It hadn't been a week since the final exams began but Sakura had started thinking about a lot of things from the past.

The counselling sessions she had for the entirety of junior year. Coming to terms with recovered memories of some traumatic events. An almost attempt to commit suicide the past year.

And him.

Her first and only relationship.

It was she who confessed to him after liking him for three years. And after another two years, Sakura missed him dearly. He had been like an anchor for her and she would've probably been dead if it weren't for him.

He never knew, but he always saved her and brought her back to the shore.

Sakura had to move due to her mother's job and the minute she received news that she would have to move, she started thinking about ways to breakup.

Despite all the "I love you" and other sweet messages they sent each other, she never really knew his feelings.

Their five month old relationship was a secret from all. At first, it was because of fear of their parents finding out due to the fact that they also lived in the same neighborhood. But it was also the fear of being judged by friends.

He had sent a message about revealing their relationship to their friends, but two weeks later she broke up with the excuse of falling out of love. He agreed and told her to remain friends but it was he who blocked her number first.

Sakura still wonders if he thought that she broke if off due to him talking about revealing the relationship and the fact that she might never be able to face a bunch of people who would suddenly judge her for her love life.

But even if that was what he thought, she doesn't want to clear up that misunderstanding. He's better off with someone who can proudly stand beside him without having any chances of moving away.

A year after moving to the new city, they found each other on Instagram, but she never messaged. He once replied to one of her stories but that was it. Absolutely nothing else.

But that was enough to get her thinking about their relationship. He was academically gifted to a point where she thought she had a really low IQ.

In an era of academic competition, she had developed herself in almost every other area except academics.

Even thinking about him made her insecure. She started imagining scenarios of meeting him again. Maybe during college, or maybe after, or maybe 10 years later. But she couldn't think of a scenario where she never met him.

She was unprepared to meet him, to talk to him. But she was even more unprepared to not meet and talk to him.

After another thinking session, she suddenly wondered something she knew she had to ask. So Sakura picked up her phone and sent a message.

@sakuraharu: Hey! Do you hate me?

After a couple of hours came the reply.

@sasuke_f: Why do you ask?

He kept on asking the same question before Sakura was able to give a convincing answer. He said no. And that was a moment of so much happiness that she rolled around the bed.

She quickly texted all the details and sent the screenshots to her best friend.

@ino_yamanaka: You fool. Why are you talking about this? You should ask him whether he likes you or not.

Sakura wanted to. But the maiden within her wanted the man to take the lead.

@sakuraharu: I was the one who initiated the relationship and the breakup last time. This time, I want him to be first.

This sort of pride would never lead to any result. But she still wanted it. Her inner maiden wanted Sasuke to sweep her off her feet like a prince charming with a white horse. Or something of that sort.

They chatted. Easily sending messaging each other with messages that made Sakura blush once in a while. And she never knew how he felt about all this. Not that they ever chatted about anything even remotely related to romance or their relationship after the first time when she asked him if he ever regretted it.

His exams were about to end, but hers had only started.

They still texted. About anime and very few things. He had told her about an anime that was eerily similar to their relationship. Tsuki ga kirei.

Sakura watched it and cried at the end. Azumi and Mizuno got a happy ending. She probably won't. But she doesn't regret watching that anime that day itself.

After exams, they somehow got into the topic of depression and Sakura's replies to all his messages regarding the topic were in a very negative tone filled with hopelessness and despair. His replies to the messages proved to worsen her already gloomy mood. And she broke down.

@sakuraharu: I used to call him dense because he could not pick up hints or understand some things and he still thinks that I mean unfeeling when I say dense. But this is what's actually unfeeling.

She sent all the screenshots and kept sobbing. This wasn't what she wanted.

@ino_yamanaka: Okay honey, he's not gonna understand. For him, depression is probably a joke. You have to move on.

@sakuraharu: But I loved him. Did I? How could I love such a person?

@ino_yamanaka: Watch some anime and cheer yourself. You'll come to love a guy who will love you and understand you.

Sakura continued to cry the entire day. But stand up comedy clips and anime had managed to cheer her up. She never messaged him again and neither did he.

Sakura still waits for a message after all these days for god knows what reason.

--by NaTsuMe_SenJu
Hey guys! I'm back from hiatus. First of all, my exams were the reason why I took a hiatus and secondly, the story that you read just now was what happened during exam month and the two and a half weeks after that.