The four of them finally drifted out of campus together, laughter still echoing faintly in their ears. The streetlamps flickered on one by one as the evening deepened, painting the sidewalks in soft yellow pools of light.
Maya walked a little behind, her bag slung carelessly over her shoulder. Aryan and Tara were still bickering over who would score higher in the finals, while Aveed walked silently beside them, hands shoved in his pockets, expression unreadable.
She glanced at him once, twice, waiting for him to say something. On the phone, he had been different—talkative, teasing, playful in a way that made her cheeks warm long after the call ended. But now? Quiet. Almost distant. Like he was there but not really there.
Does he… change depending on who he's talking to? The thought hit her unexpectedly. It wasn't the first time she'd noticed it either. Sometimes he was warm and easy, other times he was cold, unreadable.
Maya frowned slightly, adjusting her bag strap. That's not great, is it?
As they reached the crossroads where they usually split ways, Aryan tossed his arm dramatically over her shoulder. "Don't stress, Maya. I'll make sure you pass. I'll even tutor you if you beg properly."
Maya shoved him off with a laugh. "Tutor yourself first."
"Rude," Aryan muttered, but his grin gave him away.
Tara waved at everyone before heading down her lane, Aryan soon following with his usual dramatic exit. That left Maya and Aveed walking the last stretch together.
The silence between them was heavy—not awkward exactly, but weighted, as if Aveed's thoughts were somewhere far away. Maya finally broke it.
"You're quiet today," she said softly, eyes flicking to him.
Aveed glanced at her briefly, then back at the road. "Am I?"
Maya gave a half-smile. "Yeah. On the phone, you wouldn't shut up. Now it's like you've lost all your words."
A small, almost guilty curve tugged at his lips, but he didn't meet her gaze. "Guess I save my words for when they matter."
Something about the calm way he said it made her chest tighten. She wanted to press more, to ask why he shifted so much, why his moods seemed like tides—pulling close one moment, retreating the next. But she held back.
Instead, she just nodded, though her thoughts spun. He's… unpredictable. And that's not always a good thing.
They reached her lane. She stopped, forcing a smile. "Alright. See you tomorrow?"
Aveed gave the faintest nod. "Yeah. Tomorrow."
And with that, they parted ways, leaving Maya with a hundred questions she couldn't answer.
Maya reached home. She dropped her bag on the chair, flopped onto her bed, and pulled out her phone. For a second, she just stared at the dark screen, replaying the group meet in her head.
She frowned.
Aveed had been… quiet. Too quiet.
On the phone, he had been alive—teasing, playful, sharp with his words, like he had every trick ready to make her laugh. But today, sitting across from her, he'd been almost distant. Smiling, yes, but softer. Teasing, yes, but barely. He wasn't the same guy who had kept her awake at night with his voice and his stupid, flirty jokes.
"Why does he… switch like that?" she muttered to herself, pressing the phone against her chest.
It bothered her more than she wanted to admit. He had this way of making her feel like the only person in the room when they talked alone—but the moment others were around, he became someone else. Calm. Silent. Almost unreadable.
Maya rolled onto her side, cheeks warming at the memory of their last call. He had been so quick with his banter, so shamelessly playful. She had laughed until her stomach hurt, blushing at things she swore she wouldn't react to.
But today? Nothing.
"Maybe he's just… moody," she whispered, but the words didn't convince even herself.
Her thoughts flicked briefly to Aryan, who had been his usual self—loud, teasing, throwing in little jokes even at his own expense. And then to Tara, who seemed to enjoy every bit of attention tossed her way. The whole dynamic had been fun on the surface, but underneath, something felt tight. Fragile. Like threads pulling in directions no one wanted to admit.
Maya hugged her pillow, her lips twitching in a half-smile, half-frown.
Aveed's silence was bothering her.
Too much.
And for reasons she wasn't ready to face.
Aryan kicked off his sneakers the second he got home, tossing his bag into the corner of the room. He fell back on his bed with a heavy sigh, one arm covering his face.
Today had been… strange.
Not bad, not awkward, just… strange.
Maya's laugh from earlier still echoed in his head—the way her eyes crinkled, how she shoved his arm when he teased her, how effortlessly she made everything feel brighter. He hated that he noticed it so much. Hated that every small thing she did pulled him deeper, even when he'd promised himself not to.
"Get a grip, Aryan," he muttered, dragging his hand down his face.
And then there was Aveed. His best friend. Normally unshakable, always calm, always collected. But today, Aryan had caught the silence. The way Aveed's smile didn't reach his eyes. The way he barely spoke when Maya was around, as if holding back words he didn't want anyone to hear.
