Rhea stretched her arms, enjoying the cool mountain breeze that filtered through the dense pine trees. The days spent in this serene world, far from the digital noise, were like a dream she didn't want to wake up from. Each morning, she would walk with Karan to the edge of the village where his conservation project unfolded—a quiet, fulfilling routine that grounded her more each day.
The simple life of the mountains had a way of gently peeling back layers of artifice. For once, she wasn't curating every moment to fit within a tiny square on a screen. Instead, she found joy in the unedited moments—laughter over shared meals, the ache of muscles after long hikes, and the soft silence that stretched between her and Karan as they sat beneath the stars.
The Quiet Before the Tension
Rhea watched Karan now as he knelt beside a sapling, carefully securing the young plant to a wooden stake. His brows were furrowed in concentration, his hands moving with the quiet confidence of someone who had done this a thousand times before. There was something calming about his presence, about how completely at home he was in this environment.
Karan stood and wiped the sweat from his brow, glancing at Rhea with a small smile. "You're quiet today," he remarked.
Rhea smiled back, a little too quickly. "Just…thinking."
Karan walked over to her, brushing his hands on his trousers. "About what?"
For a moment, Rhea considered telling him everything—the full extent of her social media presence, the world she had left behind when she came to this place. But something held her back. The truth seemed too stark, too jarring for the tranquil world they had built between them.
"I don't know," she replied, her voice softer than she intended. "Just about how different things are here. How peaceful."
Karan nodded, though there was a flicker of something in his eyes—curiosity, perhaps, or something more. But he didn't press further, and Rhea was grateful for it.
The First Cracks Appear
As the sun dipped lower, they made their way back to the village. It was market day, and the usually quiet streets were now bustling with locals selling fresh produce, handmade crafts, and warm street food. Rhea enjoyed the simplicity of it all—the bright colors, the chatter in the air, the absence of a camera to capture every angle.
But the peace didn't last. As they moved through the market, Rhea felt eyes on her, a familiar sensation she hadn't felt in days. A local vendor, an older woman selling woolen scarves, glanced at her more than once, her eyes narrowing in recognition.
Rhea's heart skipped a beat. No, it couldn't be…
The woman approached them, smiling warmly. "Excuse me, dear," she said in Hindi, "aren't you that girl from the internet? My granddaughter showed me your videos once."
Rhea froze. Beside her, Karan raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled.
The vendor fumbled with her phone, flipping through photos until she found the one she was looking for—a picture of Rhea from months ago, perfectly posed, smiling in front of some chic café in Mumbai. It was unmistakably her.
Rhea laughed, though it sounded hollow even to her own ears. "Oh, that was a long time ago," she said quickly. "I don't really do that anymore."
The woman didn't seem to notice Rhea's discomfort. "Can I get a selfie for my granddaughter?" she asked, holding up her phone with a hopeful grin.
Rhea's stomach churned. She had avoided social media entirely since arriving here, trying to let this place be her escape from the curated life she had built online. But now, with Karan standing right next to her, the divide between those two worlds felt impossible to ignore.
"Of course," Rhea finally said, forcing a smile as the woman clicked a picture. Karan said nothing, but she could feel his gaze on her, heavy and questioning.
A Growing Divide
The walk back to the house was quiet—too quiet. Rhea could feel the tension building in the space between them, like an invisible wall slowly rising. Karan hadn't said much after the market incident, but Rhea could sense his unease.
When they reached the small house where Karan lived, he finally broke the silence. "So... that woman recognized you. What was that about?"
Rhea hesitated. She had rehearsed this conversation in her head a thousand times but never imagined it would happen like this. "I told you I used to work in social media," she began carefully. "Well, it's more than just work. I'm... an influencer."
Karan's brows knitted together, and she could almost see him mentally piecing things together. "An influencer?" he repeated. "What does that even mean?"
"I have a lot of followers," Rhea continued, struggling to find the right words. "I post pictures, videos, promote brands. It's…a big part of my life."
Karan was silent for a moment, absorbing her words. "So, all this time," he finally said, his voice low, "you've been hiding this from me?"
Rhea winced. "I wasn't hiding it. I just…didn't know how to tell you. This place, you—it's so different from that world, and I wanted to be different here."
Karan crossed his arms, his gaze turning colder. "Different how? By pretending it didn't exist? By keeping it from me?"
"No, it's not like that," Rhea protested. "I needed a break from that life, and being here with you…it felt like a chance to be something else."
"Something real?" Karan asked, his tone sharp. "Is that what you're saying—that your life before wasn't real?"
Rhea shook her head, feeling the weight of her own contradictions. "No, it's just—being an influencer, it's exhausting. Everything's so curated, so fake sometimes. But here, with you, I feel like I can be myself."
Karan's expression softened slightly, but the hurt was still there, simmering just beneath the surface. "And what is 'yourself,' Rhea?" he asked. "Because I'm still trying to figure that out."
The Rift
The next few days were strained. Karan wasn't outright angry, but the easy flow of their conversations had vanished. Rhea could sense that he was pulling away, putting distance between them even as they continued their routines.
She tried to bring it up again, to explain herself better, but Karan always found a way to avoid the conversation. His walls were back up, and she didn't know how to break through them.
At night, she lay awake in the small guest room, scrolling through her phone in the dark. The notifications were piling up, messages from her manager, comments from followers wondering where she had disappeared to, brands eager for new posts. The life she had temporarily escaped was clawing its way back into her consciousness, and she didn't know how to stop it.
A Subtle Reconciliation
On the fourth day, after another silent dinner, Rhea couldn't take it anymore. She found Karan sitting outside, staring out at the mountains, the sky above them streaked with stars.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, sitting beside him. "I should have told you sooner."
Karan didn't look at her, but his posture relaxed slightly. "It's not just about telling me," he said after a long pause. "It's about what this means. You're from that world, Rhea—the world I've been trying to avoid. How do I fit into that?"
Rhea's heart clenched. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I want to figure it out. I don't want to lose this…what we have."
Karan finally turned to her, his eyes searching hers. "But can you really walk away from that life? Or is this just a break, a vacation for you?"
Rhea didn't have an answer. Not yet. But she knew one thing—she wasn't ready to give up on Karan. Not now, not when they had come this far.
"I don't know what the future looks like," she said honestly. "But I know I want you to be a part of it."
Karan sighed, looking back at the mountains. "We'll see, Rhea. We'll see."