After Neela left, silence filled Arif's life.
College. Library. Rooftop.
Nothing else.
One day his father said quietly,
"I can't pay your college fees this month."
Arif smiled.
"I'll manage."
He started tutoring children part-time.
The first money in his hands felt heavy.
Rahat mocked him,
"So much study just to tutor kids?"
Arif smiled again.
One rainy evening, standing at a bus stop with soaked shoes,
he laughed at himself.
"Life is a serious drama,
and I'm the comic character."
Then came an offer—
a job through manipulation.
Arif refused.
"I'm poor, not cheap."
Soon after, the tutoring job ended.
Bills piled up.
Medicines ran out.
That night he wrote:
"Life takes with both hands,
but teaches you how to survive with one."
And he promised himself not to stop.