HE WASN’T THE MONSTER BUT CAME FROM ONE

The last beat

The screen faded into a modern office — busy, sleek, controlled chaos.

Phones rang. Keyboards clicked. Voices overlapped in practiced urgency.

Kia stood beside her desk, phone pressed to her ear, multitasking like the boss she had trained herself to be. Her voice was calm, firm,unshakable.

"Yes, I'll be there by four. The meeting's been rescheduled. Got it. Please inform the others - no mistakes. I need to be home by six, and you all know how 1 am. Okay? Great. Bye. Be quick.""

She ended the call, exhaled slowly, and finally sat down.

For a moment, she just stared at her screen.

Then - ding.

A notification lit up her phone.

Mustekim [2:37 PM]

Can't you just reply with a sticker or at least react?

I'm getting tired of you not replying. It's frustrating.

Kia stared at the message longer than she meant to. Her chest felt tight, heavy - like something was sitting on her lungs. She tapped the chat, letting the Read receipt appear on his end... then locked her phone without replying.

Two seconds later.

Her phone rang.

Mustekim calling.

She let it ring twice. Three times. Then answered.

"Hi," his voice came through - calm, but edged with irritation.

"What's up?"

"I'm good," Kia replied quietly. Too quietly.

A pause.

"Why didn't you reply to my message?"

She sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"I iust... didn't know what to reolv with. I didn't want to force something fake, so | left it."

His tone sharpened instantly.

"Do you know how many of my messages you've read and ignored lately? Do you even realize how that feels? Like I don't matter to

you?"

He didn't stop.

"Kia, when I forgot to reply your message once, you were upset for three days. Three. I apologized endlessly. But now you do the same thing, and I'm just supposed to be okay?"

That was when something inside her cracked.

Her voice rose — not from anger at him, but from everything she had been carrying alone.

"I'M GOING THROUGH THE WORST PHASE OF MY LIFE, MUSTEKIM!"

"I'm drowning in silence. I don't even know what dav it is sometimes I wake un tired I what day it is sometimes. I wake up tired. I sleep tired. And if anyone should understand me - if anyone should be patient - it should be you. The one I call my boyfriend."

Her voice trembled.

"But all you see... is your pain."

Silence.

Thick. Deafening.

And then — she ended the call.

Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Not here. Not now.

Instead, she opened her messages and typed slowly, deliberately.

Kia [2:48 PM]

Let's break up.

His reply came in less than a minute.

Mustekim [2:49 PM]

Okay.

One word.

And somehow, it hurt more than a thousand.