Unspoken Words

Hey guyyyssss enjoyyyyy ...

The days that followed were filled with a kind of tense quiet, a storm waiting to happen.

It had been two weeks since Steph first noticed the shift, the space growing between her and Noah, and the confusing feelings swirling every time she saw Hassan. She tried to ignore it, tried to push the thoughts aside as she went about her life. But there was something undeniably different about everything now.

That morning, as Steph walked into the kitchen, the usual warmth of the place hit her in waves. Jeremy, her father, was already up, his strong presence filling the space. He was flipping pancakes, a task he had taken on since the twins had gotten older. It was the small things like this that made Steph feel grounded, that reminded her everything could still be normal, even when her heart was a mess.

"Morning, kiddo," Jeremy called out with a grin as he saw her enter. His thick, graying hair was slightly tousled, and he looked every bit the picture of a dad who had already put in a full morning's work before dawn.

Steph smiled back, her heart warming at the sight. She didn't tell him, but it comforted her to know her father had always been this consistent. He was a man who always put others first, even when he didn't have the strength to do so.

"Morning," she replied, sliding into one of the chairs at the kitchen table.

Noah, who had already been sitting at the table, didn't look up from his phone. He was texting something, his lips pressed together in concentration, probably about school or the restaurant. She caught a glimpse of his name in the conversation thread his girlfriend, Sarah.

A lump formed in Steph's throat. Noah had been dating Sarah for a couple of months now. Sarah was sweet, funny, and beautiful. The kind of girl who could make Noah smile in ways Steph never could. But even though she tried to hide it, the jealousy gnawed at her. It wasn't that she didn't like Sarah; it was that it hurt to watch Noah give his heart to someone else when it felt like Steph's had been left out in the cold for so long.

"Steph, you want some pancakes?" Jeremy asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh. Yeah, sure." She smiled and grabbed a plate, but her hands shook slightly as she took her seat.

The last thing she needed was for her father to notice. He had enough to worry about without her adding to it. But somehow, it felt like the cracks in her world were getting bigger, harder to ignore. She had to keep up the act that everything was fine.

---

Later that afternoon, the air felt heavier as the school day ended. Steph had been feeling the weight of it all, and it didn't help that she had barely said a word to Hassan in days. Something had shifted between them, and though they were both too proud to admit it, she could feel it.

The walk home from school felt long. She and Noah had fallen into an easy silence, and though Noah was still texting Sarah, Steph couldn't help but notice how distracted he was. The little thingsvlike the way his fingers hovered over his phone or the way he chewed his lip told her that something was going on in his head.

When they got to Jeremy's house, Noah waved as he headed inside first, eager to get to his room, likely to continue texting. Steph took a deep breath, feeling the weight of everything pressing on her. She couldn't avoid it any longer.

She walked around to the back, where the garden shed was, where Hassan liked to hang out when he needed space. There he was, sitting on the steps, looking out over the garden, his eyes distant, lost in thought.

"Hey," Steph said softly, her voice quiet in the cool breeze.

Hassan didn't turn at first, but he eventually glanced over his shoulder, his face guarded. "Hey."

There was an awkward pause as Steph sat down beside him. They both stared at the garden for a while, neither of them knowing where to begin.

"I uhm I I've been meaning to talk to you," Steph said, her voice cracking a little.

Hassan raised an eyebrow but didn't look at her. "About what?"

"You've been different lately," she said, her words fumbling. "And I don't know why, but it feels like you're pulling away from me. And I I don't know what I did wrong." She swallowed, her throat tight. "I just want to know if everything's okay."

Hassan was silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's not about you, Steph. It's about me."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

He sighed deeply and then slowly stood up, walking a few steps away from her. He ran a hand through his hair, clearly agitated. "I don't know how to explain this. But I'm struggling. And I don't want to drag you into my mess. I've been trying to fix things on my own, but it's hard. And I'm not sure I can do it anymore."

Steph stood up as well, now standing a few feet behind him. "What do you mean? What's going on, Hassan? You know you can talk to me."

Hassan turned to face her, his expression raw, almost vulnerable. "My father he's trying to get back into my life. And it's uhm confusing. One part of me wants to scream at him, tell him to leave me alone. Another part of me wonders if I should let him in. But I don't know what that would mean for me, for us."

The mention of Hassan's father hit Steph like a punch to the gut. The infamous billionaire, the man who had abandoned Hassan and left him with nothing but the weight of his name. Steph had heard rumors about him, but she didn't know the full extent of what Hassan had gone through. He never spoke about his father, and yet, here it was the source of the pain that had kept Hassan distant.

"I'm sorry," Steph whispered, her heart aching for him. She stepped forward, her voice trembling. "I didn't know it was that complicated."

Hassan shook his head, wiping his face with his hands as though trying to clear away the emotions threatening to spill over. "It's more than just that. It's me. I don't know how to deal with it. And I don't know how to tell you that I'm struggling with it without making it all worse."

Steph felt the distance between them grow even more, even though she was right there beside him. He was carrying a weight she couldn't understand, and she couldn't help but feel helpless.

"You don't have to do this alone, Hassan," she said quietly, her voice soft but firm. "I'm here for you. No matter what."

For a long moment, Hassan didn't respond. Then, slowly, he turned toward her, his eyes searching hers. "I don't want to hurt you, Steph. But I don't know if I can stay here. If I can keep pretending everything's okay when it's not."

Steph's heart tightened in her chest. She wanted to reach out, to say something that would fix everything, but the words wouldn't come. All she could do was stand there and wait, and hope that somehow, someway, they could make it through this.

That night, as the stars began to fill the sky, Steph lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. She couldn't shake the feeling that everything was falling apart. That somehow, things with Hassan, things with Noah, were drifting away from her.

The uncertainty weighed heavily on her, but she didn't know how to fix it.

She could only wait.