It was one of those evenings when the city seemed to glow a little softer ,when the air felt thick with things left unsaid. Trez had asked Katriel to walk with him to the hotel he had booked for the night. He said he wanted to talk before she went back to her hostel, but something in his tone carried more than words a quiet longing she didn't dare name. They arrived at a five-star hotel that shimmered with golden light. The marble floors reflected their silhouettes as they walked in, side by side. The concierge greeted them with a polite smile, glancing between them before saying warmly, "Ah, you two make such a lovely couple. Are you newlyweds?" Katriel's eyes widened in surprise, but before she could speak, Trez chuckled and replied, "Yes, we are just arrived from our honeymoon." The words made Katriel blush instantly. She gave him a playful nudge, and both of them laughed as they walked away. The teasing lingered in the air like perfume. In the elevator, silence took over but it wasn't empty. Their hands brushed once, then again until finally his fingers curled gently around hers. Neither spoke. They didn't need to.Inside the room, the city lights streamed through the tall windows, painting their faces in soft amber. Katriel looked out at the skyline, trying to calm her racing heart. Trez stood behind her, his reflection meeting hers in the glass. He took a small step closer, his voice low and tender. "I'm really glad you came," he said. She smiled, her voice barely above a whisper. "So am I." They spent the evening talking about their childhoods, their dreams, the strange coincidences that had led them to meet. Time slipped away unnoticed. At moments, their laughter filled the room; at others silence settled gently between them heavy with feeling.When the night deepened and the hum of the city quieted, they found themselves sitting side by side on the edge of the bed, hands still entwined. The connection between them was undeniable soft, warm, and new. Trez brushed a loose strand of hair from Katriel's face, his gaze filled with respect and care. She smiled shyly, her heart full of trust and affection. They fell asleep close to each other, the comfort of shared warmth surrounding them. The night outside stretched on but inside that room, time seemed to stand still. By morning, the first light filtered through the curtains, and birds began to sing outside. Katriel stirred, realizing she had to leave for class. She looked at Trez peaceful, half asleep and felt something tender stir inside her. Leaning over, she kissed him softly on the cheek. "I'll see you tonight," she whispered. He smiled without opening his eyes. "I'll be waiting." That evening, Katriel returned to the hotel. The restaurant was softly lit, a single candle flickering between them. Trez looked at her as if trying to memorize every detail the curve of her smile and body ,the sound of her laughter, the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when she was nervous. When dinner ended, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. "I have something for you," he said quietly. Inside was a simple, elegant silver ring,with a small crystal that caught the candlelight like a drop of morning dew. "It's not an engagement ring," he explained, his voice trembling slightly. "It's a promise. I'll be leaving for Turkey soon, and it might be a year before I can come back. But I don't want you to forget how much this means to me ,how much you mean to me."Katriel's eyes filled with tears. She tried to speak but her voice broke. Instead, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around his, their hands closing over the little box together.For a long time, they sat like that silent, connected, feeling the ache of love and distance at once. When they finally said goodbye that night, it was with soft words, long embraces, and a promise that the time apart would only make their bond stronger. And as Katriel walked back into the cool night, she could still feel the warmth of his hand in hers and the quiet certainty that love, once found,never truly leaves. 

