The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Malik didn't greet me at breakfast. He didn't glance at me during school pick-up. His distance was constant, deliberate. Every step he took reminded me that I had failed him. That I had caused the first crack.
I tried to focus on my notebooks, but my hands shook.
Every scribble, every record of his movements — meaningless now. The damage had already started.
Then Lina came by.
"Amara?" she asked softly, hesitating at the doorway. My best friend. The one person who had always been allowed inside my chaos.
"I… I'm fine," I lied immediately.
She stepped closer. Her hand brushed mine as she tried to steady me.
And everything went still.
"She will break him."
Lina recoiled, eyes wide. "What… what was that?"
I couldn't breathe. The sentence wasn't a warning anymore — it was a confirmation. My interference was dangerous.
"It's nothing," I whispered, though my voice betrayed me.
Her gaze searched mine. "Amara… I felt it. Something about Malik. About… you."
I shook my head. Words were too dangerous. Even confessing might create more ripples.
"It's already too late."
The sentence hammered in my mind.
I could see it clearly now:
Malik, distant and hurt.
Lina, afraid and confused.
Everyone connected to me, unknowingly caught in the wave.
I was the epicenter.
Lina left quickly, casting one last worried glance over her shoulder.
I sank onto the floor of my room, tracing the sentences in my notebook:
"It wasn't supposed to happen like this."
"I wish I never knew."
"She's the reason."
"She will break him."
Each word pressed down on me like a stone.
I realized, with crushing clarity, that my obsession hadn't ended with the birthday. It had only begun.
The ripples were still spreading.
And I… I was the wave.