The World That Existed Only for Them - Part 3

 

Words That Had No Intention

It rained that afternoon.

Not the dramatic kind that floods roads and forces people into stories, but a steady, patient rain—the kind that turns the world softer and slower.

The district office corridor smelled of wet paper and dust. People gathered near the windows, watching the rain like it was a brief interruption they hadn’t planned for.

Ananya stood near the notice board, reading the same line repeatedly without really understanding it. Her appointment letter was delayed. Again.

Aarav noticed her hesitation before he understood it. He had finished his work and was about to leave when he saw her standing there, uncertain, holding a folded document like it might fly away.

“You might want to check Room 12,” he said, gently.

The words surprised both of them.

Ananya looked up. It took her a second to recognize him—not because she had forgotten his face, but because she had never placed him in the category of someone who would speak to her.

“They usually update it there by evening,” he added, pointing down the corridor.

“Oh,” she said, adjusting her file. “Thank you.”

That should have been the end of it.

But the rain had other plans.

They stood near the entrance, watching water collect in uneven lines on the steps outside. People waited for autos, for umbrellas, for reasons to move.

“Looks like it’s not stopping soon,” Ananya said, more to the weather than to him.

Aarav nodded. “It usually doesn’t… once it starts like this.”

Silence followed. Comfortable. Unforced.

“My bus stop is close,” she said after a moment, unsure why she felt the need to explain.

“I walk,” he replied. “Rain or not.”

She smiled then. Not at him, exactly—but at the thought of someone choosing to walk through rain without complaint.

They did not exchange phone numbers.

They did not ask personal questions.

They did not feel butterflies or heartbeats changing rhythm.

Yet, when they parted ways, both carried a strange awareness with them—like a room in the mind that had quietly opened.

That evening, Ananya mentioned him casually at home.
“There’s an engineer I see often at the office. Very decent.”

Aarav, at dinner, thought of her too—not romantically, but with curiosity. He wondered if she had found what she was looking for in Room 12.

Neither of them knew it yet, but their worlds had begun overlapping—not loudly, not urgently—but with the certainty of something that would not fade easily.