I'm sure you've heard a lot about unrequited love, but what if I say there exists an unwilling love, hidden somewhere between the echoes of silence and the whispers of the heart's secrets? A love that fights to stay buried, yet yearns to be discover...
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He looked towards the bedside table and finds the jug full of water. "Here take this" Shayan hands the glass after filling it, almost spilling it around.
"Hello to you too brother." Shazal clears his throat while taking the glass from his hand. Shayan could only turn his face in guilt.
"Where have you been?" When it was Shayan's duty to ask questions, his elder brother was doing so.
"Um, running errands. H-how are you?"
Shazal hummed. The younger looked at his face then, the tired lines those bandages, he looked completely worn out, as if the ...as if the exhaustion had settled into his bones and decided to stay.
Shayan shifted on his feet, fingers twisting together. Silence stretched, thick and uncomfortable, until Shazal set the glass down on the table.
"You didn't answer me," he said gently. "Where have you really been?"
Shayan swallowed. "Around." A pause. Then, softer, "Avoiding."
Shazal studied him, the way he always did-like he could see past the words and straight into the mess behind them. "You don't have to avoid me, Shay."
"That's easy for you to say." Shayan let out a shaky breath. "You've always known things before I did. Always known what to do."
Shazal's brows furrowed. "What things?"
Shayan finally looked up, eyes glistening. "Zayd knew. He always knew." His voice cracked. "About Ammi. About her first husband. About... everything. About you, when I'm your brother and I have the right!."
The words spilled out now, rushed and uneven. "And I didn't. I was the last one to find out-like I was some... i don't know...afterthought?"
Shazal went still.
"I know how that feels," Shazal said, barely holding together his hurt. "Being kept in the dark while everyone else decides what you can and can't handle."
"That man, Shayan, he looked me into the eye and told me that my father was not Baba but himself, can you imagine how he manipulated me into thinking that, the knowledge was so common and everyone knew, I lost my mind, I questioned him, our father, our shield.."
A long silence followed. Shazal exhaled slowly,"Listen to me," he said. "If you had known earlier-if Zayd had told you-would it have changed anything?"
Shayan frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Would it have made you any less my brother?" Shazal asked quietly. "Would it have erased the years we grew up together? The fights, the stupid jokes, the nights we stayed awake because either of us had so much on our mind we couldn't sleep?"
Shayan's lips trembled. "No... but-"
"But it still hurts," Shazal finished for him. "I know."
He reached out, hesitated because of the IV, then rested his hand lightly over Shayan's. "You're allowed to be angry. You're allowed to feel betrayed. But don't let that convince you that we are any less brothers"
