It's been weeks since Dandiya Night.
The music stopped, but the echoes stayed.
At first, everything felt… unreal.
Like I was walking underwater.
Every step heavy. Every breath borrowed.
But pain has this strange way of softening over time.
It doesn't leave — not entirely —
It just learns to sit quietly in the corners of your heart.
I still see him sometimes.
In the corridors. On my feed.
But I don't flinch anymore.
I don't feel that crushing weight in my chest.
Just… a silence.
And in that silence, I've started hearing my own voice again.
Today, I posted a picture.
Not for him.
Not to get noticed.
Just because I liked how I looked.
He didn't see it.
Or maybe he did.
But I didn't check.
And that — that felt like power.
I started listening to the songs we used to love.
At first, it hurt.
Each lyric a stab.
But today, I let one play all the way through.
And I didn't cry.
I just listened.
Like it was just a song.
I sat with my friends in the canteen.
At the exact table where he used to sit with me.
And for the first time, it didn't feel haunted.
It felt like mine again.
We laughed over fries.
Took silly pictures.
And I didn't look around to see if he was watching.
Because I wasn't thinking about him.
I was thinking about me.
Last night, I opened our old chat.
Not to read it.
Just to… say goodbye.
I hovered over the delete button for a long time.
And then I pressed it.
Not because I stopped loving him.
But because I started loving myself more.
I still remember how he made me feel.
I still remember the pain.
But I also remember the girl I was before him —
And I want to find her again.
Maybe she's not the same anymore.
Maybe heartbreak changed her.
But maybe that's okay.
Maybe she's stronger now.
Softer, but fiercer.
Quieter, but wiser.
This isn't a love story anymore.
This is a coming-back-to-life story.
And I'm still healing.
Still growing.
Still becoming.
But today… I smiled.
And it reached my eyes.
Maybe not everything.
But it's a start.
But someone else was there …