Traces of You
Ayaan never believed in things he couldn’t explain this remained until Noor entered his life.
Loving her didn’t feel complicated, It was effortless. Something in his carefully controlled world had quietly fallen into place. She brought warmth where there was none, chaos where everything had always been too still. With her, things made sense in a way they never had before.
And then, slowly, smothing begins to shift.
At first, it was nothing he could point to. Small things. The way she’d pause mid-sentence, like she has forgotten what came next. The way her expressions didn’t quite match the moment. Sometimes she felt completely present while other times, strangely distant, like she was there and not there at the same time.
No one else noticed this subtle change.
But Ayaan did.
The more he paid attention, the harder it became to ignore. There was something off, something he couldn’t explain, no matter how hard he tried to reason through it. And the more he searched for answers, the more everything began to blur.
Memory, emotion, even reality itself.
There were moments he couldn’t explain. Thoughts that didn’t feel like his own. A quiet, unsettling feeling that this wasn’t the first time he had been here or felt this way or lived through something like this before.
What started as concern slowly turned into obsession.
Because whatever was happening to Noor—
it wasn’t just about her.
And the truth waiting beneath it all wasn’t something Ayaan was ready to face.
_______
"I tried," he says, his voice low almost breaking."I did everything I could."
Noor looks at him.
There is no anger in her eyes.No fear,just tiredness.
"I know'
Her fingers shift slightly in his grasp.For a moment she just watches him like she's seeing him for the last time.
Then very gently, she says" You didn't save me, Ayaan"
His grip tightens." Don't say that."
She smiles faintly. “I remember loving you… I just can’t feel it anymore.”
A pause.
"You changed me."