The Almost of You with Shikha Bhat

We have all loved someone who arrived fully and committed to nothing.

The Almost of You is a short fiction novel told in six chapters, following one woman across one year: from the first message on a dating app to the morning she finally stops waiting.

This is not a story about a villain. He was not cruel. He was something harder to name, a man who could make her feel chosen, again and again, while never quite choosing.

The writing is spare and specific. No dramatic confrontations. No redemption arc. Just the accumulation of small surrenders, the quiet rearrangement of a self, and the particular grace of finally asking what you have given away and whether you want it back.

Written in the tradition of intimate, precise literary fiction, for readers who want to feel, not just read.

Chapters included:

01 — Prologue

02 — The Way He Looked at Me

03 — Summer Hands

Have you read the two sample chapters? I would love to know what you felt, even one word is enough.