The days felt endless.

Zoya had begun to count them by how often she cried instead of the date. It had been nearly a month — a whole month — since she’d last seen his face. Since she'd felt like herself.

She had nothing left now. No phone, no music, no books. Just silence and suffocating memories.

Until the knock came.

Gentle. Not like the pounding ones from her brother or father. This one was soft… almost secret.

The door opened slightly, and Nida slipped in like a whisper. Her eyes scanned Zoya’s dull figure sitting curled up on the mattress.

“Zoya…”

Zoya turned, slowly. Her lips were cracked, her eyes hollow. “Please don’t start,” she croaked.

But Nida didn’t scold.

She smiled and sat beside her, lifting something out from her kurti pocket — a phone.

Her phone.

Zoya’s eyes widened. “Nida—”

“I know what I’m doing,” Nida whispered, placing it in Zoya’s hands. “It’s mine. No one checks it. Call him.”

Zoya’s fingers trembled. “What if—”

“I’ll handle it. Just talk to him. You’ve suffered long enough.”

Her vision blurred. The weight of that kindness cracked something inside her. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Nida brushed a tear off Zoya’s cheek and stood guard by the door.

Zoya clutched the phone and opened WhatsApp — her breath caught when she saw the last message from Akif, sent three weeks ago:

“I’m still waiting. Every single day.”

With trembling fingers, she pressed the video call button.

It rang once.

Twice.

Thrice.

And then—

His face appeared.

Disheveled hair. Slight stubble. Tired eyes… that instantly lit up.

“Zoya…” he breathed, his voice cracking.

Zoya pressed her hand to her mouth to stop the sob.

“I— I thought… you forgot me,” she choked out.

Akif’s eyes welled up. “I was going insane. Every night, I stared at the door, hoping you'd just show up. I almost came without a plan. I was so close.”

“I missed you,” she whispered. “Every day. Every second.”

“I’m coming,” he said firmly. “Just a few more hours. Nida helped us enough. Aarfa and Ayaan are with me. We’re ready.”

Zoya's eyes widened. “You’re coming now?”

He nodded. “Tonight.”

A sob escaped her lips.

“I don’t care about meetings or people or risks. You are the only thing I’ve ever truly cared about, Zoya.”

Their eyes locked through the screen — as if their souls were reaching for each other through pixels and prayers.

“I love you,” she whispered.

He froze.

Zoya gasped — she hadn’t meant to say it.

But she didn’t take it back.

Akif’s lips parted, stunned.

Then slowly… he smiled. Soft and warm and full of all the stars in the sky.

“I love you too, Zoya. More than anything.”

Tears spilled again, this time with trembling smiles.

Nida knocked gently. “Zoya… we have to end it.”

She nodded and whispered, “Come fast. Please.”

“I will,” he promised. “Nothing will stop me this time.”

As the call ended, Zoya held the phone close to her heart.

For the first time in a month, she didn’t feel trapped.

She felt chosen.