Part 3
438 Words
Chapter Two: “Where It Hurts the Most” (Part 3)
The room was quiet, but Areeba’s heart wasn’t.
She stood in the doorway of her mother’s room, the glow of evening casting long shadows. Ammi sat at her sewing machine, pretending not to see her.
“Dadi told me,” Areeba finally said.
Ammi’s hands stopped moving. The silence grew heavy.
“About your diary. About the boy before Abbu.”
Her mother looked up, eyes tired. “That was a long time ago.”
“But it still matters, doesn’t it?”
Ammi looked away. “We didn’t have choices like you do.”
Areeba stepped closer. “Then why take mine away?”
Her mother’s voice cracked. “Because I was afraid you’d make the same mistake I did — love someone who can’t stay.”
Areeba whispered, “But at least you were allowed to feel it.”
That sentence broke something in both of them.
They didn’t hug. Didn’t cry.
They just sat together — two women from two generations, sharing the same wound in different shapes.
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Later That Week
Areeba heard the news from a classmate.
“Rafael’s gone.”
“Gone?” she repeated, her voice hollow.
“He withdrew from the university yesterday. Moved to another city. I think… Islamabad.”
She nodded silently.
No goodbye. No explanation.
But somehow… she understood.
People like Rafael didn’t say goodbye. They just left everything behind — including the people who quietly loved them.
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Nightfall
Areeba returned home, her steps slower than usual. But something inside her had shifted.
She unlocked the drawer beneath her bed, pulled out a clean notebook, and began to write again.
But this time… it wasn’t for Rafael.
It was for her.
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> “I thought love would make me bloom.
Instead, it broke me open.
And somehow, I still grew.”
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Meanwhile… Across the Hall
Zidan stood by the window in his room, watching Areeba scribble in her notebook from afar.
Mahira entered, rolling her eyes.
“You still defending her?”
Zidan replied calmly, “I’m not defending her. I’m watching someone survive.”
“She embarrassed the whole family.”
“No,” he said firmly. “She reminded it that feelings don’t come with permission.”
And for once… Mahira didn’t have a comeback.
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Voiceover-Style Ending for Chapter Two
> “When a girl breaks in silence,
no one hears her scream.
But if she decides to write that scream down,
the whole world might one day feel it.”
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🕊️ End of Chapter Two
To be continued
- Writer
