I should have been prepared for this. From the moment I realized my feelings for Aryan, I knew the chances of him ever looking at me the way I looked at him were nearly impossible. But knowing something and feeling it are two different things.
Every day, I watched him and Lina grow closer. It was like watching a love story unfold right in front of me, except I wasn't a part of it. I was just an invisible presence, someone who existed in the background.
At first, I tried to ignore it. I told myself it was nothing, that Aryan was just being friendly. But deep down, I knew better. The way he smiled at her, the way he listened to every word she said, the way his eyes lit up when she was around—it was obvious.
He had fallen for her.
And I?
I was left with nothing but silent pain.
Every time I saw them together, something inside me cracked a little more. It was an unbearable ache, an emptiness that grew with each passing day. I wanted to turn away, to stop looking, but my heart refused to listen.
One afternoon, as I walked through the school hallway, I saw them standing by the window, laughing together. Aryan's gaze was soft, and Lina's eyes sparkled as she spoke. They looked perfect together, like a scene from a romance novel.
For a moment, I imagined myself in her place. What if it were me standing next to him? What if it were me making him smile like that?
But fantasies are just that—fantasies. And reality is much crueler.
I took a deep breath and walked past them, pretending not to care. Pretending that my heart wasn't breaking with every step I took.
This is what it meant to be the second lead—to love, to hope, and to suffer in silence.
No matter how much I loved him, no matter how much I wished for things to be different, I knew one thing for sure.
I was not the main character in his story.
And maybe… I never would be.