The Ripple Effect

As Sofia stood by the window, the quiet moment of reflection was interrupted by the sound of her phone buzzing on the coffee table. She glanced at it, half-expecting another message from Raj or perhaps a check-in from an old friend. But it wasn’t either. It was a missed call from Billy.

For a moment, she froze. It had been so long since they last spoke. What could he possibly want now?

The memory of Billy felt distant yet familiar, like an old song she hadn’t heard in years. But there was a heaviness in her chest as she thought about him, about what she had left behind when she chose Raj.

She remembered how things had ended with Billy. It wasn’t a dramatic breakup—there were no shouting matches, no tearful goodbyes. It had simply dissolved, like a candle burning out. The love that had once felt so secure, so certain, had slowly faded until there was nothing left but the ashes of what could have been.

But now, as Sofia sat down on the couch, she found herself thinking back to the weeks leading up to that breakup. She had noticed Billy growing more distant, more reserved. At first, she thought it was because of work, or maybe something personal he wasn’t ready to share. But now, she wondered if he had known. Had Billy sensed that something was happening between her and Raj? Had he seen the signs before she had?

She dialed his number back, her heart pounding as she waited for the call to connect. But it went to voicemail. Sofia let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, relieved and disappointed at the same time.

As she sat there, her thoughts shifted to Raj and the situation he had been pulled into—something she wasn’t entirely aware of, but sensed had grown darker. She had noticed the change in him over the past few days, the way he became more secretive, more tense. He was involved in something, but he hadn’t told her what. Sofia had her suspicions, but part of her didn’t want to know. The truth, whatever it was, felt like it might be too heavy to bear.

Little did Sofia know, Raj was deep in the middle of something far more dangerous than she could have imagined. While she sat there, grappling with her emotions, Raj was with Billy—caught in the middle of an abduction that she had no idea was taking place.

Sofia sighed, turning her phone over in her hands. She had always been good at reading people, at sensing when something was off. And lately, everything with Raj felt off. There was a tension in his voice whenever they spoke, a distance in his gaze whenever they were together. It reminded her of the last days with Billy—the growing chasm between them that no amount of conversation or affection could bridge.

In a way, Sofia felt like she was always stuck in the middle of these invisible battles. Between the comfort of Billy and the thrill of Raj, between what she thought she wanted and what she actually needed.

And now, as both men seemed to be slipping away from her—Billy in the past, Raj in the present—Sofia felt the weight of it all crashing down. She didn’t know what Raj was involved in, but she knew it couldn’t be good. The phone calls that went unanswered, the mysterious late-night disappearances—she had seen it all before.

But this time, Sofia wasn’t sure she wanted to know the truth. Not yet.

© Nil | 2024