The days that followed carried a strange heaviness.
Yugh and Zahra continued to live under the same roof, yet it felt as though an invisible wall had risen between them. Conversations became brief, functional. Meals were eaten at different times. When Yugh entered a room, Zahra found a reason to leave it moments later. 😔
She avoided his eyes.
At first, Yugh tried to ignore it, telling himself that every marriage went through quiet phases. But this was different. This felt deliberate. Measured. As if Zahra was carefully keeping a distance she didn't want him to cross. 😟
Late at night, when the house was silent, Yugh lay awake staring at the ceiling, questions circling endlessly in his mind.
What changed?
When did she start pulling away?
Did I miss something… or someone? 🤔
He replayed moments over and over, the locked washroom door, the way she turned her face away when he asked if she was okay, the untouched medicine. Each memory felt like a puzzle piece that refused to fit.
Meanwhile, Zahra moved through the house like a shadow, polite but distant, present yet unreachable. 🤪
Yusuf noticed it too.
Though younger, he had always been close to both of them. Yugh was not just his brother, but his role model. Zahra had always treated him like her own younger sibling. Their warmth had once filled the house effortlessly.
Now, something was off. ❗
One evening, Yusuf paused in the hallway, watching them sit at opposite ends of the living room,Yugh scrolling absently through his phone, Zahra staring at the television without really watching it.
There was silence where laughter used to be. 🔴
Yusuf frowned slightly but said nothing. Some things were better observed quietly.
Yugh caught his brother looking and offered a weak smile. Yusuf returned it, though concern lingered in his eyes. 🙂
That night, as Yugh stood alone on the balcony, the cool air brushing against his face, a single thought settled heavily in his chest:
Whatever was happening, it wasn't temporary.
And whatever Zahra was hiding, it was slowly pulling them both apart, whether he was ready for the truth or not. 😑