Aryan frowned. It didn't sit right.
"You're hiding something, bro," he whispered into the empty room. "I can feel it."
And that was the worst part. Aryan wasn't even sure if he wanted to know what it was.
He sat up, grabbing his phone, scrolling aimlessly just to distract himself. That's when Tara's last text popped up in the group chat—something light, silly, a meme about finals. Aryan smirked, shaking his head.
Tara was easy. With her, everything was simple—banter, jokes, no hidden layers. Maybe that's why he liked pushing Aveed and Tara together earlier. Maybe it was to lighten the mood. Maybe it was just to get his own head out of the storm called Maya.
But deep down, Aryan knew. He wasn't fooling himself.
The tension between the three of them wasn't going away. If anything, it was building—quiet, unspoken, dangerous.
He leaned back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling. His chest tightened.
"Are we even gonna survive this?" he whispered, half to himself, half to the silence.
Aveed walked into his apartment, the silence wrapping around him like a blanket he didn't ask for. He dropped his bag by the door, loosened his hoodie, and sank onto the edge of his bed. For a long moment, he just sat there, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor.
The day replayed in fragments.
Maya's laugh.
Her glance at him across the table.
The way Aryan leaned a little too close to her when he cracked a joke.
Tara's playful nudges.
And his own silence—so unlike him.
Aveed exhaled slowly. He wasn't usually like this. He was calm, steady, collected—the guy people came to when things went sideways. But lately? Around Maya? Around Aryan? That steadiness felt like it was cracking, piece by piece.
He ran a hand through his hair, frustration simmering beneath his calm facade.
"Why can't I just act normal?" he muttered under his breath.
He thought about the call with Maya a few nights back, how easy it had been to tease her, how natural their banter flowed. She had laughed, blushed—he'd felt it even through the phone. And yet today, in person, he'd barely spoken. The words had stuck in his throat like they weren't his to say.
And Aryan.
His best friend. His brother in all but blood. The one person he thought he could read without effort. But today Aryan had been… confusing. Trying to act light, even pushing him toward Tara, but Aveed had caught the flickers in his eyes. The way his smile slipped when he thought no one was looking.
Aveed leaned back, resting his head against the wall, his jaw tightening.
He knew what was happening. He just didn't want to admit it.
All three of them were standing on the edge of something they couldn't control.
A friendship that felt too much like love.
A love that felt too much like betrayal.
A bond that could shatter with a single truth.
Aveed closed his eyes, exhaling through his nose. He didn't know what Maya felt. He didn't know what Aryan would do. He didn't even know if his own feelings were love, or just… fear of losing something he couldn't imagine living without.
But he did know one thing.
The silence between the three of them was ticking, like a bomb.
And sooner or later—
someone was going to light the fuse.
Tara lay sprawled on her bed, phone in hand, aimlessly scrolling, though her mind was miles away. The group chat was still buzzing—memes, jokes, Aryan dropping stupid one-liners—but her focus drifted back to Aveed.
He hadn't said much today. Not like the Aveed she'd seen on calls, playful and sharp with comebacks. In person, he was quieter, almost distant. But even in that silence, he had this gravity—like the air shifted whenever he was around.
She remembered how he had casually opened the door for her, how his hand brushed hers when he passed the menu, how his voice dipped low when he finally spoke. It wasn't much, but somehow it was enough to replay in her head long after everyone else's voices had faded.
"Why him?" she whispered to the ceiling, half-annoyed at herself.
It wasn't like she hadn't been around other guys. Aryan was all charm and jokes, the kind of boy every girl found magnetic. But Aveed? He wasn't loud, he wasn't trying to be noticed. He just… was. And that "just being" had her heart tripping over itself in ways she didn't want to admit.
Tara hugged her pillow, staring at the faint glow of her phone screen. She typed something in the chat, deleted it, then tossed her phone aside.
There was a heaviness in her chest—something between excitement and fear. She knew Maya and Aveed had a strange pull between them. She'd seen it. The stolen glances, the tension neither of them spoke about.
But still… when he looked at her, even for a second, it felt like the world shifted in her direction.
And that was enough to keep her awake tonight, smiling into her pillow, even as guilt lingered quietly at the edges.
Because falling for someone who might already belong to someone else—
wasn't that the cruelest trick of all?
Because maybe this wasn't love.
Maybe it was a spark born out of silence, a trick of the heart searching for something it couldn't name.
But as night bled into quiet, one thing pulsed in Tara's chest like a secret—
someone was bound to break in this circle of hearts,
and she couldn't tell if it would be Maya, Aveed, Aryan…
or herself.