By the fourth day, the pattern had solidified into sothing that felt almost like routine.
Yash realized he was instinctively looking forward to Anjali’s morning arrival with the sa eagerness as he was looking for Kirti.
At 8:00 AM when she showed up with her cheerful "Good morning, Yash!" he replied quickly and kindly.
"Good morning, Anjali!"
He had ntioned her na casually. When did he begin doing that?
The understanding unsettled him greatly.
Why was his search focused on her? His attention should be solely on Kirti. Anjali was rely a neighbour next door nothing beyond that. Still there was a warmth in his heart when she smiled and that he could not fully dismiss.
The chaos in his mind escalated sharply at 1:00 PM as Kirti’s vehicle arrived at the entrance.
Yashs heart instantly pounded with that desperate longing flooding him. He swiftly corrected his stance attempting to et her gaze as she neared the security booth. Perhaps today she would see him. Perhaps today she would at last return his smile.
But this ti, sothing was different.
Through the automobile window he distinctly noticed soone occupying the passenger seat next, to her.
A man. young as him, neatly dressed, chuckling at sothing Kirti ntioned with closeness.
Yash experienced a sinking sensation in his stomach at the scene
Kirti seed to bead with happiness at this man with a glow Yash had never witnessed aid at him, never.
Her hand lay effortlessly on the gear shift- beside his arm.
The body language was unmistakable: intimate, comfortable, romantic.
Deny as he can, inwardly he began to realize that she did not love him.
A boyfriend.
The word scread in Yash’s mind with devastating clarity, his mind forcing him to interpret it yet another misunderstanding.
He stepped forward instinctively, wanting to get closer to her needing to understand what he was seeing.
But before he could reach the car, Kirti had already driven through the gate without even a glance in his direction. She was too absorbed in her conversation with the man beside her, laughing at sothing on her phone.
The car disappeared into the parking area, leaving Yash standing frozen at the gate.
The crushing weight of invisibility crashed down on him once again with brutal force. His chest tightened painfully as if soone was squeezing his heart.
Realizing began dawning on him, he was nothing to her. Absolutely nothing. Just another piece of the scenery she passed through daily without a single thought.
She had a boyfriend.
All this ti he had been watching her, loving her, obsessing over her, she had been with soone else. Had she been with him the entire ti? How long had this been going on?
But then, unbidden and unwelco, another thought intruded: Anjali rembered my na after one introduction. She talks to like I am a real person who matters in her life.
He imdiately pushed the comparison away with force. That did not matter! He loved Kirti! He had loved her for so long, suffered so much for her. That kind of devotion could not just be dismissed or forgotten.
-----------
At 3:00 PM, Anjali returned from wherever she had been but onne look at her hands can tell as she was carrying files that suggested she had been at work. She again stopped at his booth with that sa type of friendly smile.
"Yash, can I ask you sothing?"
Still raw from Kirti’s casual dismissal earlier and the devastating image of her with another man, he found himself grateful for any human interaction that acknowledged his existence.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Is there a good café nearby? I have been craving decent coffee all day."
Yash truly responded to the query suggesting the corner store a couple of blocks that brewed fantastic coffee. Anjali paid attention with sincere curiosity, then she caught him off guard once more with her next words.
"Want to go with after your shift? My treat."
He hesitated, caught off guard. "No, it is okay. You do not have to do that..."
"I insist!" She bead kindly with no motive. "You assisted with those shopping bags a few days back. Think of it as returning the favor."
Before he could protest further, she had already left to change into more comfortable clothes, her dress flowing behind her in the afternoon breeze.
Yash sat in his booth, confused by the emotions swirling inside him like a storm. This was the second thoughtful gesture in two days from this woman. Why did she keep doing these things for him? And why did it matter so much?
Kirti is completely unaware of my existence. Anjali... The idea started to take shape before he forcefully suppressed it. ENOUGH! This is treachery! My heart belongs to Kirti! I’ve loved Kirti all along!
But a more rebellious part of his mind asked quietly: Does Kirti deserve this devotion when she treats you like you are invisible? When she has soone else?
He imdiately felt guilty for even thinking such a traitorous thing. Of course she deserved it! She was perfect! This confusion was just temporary weakness, nothing more.
Forty-five minutes later, Anjali returned after changing into casual clothes more suitable for an evening café visit.
They walked to the café together, making light conversation in the process. Yash found himself relaxing slightly in her presence, the weight of the day’s pain easing just a fraction.
At the café, Anjali ordered them both a coffee and they sat by the window. She began to ask about his day, his life, his interests. Not in a prying way, but with genuine curiosity about him as a person.
"Thank you," he said after a while, and this ti his gratitude was completely genuine from his heart. "You really did not have to do this."
"Friends help each other, right?" Anjali’s emphasis on the word ’friends’ felt deliberate sohow, though Yash could not articulate why it felt different.
"Right," he agreed slowly, testing the word. "Friends."
Midway through their conversation, Anjali’s phone buzzed with a ringtone. She glanced at it with a side along glance and her expression shifted to concern.
"Oh no, I am so sorry Yash. I have an urgent work call I need to take. I have to go handle this right away."
She stood up quickly, gathering her things. But before leaving, she did sothing unexpected.
She leaned down and gave him a brief, friendly hug.
"Thanks for coming with today. Sa ti tomorrow?"
Before he could respond, she was gone, leaving him sitting there stunned.
After she left, Yash sat with the warm cup still in his hands. The hug had stirred sothing in him that he could not na. Both physical reminders of kindness he had not asked for but desperately needed.
Back at the booth later that evening, he found himself doing sothing strange. He was still watching Kirti’s parking spot out of habit, but he also started noticing other things. Like how Anjali’s car was not parked in its usual spot yet. Was she still handling that work call? Was she okay?
His phone buzzed suddenly. Instagram notification: "Kirti posted a new story."
He clicked it imdiately, that old obsession still dominant and demanding his attention.
The story showed Kirti at a café with friends, laughing at sothing off cara. Beautiful and happy and completely unreachable for him. And was that the sa man from earlier sitting beside her in the group?
He stared at the image for long minutes, but sothing had changed. This ti he did not interpret this post as sothing else. Instead, he just saw it for what it was: her life, completely separate from him.
And after that another thought ca into his mind that frightened him more than anything.
He found himself wondering what Anjali was doing right now. Was she too busy being kind to people in the real world or she is still stuck with that call?
What am I doing? Yash thought, disturbed by the direction of his own mind. Why am I thinking about her when I should be focused on Kirti?
Sothing had fundantally changed over these four days of knowing Anjali.
There was now a competing presence in his mind that had not been there before. When Kirti ignored him, his thoughts drifted to Anjali’s smile. When he felt invisible and worthless by her, he rembered Anjali using his na, asking his opinion, bringing him water and inviting him to café without being asked or expecting anything in return.
The obsession with Kirti still lingered, powerful and all consuming. But it was no longer absolute and unchangeable.
A crack had ford in the fortress of his delusion, and through that crack, light was beginning to seep in slowly.
As Yash walked his usual patrol routine that night, he glanced up at Kirti’s lit apartnt window out of habit and compulsion. But for the first ti in months, another thought followed imdiately after:
I wonder if Anjali is ho yet. Is she okay?
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