The week following their trip to Rajasthan was marked by an unusual silence between Amaan and Tanvi. It wasn’t that they were avoiding each other; they still studied together, shared meals, and went about their usual routines. But there was an unspoken tension that lingered in the air, a weight that neither of them could quite shake off.

Amaan noticed it first. He could tell that something had shifted between them, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. Tanvi seemed more distant, her usual bubbly energy subdued. She still smiled, still laughed, but there was a hesitance in her eyes, as if she was holding something back.

He tried to brush it off at first, telling himself that they were just tired from the trip, that the intensity of their time in Rajasthan had taken a toll on both of them. But as the days passed, the feeling only grew stronger, gnawing at the edges of his thoughts.

One evening, after a long study session, they were sitting in their usual spot by the lake. The sun was setting, casting a golden light across the water, but the beauty of the moment was lost on Amaan. His mind was elsewhere, preoccupied with the growing distance between him and Tanvi.

“Tanvi,” he began, his voice tentative, “is everything okay?”

She looked at him, surprised by the question. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

He hesitated, unsure of how to put his feelings into words. “I don’t know… It just feels like something’s different between us. Like there’s this… distance.”

Tanvi looked away, her expression unreadable. “I guess I’ve just been thinking a lot lately. About everything that’s happened, about what’s going to happen.”

“What do you mean?” Amaan asked, leaning forward slightly.

She sighed, a deep, weary sound. “Amaan, we’ve always been so close, and I don’t want to lose that. But after everything that happened in Rajasthan… I’m scared. I’m scared of what this could mean for us, for our friendship.”

Amaan’s heart sank. He had been afraid of this. “Tanvi, nothing has to change between us. We’re still the same people, still the same friends.”

“But are we?” she asked, her voice trembling. “I don’t know, Amaan. I’m so confused. Part of me wants to hold on to what we have, to keep things exactly as they are. But another part of me… I don’t know.”

He reached out, placing a hand on her arm. “Tanvi, whatever happens, we’ll figure it out together. You don’t have to be scared. We can take things one step at a time.”

She looked at him, her eyes filled with uncertainty. “I just don’t want to make a mistake, Amaan. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t,” he said softly, his voice steady despite the turmoil in his chest. “I promise you, Tanvi, you won’t lose me.”

They sat in silence for a long time after that, the weight of their unspoken feelings hanging heavily between them. The sun dipped below the horizon, the sky darkening to a deep indigo, and still they didn’t move.

Amaan knew that this conversation had only scratched the surface of what was really going on between them. But he also knew that pushing Tanvi too hard would only drive her further away. So he stayed quiet, letting the silence speak for them both.

Finally, as the first stars began to appear in the night sky, Tanvi stood up. “I think I’m going to head back to the hostel,” she said quietly.

Amaan nodded, rising to his feet as well. “I’ll walk you back.”

They walked side by side, the silence between them no longer uncomfortable but heavy with unspoken words. When they reached the hostel, they exchanged a brief goodnight, both of them retreating to their rooms with their thoughts.

As Amaan lay in bed that night, he replayed the conversation over and over in his mind. He wished he could find a way to reassure Tanvi, to make her see that their friendship was strong enough to survive anything. But deep down, he knew that the only way to truly convince her was to show her, through his actions and his unwavering support.

He just hoped that when the time came, he would be ready.