Zayan had never felt this unanchored.
He was a man of numbers, precision, and logic. His days were planned, his nights silent, and his life a series of measured steps along predictable lines. But tonight, nothing felt calculated.
Not the storm that had passed.
Not the woman who had come into his world like a whispered hurricane.
And certainly not the war inside his chest.
He sat in his office, staring out at the city skyline as raindrops slid lazily down the tall glass. The view that once soothed him now looked distant, blurred by thoughts he couldn't explain.
Everything in his life had been polished, structured, and sterile.
Until her.
Andaleeb Shah was chaos.
Loud. Clumsy. Mysterious. Infuriating.
And yet, she made the silence in his life… beautiful.
He pulled out his phone, hesitated, and then typed a single message.
> "Rooftop. Now. Please."
It wasn't a command.
It was a plea.
---
The Rooftop
The air was cool, and the rain had stopped. The rooftop of Khan Global was silent except for the breeze that whispered through the edges, carrying the scent of wet concrete and half-spoken words.
Andaleeb stepped out onto the open terrace, arms crossed, her expression unreadable.
Her hair was damp from the earlier rain, her eyes guarded but shining. She looked like someone walking into a battlefield she couldn't avoid.
"You called me here like it's a command," she said softly.
Zayan turned from the railing. His jacket was off, sleeves rolled, the faintest mess in his normally perfect posture.
He didn't look like a CEO.
He looked like a man stripped of defenses.
"No," he said, voice low. "It's not a command. Not tonight. For once… I'm not your boss. I'm just a man—asking for the truth."
She blinked, her breath caught in her chest.
He took a step forward. Then another.
"I don't know what you're hiding," he admitted. "I don't know why strange things happen around you. Why I see light where there shouldn't be any. Why I forget things that feel too real to be dreams."
Her pulse quickened.
"But I do know this," he continued. "Since the moment you barged into my office like a disaster in heels… something changed."
She bit her lip, looking away, the wind catching the strands of her hair.
"I feel like I've been frozen all my life, Andaleeb," he whispered. "Then you came along and melted everything."
Her eyes welled with something she couldn't name.
He stepped closer, close enough that she could feel the heat of him.
"I think I love you," Zayan said, voice breaking.
Silence wrapped around them, heavy and deafening.
Andaleeb stared at him, stunned.
He reached up, hesitating for only a second, before his hand cupped her cheek.
"And I don't care if you're chaos. Because somehow, with you… I feel calm."
And then, he kissed her.
It wasn't urgent. It wasn't desperate.
It was honest.
A kiss filled with vulnerability, longing, and everything he hadn't been able to say in words.
Her body tensed for only a moment.
Then she kissed him back.
Her fingers curled around his shirt, her lips responding with soft, trembling pressure. She leaned into him like he was the only anchor left in her world.
For a few seconds—eternities—they stood beneath the open sky, their hearts speaking in silence.
But then…
She pulled away.
Not all at once.
Slowly.
Regretfully.
"Zayan…" she whispered, stepping back, her voice barely audible over the wind.
His eyes searched hers. Confused. Hurting. "You kissed me back. Don't tell me this means nothing."
"It means everything," she said, her voice breaking.
"Then why—"
"That's why I can't."
"You feel the same?" he asked, stunned.
"Yes," she said quietly. "That's the problem."
"Then what's stopping you?" His voice was raw.
She looked down, wiping her eyes quickly. "You wouldn't understand."
"Then explain it to me," he said, stepping forward again.
"I can't," she said again. A whisper this time. A broken one.
And before he could say another word, she turned.
Walked away.
Her footsteps were soft against the wet stone.
Zayan didn't stop her.
He stood alone under the grey sky, his heart beating too loud in the silence.
A man who had everything.
Except the one truth he needed.
---
Later – At the Café
The bell above the door jingled sharply as Andaleeb burst into Zareen's Café.
Her shoulders were shaking. Her eyes wet. Her breaths shallow.
Eman looked up from behind the counter and froze. "What happened?"
Andaleeb collapsed onto the couch, tears spilling now that no one else could see.
"He told me he loves me," she whispered, voice cracking. "And I… I kissed him."
Eman dropped the cloth in her hand and rushed over, pulling her sister into a hug.
"I kissed him back, Eman. I kissed him and I felt everything. And then I walked away."
Eman held her tighter. "Why?"
"Because I couldn't lie to him. But I couldn't tell him either."
"You didn't lie. You protected him."
Andaleeb wiped her cheeks. "I broke him."
"You saved him from a truth that could ruin him," Eman said. "But Andaleeb… hearts don't lie forever. Neither will yours."
Andaleeb closed her eyes, whispering, "It already hurts."
---
Elsewhere – Haroon's Concern
Haroon leaned against his car outside his office, the night unusually cold. He scrolled through his phone, casually checking updates when a message popped up from Aryan:
> "He's been off since last night. Not talking. Barely working. Something happened between him and Andaleeb."
Haroon's jaw tightened.
He pocketed the phone and looked up at the sky—no stars tonight. Just thick clouds and a city that didn't know what was coming.
"If she doesn't tell him soon…" he muttered, "someone else will."
He didn't like where this was going.
Not at all.
---
Final Scene – The Question
Zayan sat inside his car, parked just outside his building. The windshield was fogged. Rain had begun again, soft this time—like it, too, had tired of the storm.
He gripped the steering wheel loosely, his thoughts a spinning cyclone of emotions.
Her touch still lingered on his cheek.
Her kiss on his lips.
And her silence in his chest.
He exhaled shakily, leaning back in the seat.
"She kissed me," he murmured.
Like saying it out loud might make it make sense.
But the memory stung, because it wasn't just a kiss.
It was a contradiction.
A beginning and an ending at once.
He closed his eyes.
And the words escaped him again, soft and wounded:
"But she didn't say a word."
His voice trembled.
"What are you, Andaleeb Shah?"
---
Chapter End 17