The phone was never supposed to be a witness—but tonight, it became the judge, the jury, and the scar that would never quite heal.
━━━━━━━━ 1. The Call That Felt Too Quiet ━━━━━━━━
Iman stood by the window, city lights flickering like thoughts he couldn’t control. The phone pressed to his ear felt heavier than it should have.
“Shayla… hey. Are you okay? I just wanted to hear your voice for a moment.”
On the other end, Shayla paused. She knew his silences too well.
“I’m fine, Iman. But you don’t usually call just for that. What’s really going on?”
He rubbed his forehead, forcing calm into his tone.
“Nothing serious. Just a long day. My head’s a mess. Talking to you helps.”
Shayla exhaled softly.
“You sound far away. Like you’re here, but not really with me.”
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“Maybe I am. Life’s complicated lately. We’ll talk properly later, okay?”
Her voice cracked, just slightly.
“You always say ‘later.’ Sometimes I wonder if later ever comes.”
The silence that followed was thick—until a sudden knock echoed through the apartment door.
━━━━━━━━ 2. The Door That Changed Everything ━━━━━━━━
“Hold on… someone’s at the door,” Iman muttered.
He placed the phone on the table, assuming the call had ended. It hadn’t.
The door opened.
“I hope I’m not interrupting,” Delicia said, smiling gently. “You didn’t answer my messages, so I thought I’d stop by.”
Iman’s shoulders relaxed instantly.
“Delicia… I wasn’t expecting you. But I’m glad you came.”
From the phone speaker, Shayla heard everything. She said nothing.
Delicia studied his face.
“You look exhausted. Like you’re carrying the world alone.”
“That’s because I am,” he admitted. “But seeing you… it makes things lighter.”
Shayla’s fingers tightened around her phone. Her heart began to race.
“You don’t have to carry everything alone,” Delicia said, stepping closer. “You never did.”
Iman met her gaze.
“That’s what I love about you. You understand me without explanations.”
The word love landed like glass.
━━━━━━━━ 3. Truths That Refused to Stay Hidden ━━━━━━━━
Delicia’s smile trembled.
“Why do I feel like you’re holding something back?”
Iman swallowed hard.
“Because I am. I’ve been fighting my feelings. Trying to be careful. Trying not to hurt anyone.”
“And what do your feelings say?” she asked.
His voice shook, but he didn’t stop.
“They say that with you, everything makes sense. My heart feels calm—and alive.”
On the call, Shayla’s eyes filled with tears.
“Iman… are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Delicia whispered.
“Yes. I care about you more than I planned. More than I tried to stop.”
Shayla covered her mouth as a quiet sob escaped.
“I felt it,” Delicia said. “Every time you looked at me.”
Iman stepped closer.
“I love how you smile when you’re nervous. I love how you challenge me. I love how you make me feel like myself.”
That was when Shayla finally spoke.
━━━━━━━━ 4. The Moment the Call Spoke Back ━━━━━━━━
“Iman.”
The room froze.
He spun toward the table, blood draining from his face.
“Shayla…?”
He grabbed the phone.
“You were still there?”
Her voice was steady—but shattered.
“I heard everything. Every confession. Every truth you never told me.”
“I didn’t mean for this,” he pleaded. “I thought the call ended.”
A bitter laugh broke through her tears.
“So did I. I thought we still mattered.”
Delicia stepped back, confused.
“You were on a call?”
“Yes,” Iman whispered. “With Shayla.”
Silence crashed down between them.
“I guess this is where I stop pretending,” Shayla said. “You’ve made your choice clear.”
“Please don’t hang up,” Iman begged.
“Goodbye, Iman.”
The line went dead.
━━━━━━━━ 5. Three Hearts, One Forgotten Call ━━━━━━━━
Iman lowered the phone, hands shaking. Delicia’s eyes filled with guilt and hurt.
“I never wanted to hurt anyone,” she said softly.
Iman’s voice broke.
“Neither did I. But the truth doesn’t ask permission before it hurts.”
Outside, the city kept moving—unaware that three lives had just shifted forever.
Shayla sat alone, staring at a silent screen, grieving not just a relationship—but the future she believed in.
Delicia stood torn between love and regret, knowing honesty had come at a devastating cost.
And Iman remained in the middle, realizing too late that avoiding difficult truths only makes them arrive louder.
✨ Sometimes, it isn’t betrayal that breaks hearts—
it’s the moment the truth finally speaks.
Comments
Post a Comment