The shape of him
Nyra Arvind
[Curled up on her bed, sketchpad balanced on her knees, lamplight soft]
Nyra Arvind
Three days.
Three quiet, curious, aching days.
The lamplight didn't just warm her room-it touched the edges of her soul.
Every line she drew felt like a memory she
hadn't lived yet.
A jawline imagined.
Eyes shaded in charcoal.
A man built from shadows... and knowing
Nyra Arvind
[Whispers to herself]
You always know.
Even when I don't.
She didn't have his name.
Only the silence he left behind-
in deliveries, in drawings,
in the ache beneath her skin when the doorbell rang.
Nyra Arvind
[presses a thumb over the sketch's lips, just to see]
Would you ever speak if I asked?
Three days.
Three nights.
And still... no pasta.
No trace.
Only him-lingering in her mind like a song half-heard.
A quiet knock on her door. Not the world-changing kind. Just a brother's rhythm-three taps and a pause.
Ruhan Arvind (FL Brother)
[leans against the doorway, arms crossed]
"You're drawing him again."
Nyra Arvind
[startled, covers the sketchpad halfway]
I'm just... sketching.
Ruhan Arvind (FL Brother)
[smiles, but it's tight around the edges]
"You always say that. But the sketch is always the same man."
She doesn't answer.
How could she?
She didn't even know his name
Ruhan Arvind (FL Brother)
[walks in, voice softer now]
"Nyra... you okay?
Nyra Arvind
[quiet laugh, eyes still on the page]
Do I ever seem okay?
He doesn't argue.
They both know her silence too well
Ruhan Arvind (FL Brother)
[after a pause]
If anyone messes with you... you'll tell me?
Nyra Arvind
[meets his eyes, honest]
If I ever figure out what's happening... you'll be the first.
She meant it.
Because if this was madness,
She didn't want to face it alone.
But something in her heart whispered- It wasn't madness.
It was a beginning
Ruhan left with a quiet smile and one last glance at her sketch.
The door clicked shut behind him.
Silence returned-familiar, sacred. But tonight... it wasn't empty
Nyra Arvind
[sets sketchpad aside, walks to the window, barefoot on cold floorboards]
"You're there, aren't you?"
She couldn't see him. She never could. But her heart recognized the hush he carried.
A stillness too precise. Like the world paused to let him pass
Nyra Arvind
He's always watching. Not like a ghost.
Like a promise
[She places her palm flat against the glass.]
Nyra Arvind
[softly, to the night]
"You saw him. My brother."
[whispers] "Do you know everything about me?"
The air shifted.
A shadow across the street.
A shape too still to be anything but him.
She didn't need to see his face.
She felt it-
the pull,
the quiet claim
the unspoken mine.
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