The day finally came when Trez had to return to Turkey.At the airport, Katriel stood among the crowd, her heart pounding as she watched him move through the gate. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she waved goodbye, trying to smile even as her chest ached. Trez turned one last time, promising her that distance would never break what they had, that their love would remain faithful through every mile between them. Days turned into weeks. Katriel tried to focus on her classes, but her mind often drifted to Trez to his voice, his laughter, the comfort of his presence. One morning during a lecture, a wave of dizziness washed over her. She felt lightheaded, her stomach unsettled. At first, she brushed it off thinking she was just exhausted or overwhelmed from late night study sessions. That evening, during a video call, she mentioned it to Trez with a small laugh. "I've been feeling weird lately," she said. "Probably just stress." But Trez frowned, worry showing in his eyes even through the screen. "Maybe you should take a test," he said gently. Katriel laughed softly. "That's impossible, Trez. I was in my safe days." Still, curiosity and a touch of fear pushed her to check. When she saw the result, her hands trembled. It was positive. For a moment, everything went quiet. Then came the tears not from fear, but from a confusing mix of joy and disbelief. When she told Trez, his voice cracked with emotion. He couldn't stop smiling. "We're going to be parents," he whispered. "I promise, Katriel as soon as I graduate, I'll come back. We'll make this right. We'll be a family." From that day, Trez called every evening. They talked for hours about baby names(suggesting Trezdan if he is a boy),about the future, about how life would look when he returned. Katriel started keeping a small journal, writing letters to the little life growing inside her. But fate had other plans.One evening, Katriel called him in tears. Her voice was shaky, full of fear. "The doctor says it's a threatened miscarriage," she whispered. "They're not sure if the baby will survive." Trez felt his heart break from miles away. He wished more than anything to be there to hold her hand, to tell her everything would be fine. They prayed together over the phone, clinging to hope. But a few days later, the message came quiet, heavy, final. Katriel had lost the baby. The silence that followed was unbearable. Katriel couldn't stop crying. She felt empty, as if a piece of her had been taken away. The pain turned to anger not at Trez, but at the cruel distance between them. "If you had been here," she whispered through tears one night, "maybe things would have been different." Trez had no words. He wanted to reach through the screen to hold her, to tell her how sorry he was. But all he could do was watch her cry, powerless. And from that moment, something shifted between them. The laughter faded from their calls. The messages grew shorter. Grief filled the spaces where love used to live. Katriel felt broken not only by the loss of her child, but by the distance that had made her feel so alone when she needed him most. 

After the loss, Katriel's world seemed to slow down. The days passed, but she barely noticed. Her notebooks lay untouched, her textbooks stacked like strangers on her desk. The once busy campus now felt cold and distant ,a blur of faces and voices she could no longer connect with. Every time she tried to study, her mind wandered. Memories of Trez, of the baby, of what might have been they crowded her thoughts like shadows that refused to leave. She stopped attending some classes, telling herself she just needed a little more time. But time, instead of healing, deepened the ache. Weeks later, the inevitable happened. Her grades dropped sharply, and at the end of the semester, she received a notice from the university administration. She had been discontinued for failing to meet the academic requirements. The paper trembled in her hands. It wasn't just about losing her place at school ,it felt like she was losing the future she had dreamed of. That night, she sat on her bed staring at her phone screen, waiting for a message from Trez. But he had stopped calling as often. The distance, once only measured in miles now felt emotional too. He still cared ,she knew that but grief had carved a quiet distance between them both.It was during that lonely stretch that she met Calvin. He was a quiet ,handsome classmate someone she'd seen around before but never spoken to much. One afternoon, while she was sitting under a tree near the campus library, tears quietly slipping down her cheeks, he approached her gently. "Hey," he said softly, holding out a bottle of water. "You look like you could use this." She almost refused at first, but something in his tone (calm, kind, without judgment )made her accept it. They talked,not much that day, but enough. Over the weeks that followed, Calvin became a constant presence. He didn't push her to talk about what happened, but he listened when she needed to. He'd find small ways to make her smile sharing funny stories, walking her to the cafeteria, reminding her to eat when she forgot. Little by little, Katriel began to breathe again.She started going for walks, studying a little, and writing in her journal not about the pain this time, but about hope. Calvin's quiet support didn't erase the past, but it helped her carry it with less weight. One evening, as they sat by the campus fountain watching the sunset, Katriel turned to him. "You know," she said softly, "I thought I'd never smile again."Calvin smiled back, his eyes warm. "You just needed someone to remind you that you could." For the first time in months, Katriel felt peace -fragile but real. She wasn't sure what the future held. Trez was still far away, their love buried under distance and sorrow. But for now, she was learning to stand again, piece by piece, heart by heart As days turned into weeks, Calvin's presence grew deeper in her life. He became her confidant, her laughter in the quiet moments, the one who reminded her that she still deserved happiness. She found herself looking forward to his messages, to his calm voice that could silence even her darkest thoughts. What began as friendship slowly started to bloom into something gentler and more dangerous. Katriel didn't realize when it happened, but one morning, as she watched him help her carry her books across campus, her heart fluttered in a way it hadn't for a long time. She knew then she was falling in love with Calvin.But just as she began to rediscover herself through this new light, a message appeared on her phone one she never expected. It was from Trez. He was already on a flight. He was coming to Nigeria to see her. Katriel froze, her heart torn between the past that once defined her and the new love quietly shaping her future. The wind rustled through the trees and for a moment, everything stood still as if the universe was holding its breath, waiting to see which way her heart would turn. .