Ayra's Side
Ayra didn't go straight home.
She wandered.
Down her street. Past Zayn's house. Past Cairo's. Past the pharmacy with the flickering green sign.
She needed air.
She needed answers.
She needed to feel something that wasn't torn between fire and silence.
Her phone buzzed.
Cairo: You okay?
She stared at the message. Typed. Deleted. Typed again.
Ayra: What did you mean by "you were there"? With Zayn.
A pause.
A full minute.
Two.
Then—
Cairo: Can we talk
Cairo's Side
He stared at her message, back leaning against the stone railing of his balcony.
Zayn's house was two doors away.
It always had been.
But so was the past.
He hated talking about it.
Not because he couldn't—
But because he remembered it too well.
The screaming.
The blood.
Zayn kneeling beside someone who would never open their eyes again.
Cairo's jaw tightened.
He hadn't forgotten what Zayn said that night under the broken streetlight:
"If Ayra ever looks at me like I'm the monster, I swear I'll disappear."
That was the first time Cairo realized Zayn's weakness wasn't pain.
It was hope.
Hope that someone would see him and stay
Later that night,
Ayra stood outside Cairo's gate.
He met her halfway.
Neither of them spoke immediately.
Cairo finally broke the silence. "What Zayn did… wasn't evil."
Ayra blinked. "Then what was it?"
Cairo looked away.
"It was desperate."
She stepped closer. "Tell me."
He sighed, then met her eyes.
"You sure you're ready to carry a truth that doesn't belong to you?"
"I need to know why both of you bleed behind smiles."
Cairo didn't smile.
He just opened the gate and said, "Then come inside."
Ayra responded,"How about you just tell me tomorrow instead, I'm kinda pressed right now"
Cairo said "alright then, night ayra"
And they both left