🏸 Last Match – Part 1

"The real game isn’t always on the court… sometimes, it plays out in the heart."


7:30 PM. A chilly evening.
I stood quietly in the corner of the badminton court, waiting for my friend Rahul. The court lights glowed faintly—but then, something brighter caught my eye.

That was the first time I saw her.

Sanaya.

Her friend called me to play a match, but before I could step forward, she arrived—confident, with a hint of mischief in her smile.

"I’ll play first," she said.

And just like that, I lost… not on the court, but in my heart.

For the next two weeks, we played every evening.
Every shot, every rally… was more than a game.
Her laughter after every point, her way of pushing her hair back, her eyes… they stayed with me long after the matches ended.

Those games became my favorite part of the day.
She became my favorite part of life.

And then… one day,
without a word, without a goodbye—
she disappeared.

No one knew where she went.
The court stayed the same,
but I… I was never the same again.


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🖤 Monologue – Rishi’s Inner Voice

> "I didn’t lose the day she beat me.
I lost the day she let me win.

I stood in the same corner every evening,
hoping she’d return—for just one more match.

But time had its own rules,
and I lost that match… with destiny."




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7 years later, I bought my own badminton team.
Not to win trophies,
but to find the only player I ever truly wanted to play against.

Then came an invite:
“Final exhibition match – against the top player from Lucknow.”

The moment she stepped on court, racket in hand…
my breath stopped.
It was Sanaya.

Time had changed her…
but my heart? It still skipped a beat.

I won the match.
But more than that, I won a battle within myself.

After the game, I ran to meet her.
She was at the bus stand… ready to leave.

I was 10 seconds late.
The bus had already gone.


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🌧️ Ending Lines:

> “Some people are like matches in your life…
They touch your heart on the first serve,
and stay in your memory after the last point.”




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What happened next?
I’ve written that in “Last Match – Part 2: Raqeeb.”
But the first match?
I could never forget it.

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