***Shadows Between Us***
777 Words
**Chapter 3: *Shadows Between Us***
The street was quiet, but Zara’s heart wasn’t.
Every few steps, she glanced over her shoulder. The pale streetlamps cast pools of gold on the pavement, stretching her shadow long and thin. The ID card still rested in her palm, its edges warm from her grip. Her fingers itched to throw it away… but she couldn’t. Not when it carried his name.
Zavian Rahim.
The sound of it in her head felt strange — too familiar for someone she had met only hours ago.
She replayed the scene at the park in fragments — the way he had stepped between her and the SUV, the way his voice had dropped when he said for us, the way his eyes lingered on her as if trying to memorize every detail.
Her chest tightened. Why me?
By the time she reached her street, the warmth from the day had bled into the chill of night. She turned the corner to her small apartment building and froze.
A figure leaned casually against the gate.
Her stomach flipped before her mind caught up. The familiar dark jacket, the faint disarray in his hair… those stormy blue eyes.
“Zavian?” Her voice came out softer than she intended.
He straightened, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, though his eyes were sharp — scanning the street behind her before settling back on her.
“You walk too slowly,” he murmured, stepping forward until the gate’s shadow swallowed them both. “Anyone could have followed you.”
Zara gripped the strap of her bag tighter. “And you’re… waiting for me? Here?”
His smirk faded. “I needed to be sure you got home safe.”
She searched his face. The softness in his tone clashed with the tension in his jaw. “You said not to see you again. And yet—”
“I know what I said.” His gaze didn’t waver. “But I can’t walk away now. Not until I’m sure they’ve backed off.”
“They?” Her voice dropped instinctively, matching his.
For a moment, his eyes darkened, as if debating whether to answer. “People who don’t care who gets hurt to get what they want.”
Her breath caught. “And you think they want me?”
“I know they do.”
Silence stretched between them, the night wrapping tighter around them like a secret neither had chosen but both now shared.
She swallowed. “You said you ran away because of a photo of me. That’s still insane, Zavian.”
His lips curved in a humorless smile. “Then I guess I’m insane.” He took a step closer, the faint scent of rain and leather wrapping around her again. “But tell me this — if you found my photo in your father’s locked drawer, would you have stayed home?”
The question sank into her, heavy and unshakable. She didn’t answer.
His gaze softened. “I didn’t think so.”
A car passed slowly at the end of the street, headlights sweeping across them. Zavian’s hand moved instinctively, brushing against her waist as he pulled her back into the gate’s shadow.
Her pulse stumbled. The warmth of his touch lingered even when the car was gone.
She stepped back, needing air. “You can’t keep showing up like this. My neighbors will notice.”
“I’ll leave,” he said, but there was no conviction in it. “One more thing first.”
Zara’s brows knit. “What?”
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “This is an address. If anything happens — if you see them again — you go here. Don’t call. Don’t wait.”
Her fingers brushed his as she took it. The paper felt like more than just an address; it felt like a choice.
She wanted to ask why me again, but his eyes told her he wouldn’t answer tonight.
Instead, he took a step back, melting into the shadows as easily as he’d appeared.
“Goodnight, Zara,” he said, voice low, almost reluctant.
And then he was gone.
Zara stood there for a long time, the night air cool against her flushed cheeks. She slipped the paper into her pocket, next to the ID card. Two things she hadn’t owned this morning — and both belonging to him.
Inside her apartment, she leaned against the closed door, eyes on the ceiling.
She didn’t know if she was safer now or in more danger than ever.
But one thing was certain.
This isn’t over
- Writer
