You said Forever and Always

Chapter 16

Zayne

In some ways, it felt like the last week hadn't happened. In others, my life had forever been changed.

Between working and preparing for lectures, there was barely time to do anything else. I remembered how Advik would have Naina in the background on FaceTime. I hated that I was trying to emulate her relationship with him, but I didn't know how else to make a long-distance relationship work. We had been texting daily, but our phone conversations had been brief and awkward.

Five days after she had left for Mangalore, I called Naina on a video call.

"Hi!" she said enthusiastically. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," I replied, and she frowned. "How was your day?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"It was okay. It feels like I never left," she laughed, and the sound made me happy.

"That's good. I had a great day too," I told her, but there was an awkward silence. "What are you doing?" I asked, feeling the discomfort growing between us.

"Ummm... nothing really. I was writing," she replied.

"Your story?" I asked, a little irritated.

"Yeah... something like that," she replied vaguely.

I searched for a topic to keep the conversation going.

"If there's nothing else, I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" she abruptly said.

"I was thinking maybe I can just leave your video on?" I suggested, hoping to prolong our interaction.

Silence.

"Naina?" I called out.

"I would really like some me time," Naina finally said. I felt a pang of hurt. She had never needed 'me time' when she had been with Advik. I closed my eyes, trying to push away the feeling.

"Okay... bye then..." I said reluctantly.

"Bye," she replied, and the call ended, leaving me feeling more alone than ever.

I stared at my phone. She was back after a long break. Maybe she needed to study, or something else. I tried not to take it personally.

Deciding not to call or text for a few days, I wanted to see if she would notice. Unfortunately, she didn't. I checked my phone at lunch, dinner, and bedtime - still no text from Naina.

Finally, I called Maya.

"Hey girl!"

"Hi Zayne! Watcha doing?" Maya asked, imitating an American accent. I laughed.

"Nothing much. Just got back from work, played badminton with the guys, and was listening to some music. You?" I replied.

"I was just scrolling through Insta. Let me send you this reel that reminded me of you," she said excitedly.

I checked my phone. It was a puppy video. The puppy was running behind a cat who finally turned around and struck it with its paw. I stayed silent while Maya laughed.

"That's not funny," I told her, annoyed.

"I found it funny," she laughed again.

"What is Naina up to?" I asked her. I had deliberately avoiding bringing her up. But if she was going to tease me anyway...

"She's on the phone," she told me. "Let me go outside and talk to you."

I waited.

"Yeah, she's doing much better than she was a couple of months ago. But she's been pretty quiet. She's on the phone a lot. Maybe she's on Insta or something," she suggested.