you I built in my head."

Her eyes watered. Just slightly.

"I was cruel," she whispered.

"No," I shook my head. "You were honest. I just wasn't ready to hear it."

We both sat in silence again.

But it was peaceful this time. Not painful.

"I used to think," I said, "that one day you'd change your mind. That you'd wake up and see me the way I saw you."

She looked down.

"And then?"

"And then I realized? love isn't about being seen the same way. It's about choosing to keep caring, even when it hurts. And sometimes, choosing to let go."

Sia blinked fast. "Aarin? I never wanted to hurt you."

"I know."

She reached into her bag, pulled out something.

It was a small envelope.

"Your poems," she said. "The ones I never replied to. I kept them."

I hesitated, then took it with a nod.

"I don't want to rewrite the past," she added. "But I hope? you can write something new. For someone who chooses you without hesitation."

I smiled. Genuinely. For the first time in front of her.

"I already started."

She stood up. So did I.

And just before she left, she turned back and whispered,

"I'll always care. But you deserve more than memory."

Then she was gone.

Not in a dramatic exit. Not with tears.

Just? gone.

I sat back down.

Opened the envelope.

Inside were the poems I had written - my heart spilled in ink.

Unanswered. Unread. Until now.

I smiled again, softly this time.

"The last conversation wasn't a goodbye.

It was a thank you.

For the love.

For the pain.

And for the man I became because of both."