Chapter 1
I still remember the first time I saw her.
It was a cold Monday morning, and I was late to class again. Hair a mess, shirt half tucked, heart thumping for reasons I didn’t understand. She sat by the window, sunlight hitting her like it knew she was different. Not just pretty—something more. Something that made the whole room blur when she smiled.
Her name was Zara.
And from that day, everything changed for me.
I don’t know how or when, but I started seeing her in everything. In the pages of my notebook. In songs on the radio. In dreams that made me smile in my sleep. It wasn’t long before I fell—hard. No warning, no safety net. Just a heart that beat louder every time she looked my way.
And she looked my way a lot.
At first, it was shy smiles and quiet “hi”s. Then texts late into the night. Then walks after school, her hand brushing mine, like she was scared of something too perfect to be real. Maybe she was right to be scared. Or maybe I should’ve been.
But I wasn’t. I gave her everything.
My time. My thoughts. My heart. Even when I was tired, hurting, or confused—I made her my first priority.
She said she loved me. Whispered it like a promise.
I believed her.
But love, I’ve come to learn, isn’t always what it seems. And people… people aren’t always who you think they are.
