Against All Odds

stop it, please

Everything felt wrong, twisted. Dhriti was perfect in every way—gorgeous, charming, the kind of girl who turned heads wherever she went. And she loved him. She said it with such certainty, with such conviction, that it almost felt like he should be the happiest man in the world. But he wasn't. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the noise in his head. But it was no use. Liza's face kept popping up in his thoughts, uninvited. He had nothing with her—never did, never would. At least that's what he kept telling himself. So why, then, did he feel this unexplainable pull toward her, this need to justify himself? To explain something that wasn't even there? Why did he feel like he owed her something?

"Kabir, what are you even doing?," he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "You have a girlfriend. A great one. A perfect one. Just... shut up."

He was walking toward Akshara and her—was he coming to talk to her? For a moment, hope flickered in her chest, a tiny spark in the middle of all her confusion and hurt. She held her breath, her eyes widening ever so slightly as he came closer.

But then he walked right past them. She turned around to see where he was heading, and, of course, he went straight to Dhriti. Liza's chest tightened. She knew she shouldn't care, but seeing them together stirred up something bitter inside her. She'd been so clingy ever since they started dating, and while Liza wasn't one to judge, she couldn't help but think that Kabir looked... different. Off. Almost like he wasn't himself anymore, like he'd lost some spark that used to be there.

But every time she thought about it, she hesitated. She had no choice but to let him go, to forget about him. She knew it would hurt, and it did—more than she cared to admit. But deep down, she knew the truth. Kabir never liked her, not in the way she wanted him to. Maybe it was just a silly crush, and maybe, with time, it would just fade away. She wished it would. She really did.

But why did it still hurt so much to see him with her?

He hadn't spoken to Liza in weeks. At first, she thought it was just a phase—maybe he was caught up with Dhriti or busy with his own things. But then she realized it wasn't just her. He'd stopped talking to his own friends, too, whenever she was around them. It was like he was deliberately avoiding her, keeping his distance, setting boundaries so high that she couldn't cross them even if she wanted to. And, oh, how she wanted to.

.Liza,had become an expert at masking her feelings. She'd mastered the indifferent smile, the casual no. She convinced herself that she was over it, She'd buried it so deep that it hardly hurt anymore. At least, that's what she told herself. She was focusing on herself now, on moving forward. She was calm, composed, and at peace—at least on the surface.

But for Kabir, it wasn't that simple. Each encounter left him more restless than before. The more he saw her, the harder it became to maintain the lie he told himself. His chest would tighten every time their paths crossed, a silent war raging inside him. He couldn't help but steal glances, hoping she'd look back, hoping she wouldn't. When their eyes did meet, something twisted in him, something he couldn't quite place.

He couldn't understand why this was happening to him. Every logical thought in his mind told him to let it go, to focus on Dhriti and their relationship, to stop obsessing over someone who clearly wasn't thinking about him. But the more he tried to bury it, the more it consumed him. The confusion, the frustration, the need to explain himself to her—it was eating him alive.

Kabir felt like he was losing his grip. On everything. And he didn't know how to make it stop.

Hey loves, how is your reading experience going ? hope you arre enjoying every bit of liza and kabir s story.