Before He Left

Zara wasn't looking for love-especially not with someone she barely knew.

In Year 10, her life is already full: demanding GCSE options, late-night revision sessions, and chaotic group chats with her best friends. Between school pressure and friendship drama, romance is the last thing on her mind.
Hassan, a confident Year 11 with a sharp mind for computer science and a reputation that follows him through every corridor, seems like the kind of person she'd never really talk to. The only thing more intimidating than him? His twin brother, Zayd, who makes it even harder to tell what Hassan is really thinking.

For months they exist in the same world but different circles-passing each other in crowded hallways, sharing the same school spaces, exchanging nothing more than brief glances.

Everything changes when their parents unexpectedly become friends.

Suddenly, awkward dinners, shared family gatherings, and chance encounters force Zara and Hassan into the same room-and into conversations neither of them expected. What starts as quiet curiosity slowly turns into something deeper, something neither of them quite knows how to handle.

But high school isn't simple. Friends notice. Rumours spread. And suddenly Zara and Hassan might finally have to face what's been building between them all along.

Because sometimes the person you notice from across the room...
is the one who changes everything.