I Had Nothing to Say. And That Was Okay.
I am Ayaan, and some phone calls change the way you see everything. For a long time, I had been trying to reach an old friend. Messages sent. Calls missed. The kind of gap that grows quietly between two people — not because of any fight or falling out — but simply because life gets heavy and some people go silent when they are carrying too much. And then one evening, he called. I picked up before the second ring. It felt good to hear his voice — even before he said anything. And when he spoke, it was carefully. Like someone who had been holding something for a very long time and was finally, gently, setting it down. For the past four to five years, he had been taking care of his father. Not occasionally. Not from a distance. Fully, completely, daily — the way you care for someone when you know time is running out and you refuse to waste a single day of it. He had left his job without looking back. Because some things matter more than a salary. And he had always known...
