Almost Love, Almost Home
Chapter 1: “I Didn’t Know My Life Was Changing That Day”
Outside the Civil Engineering Block. Mid-morning sun. Light wind.
Hope and heartbreak waiting at the gate.
Zaria
(They say the first day of college changes everything)
Zaria
(But no one says how quietly it begins.
Not with fireworks. Not with a twist of fate.
Just a girl walking through a gate with a nervous smile...
and a storm she hasn’t met yet)
She fixed her scarf again — third time that morning.
Not because it was out of place. But because she was.
New city. New walls.
New version of her that she was still stitching together.
As she walked into the department corridor, heart thudding for reasons unknown —
her eyes landed on someone leaning against the far pillar.
A guy. Tall. Casual. A file in hand. Earphones in.
Looking at no one — until he looked up at her.
And there it was.
The first eye contact.
Chapter 2: “He Didn’t Look Again… But I Did”
Later that evening. Back in her room
Zaria
“He looked at me.”
“Just once. In the corridor. Black hoodie, earphones.”
Zenobia
“Zayyan?”
“He’s cute. But looks like the quiet type.”
Zaria
“Still. Something about that glance.”
She said it like a joke.
But she kept thinking about it even when the hostel lights went off.
Zenobia
“Forget him. You’ve seen Aarif?”
“Final year. The one girls trip over.”
Zaria
“Oh. The senior who walks like he owns the department?”
Zaria
“Yeah. I noticed him.”
Zenobia
“He’s trouble. Smart, intense, off-limits.”
Zenobia
“The best ones always are.”
The next day, Zaria found herself walking past his classroom again.
Not by accident. Not really.
She didn’t look at Zayyan.
Not anymore.
Zaria
(It wasn’t love.
But it was starting to feel like gravity.)
From the author: This story is deeply personal — a blend of what I’ve lived, what I’ve healed from, and what I still hope for.
Some parts will feel like fiction. Others might feel like a memory — because they are.
If you’ve ever stayed too long, felt too much, or loved too deeply… this is for you.
Chapter 3: “He Said My Name”
Zaria
Uff, that guy again. Corridor crush 2.0.
Zenobia
Wait, Zaria. You mean that tall guy with the half-sleeve shirt and laptop?
Zaria
Yeah. The one who looks like a poetry line in motion.
Zenobia
Omg. That’s Arif — Computer Science. Final year. Rumour says he rejected the prettiest girl in the batch.
Zaria
Arif.
(Repeats in her head silently.)
So that’s his name.
Zaria
He walked past me today… his perfume? Oud, I think. And his eyes?
They didn’t just look at me.
They paused.
Zenobia
Haha, don’t fall too fast. You have assignments to survive.
Zaria
Too late.
My soul already knows his name.(typing...)📨
She didn’t know then what kind of storm Arif would become.
But in that moment, all she knew was someone finally made her forget the boy with the dragon keychain.
(Zayyan and Arif.... unknowingly she was torn between the two...unaware of the storm that awaits)
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