A guilt he can't shake

Setting: Night. Red's room. The lights are off. A single small lamp glows dimly beside his desk. Rain taps gently on the windowsill. The red rose he always carries lies on the table — untouched tonight.

Red sat at his desk, elbows on his knees, head in his hands.

His phone buzzed with unread messages — group chats, memes, chaos — but his mind was far from the noise.

His eyes burned, not from tiredness… but from a memory.

One he hadn't visited in years.

---

> Surat. 10 years ago.

He was 12 — skinny, cocky, and wildly overconfident.

His parents had dragged him along to a business meeting with some high-profile investor. He hated it. All suits and fake smiles.

Until he saw her.

She was only 10, sitting near the garden pond with her shoes off and her hair tied in a loose braid. Her laughter rang through the air like wind chimes.

> "What's your name?" she had asked.

> "Red," he'd replied. "Like the color."

> "That's not a name," she giggled.

> "It is now."

Later that day, he was running near the edge of the pond, trying to show off… and slipped.

He remembered the sharp sting of panic as the cold water closed around him.

And then…

> Two small hands.

A voice shouting his name.

Her.

She had jumped in after him without hesitation. Pulled him to the edge. Helped him breathe again.

She was just a kid — smaller than him — but she held his fear like it was hers.

> "You okay?" she had asked, shivering and soaked.

> "You saved me," he had whispered.

From that day, they spent the whole week together. Laughing. Drawing silly comics. Making secret handshakes. Promising to be "best friends forever."

And then... she was gone.

After she turned 15, she left to live with her mother — a businesswoman with no time for small towns or childhood bonds.

They never spoke again.

Until now.

Until this week.

Until the day he saw her — Aahi — walk into the college canteen like a forgotten part of his heart had stepped back into the light.

---

Red leaned back in his chair now, staring at the ceiling.

> "I slapped her memory with betrayal."

> "She once saved my life... and I humiliated hers."

He ran a hand through his hair.

Anger boiled inside him — but not toward Aahi.

Toward himself.

He had lied.

Mocked.

Given her a box that made her cry.

He didn't know if she remembered Surat.

But he did.

And tonight… the guilt sat heavier than any prank ever had.

---

> "I should've never let her become a stranger," he whispered.

The rose on the table caught the lamp's glow for a moment… then faded into shadow.