They were just walking out of the lab, notes tucked under their arms, the day still unfolding in slow, heavy strokes, when Aditi caught up from behind.
"Hey," she called out, breath slightly uneven, "you two left the hostel together this morning?"
Aanya blinked, caught off guard. "Yeah, he was nearby, so…"
"Hmm," Aditi's eyes flicked between them, and she smiled a little too knowingly.
He stiffened a fraction. Why is she looking like that?
Aditi narrowed her eyes slightly, mock-serious. "You know, people notice things. Especially when two people disappear for an hour, and one of them returns wearing the other's jacket."
Aanya went still. He could see her shoulders tense. But she didn't respond.
So Aditi, clearly enjoying the shift in energy, leaned closer. "I mean, I'm not saying anything happened… but that kind of silence usually means something did."
He felt heat creep into his neck.
Then Aditi dropped the real blow—soft, amused, but unmistakable.
"Tell me I'm imagining it… or did you two kiss?"
Aanya's breath caught audibly. His jaw clenched, more from panic than pride.
No answer.
No denial.
Just silence.
Aditi blinked, then gasped slightly. "Oh my God, you actually—"
"Enough, Aditi," he said, voice low and calm but edged with something sharp.
Aditi raised her hands in surrender, a smirk still playing at her lips. "Relax, I'm not going to announce it in class. But you might wanna tone down the 'nothing happened' faces. You're both glowing."
With that, she walked off, ponytail swinging, humming a tune he didn't recognize.
Aanya was frozen beside him, eyes still on the path.
He didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything at all.
But as they kept walking—close, silent, their shoulders occasionally brushing—he caught the faintest ghost of a smile on her lips.
And it wasn't embarrassment.
It was something warmer.
Like she didn't mind being found out.
The silence between them felt different now—not heavy or tense, but charged. As if even the wind brushing past knew something had shifted.
They still had time before the next class, so they decided they might go out for a walk, around the campus, they walked out of the college premises, and started walking towards there usual place- Under the Banyan tree.
They kept walking slowly, side by side, until they reached a quieter part of campus near the old Banyan tree, where most people rarely lingered. The path curved inwards, soft leaves scattered underfoot, filtering the sun into gold patches.
She finally broke the silence.
"You're not going to talk about it?" Her voice was soft, but steady.
He looked at her, brows furrowing slightly. "The kiss?"
Aanya didn't flinch. She was staring ahead, voice calm but eyes flickering. "Mhm."
He exhaled through his nose. "I've been thinking about it all day."
A pause.
Then he added, more quietly, "About how it… happened. About how you looked at me before it did. About what it meant."
That pulled her eyes to him. "And?"
He stopped walking, turned toward her. "And it scared me."
She tilted her head. "Why?"
He hesitated, then gave a small, ironic laugh. "Because I never meant to want you this much."
The words hung there, like a weight suspended in the breeze.
Aanya's gaze softened. "You think I wasn't scared?"
He looked at her, searching for something in her eyes.
She stepped a little closer, voice low. "It wasn't just you who wanted it."
His throat bobbed as he swallowed.
"You know I didn't plan that kiss," he murmured. "I just… lost sense of where I ended and you began."
There was a beat of silence before she said, "I liked it."
He looked startled, like she'd tugged a string deep inside him.
"I did too," he confessed.
Another pause.
Then she added, "But I don't want it to be something we ignore or pretend didn't happen."
He met her gaze, something warm flickering behind his eyes. "Neither do I."
The wind picked up slightly, brushing past them like a witness.
"Good," she whispered.
And just like that, the silence between them wasn't awkward anymore—it was full. Honest. Bare.
And maybe, just maybe, safer than it had ever felt before.