When Absence Became Madness - The Name That Owned Her - Part 3

 Until then, he had lived in her mind without identity.

A face.

A walk.

A presence.

But names are dangerous things. They make fantasies real.

The chance arrived on a crowded Monday morning.

She stood near the gate as always, pretending not to wait while every nerve in her body listened for his footsteps. He appeared a little late, walking beside another man from the neighborhood.

They stopped near the stationery shop.

She moved closer under the excuse of buying a pen.

The other man laughed and said, “You never change, Arjun. Same silence every day.”

Arjun.

The word struck her like music.

Arjun.

She repeated it silently once… twice… ten times.

The shopkeeper asked what pen she wanted. She stared blankly, unable to answer.

Because the stranger was a stranger no longer.

He had a name now.

And somehow, that made him more hers.

That evening, she wrote it on the last page of her notebook.

Arjun.

Then again.

Arjun.

Then filled half the page before suddenly tearing it out in fear.

What if someone saw?

What if someone knew?

What if someone laughed?

But no one could laugh harder than the madness already growing inside her.

Days changed after that.

She no longer said “he came.”

She said in her mind:

Arjun came today.

Arjun wore blue today.

Arjun looked tired today.

Arjun smiled at someone today.

That last one ruined her entire afternoon.

Who had made him smile?

Why had she never seen that smile before?

Why should another person receive what she had waited weeks to witness?

Jealousy arrived quietly, like poison poured into sweet water.

She hated the unknown person instantly.

At dinner, her mother asked why she was crushing chapati pieces into dust.

She said nothing.

The next morning, Arjun did not come.

Her chest tightened.

By noon, she had fought with two classmates.

By evening, she shouted at her younger brother for touching her books.

By night, she locked herself in the room and cried into a pillow she could barely breathe through.

The house thought she was moody.

No one knew a man who had never spoken to her had the power to destroy an entire household’s peace.

When he returned the next day, she nearly laughed aloud in relief.

She wanted to punish him for being absent.

She wanted to thank him for returning.

She wanted to run to him.

She did none of it.

She only stood there trembling while he passed.

Arjun glanced up for a second.

Their eyes met.

Barely a moment.

Nothing to him.

Everything to her.

That one accidental glance fed her for days.

And somewhere inside, a terrifying belief took root:

If one look could do this—

What would love do?