The room felt heavy with silence after her mother’s voice broke through the air:
“Sara, Romi is offering to drop you to college today…”
Sara paused, still brushing her hair, her hands trembling ever so slightly.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhS9zAfShid
She turned slowly.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDdqpyWFdx
Her eyes didn’t look at her mother.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV6SoI3xWFP
They looked at the pain she’d buried for years.
“Mama… you know I hate him,” she said, her voice low, tight, aching.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjHhCzZFjgL
“Not because of what he does… but because of what his father did to us. I can’t forget. I won’t.”
Her mother stepped closer, folding the dupatta tighter over her shoulder.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiS3yg8Lp0
“I know, meri jaan… but he’s not his father. He’s—”
Sara cut in, her voice now sharper, like a crack in glass:
“But the blood is the same. I don’t need another favor that feels like a chain. Let the world test me — I’ll take the crowded bus, the heat, the push, the pain. But I won’t sit beside him. Not today. Not ever.”
Just then, the door creaked.
Romi stood there.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihzyQKGxS8
Silent.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxUknYgt60z
Still.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgq2xWuv3k
Listening.
He didn’t speak.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9z30Yzoxfu
Not a single word.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsFAOlHcdRK
But his eyes — they said everything.
Tears welled up in his eyes.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfuFW3LgXOB
Not Sara’s.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQK3JxyETbw
His.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLre1v4Whm
He didn’t let them fall.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHAyHfRTne
Just stood there with that quiet ache, as if the guilt in his blood was too loud to silence.
Sara walked past him, not even glancing.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡavRbdAUn0t
Her heart had built walls.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Z0AB29bgQ
And today… they weren’t ready to fall.
At college, the sun kissed the pavement as the gate opened with its usual rusted screech.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvG4khBRQG
Sara walked in, keeping her eyes low until her friend Ayesha caught her by the wrist.
“Guess what? This is for you,” Ayesha whispered, slipping a cream-colored envelope into her hand.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLUnfNZhWw
“No sender. But I was told, ‘She’ll know.’”
Sara blinked, surprised — then, slowly, a faint smile curved on her lips.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrjp5Igm6G
Not wide.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHPm54jw72
Not loud.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlop4pJf8o
Just… soft. Familiar.
“I know who it’s from,” she whispered, almost to herself.
“Ohooo… mysterious lover?” Ayesha teased.
But Sara was already walking away — toward the quiet side of the building, near the old banyan tree.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGNpfhsT7r
Her steps slowed.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaTkUSSGLq4
Her heart didn’t.
She looked around.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKkCQ0Sx8xp
Left.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSmW2NMiKiL
Right.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0wmByr8VE
Nobody.
“Where are you?” she muttered.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXGIB2is4w5
“I don’t have all day. Uff, you… I’m going to be late.”
Suddenly, two hands gently covered her eyes.
She didn’t flinch.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyM485voIsc
She didn’t need to.
A tiny, knowing laugh escaped her lips.
“Mikaal…”
The hands slowly moved away, and she turned.
He stood there — leaning slightly forward, half-shadowed by the branches above.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gGoMZAK04
A quiet smile playing on his lips.
“You always know, don’t you?” he asked, stepping closer.
Sara didn’t answer right away.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHHB33V8Cz
She looked at him — at the boy who always appeared when her world felt too loud, too cruel, too cold.
“Because your presence feels like peace,” she finally said.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OzpUjJKTy
“And peace… doesn’t need to be announced.”
Mikaal’s smile softened, eyes fixed on her like she was the only thing that existed in that moment.
“I had to see you,” he said gently.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3qiaeCaKW
“Even if just for a few seconds.”
Sara looked down, holding back the smile that wanted to rise.
“Why?” she asked softly.
“Because your silence says more than anyone else’s words,” Mikaal replied.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1TJHWuRKR
“And… I missed the sound of it.”
She met his eyes, and for a second, the world around them blurred.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfIdZIVcY8n
No cruel uncles.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtb1W7Cn48S
No painful memories.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzVZ1x03ex
Just the rustle of leaves… and the quiet closeness of something unspoken.
Sara held out the envelope.
“Was this from you?”
He didn’t answer directly.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuavFbWFJcP
He just smiled and said:
“If it made you smile… then yes.”
Sara looked away, cheeks warming. But her heart felt lighter.
“You’re impossible, Mikaal.”
“Only for the world,” he replied.307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcmkaXCvDNW
“Not for you.”
The bell rang in the distance.
“I’m getting late,” she said.
“Then let me walk you,” Mikaal offered.
Sara looked at him, hesitated… then nodded once.
“Just till the stairs.”
“Just till forever,” he whispered under his breath —307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgXrDOdIVI
but loud enough for the wind to carry it.
And together, they walked —307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk7A8rqN7tL
not hand in hand,307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUC8K18abOE
but heart beside heart —307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnOU6ZKwI0
with something blooming softly307Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UhUewbedL
between the pain and the past.
and then Add to home screen.