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. .

Trez finally arrived in Nigeria, his heart a mix of relief and regret. After months of distance of missed calls and unanswered messages, he was finally here hoping for a chance to make things right. He requested to meet Katriel privately, away from the bustling campus and the curious eyes of friends. When he saw her sitting alone under the shade of a quiet café, her hair brushing her shoulders in soft waves, he felt a pang of longing and guilt. He approached slowly, unsure if she would even want to see him. "Katriel," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "I... I'm so sorry. For everything. The distance, the loss, the pain you went through... I should have been there. It's all my fault." Katriel looked at him, her emotions swirling like a storm. She wanted to forgive him ,she wanted to let go of the anger and hurt that had weighed so heavily on her these past months. But her heart, fragile and cautious, had begun to belong elsewhere. She had allowed herself to start feeling something for Calvin, someone who had been there when she felt most alone.Yet, even as she looked at Trez, the old emotions stirred the love that had never truly left her. The depth of his care, the promises he had whispered in nights long past, tugged at her in ways she couldn't ignore. She felt torn between the past and the present, between loyalty to the love that had shaped her and the new life she had begun to build. "I... I don't know if I can," she whispered, tears brimming in her eyes. "I care about you, Trez. I always have. But things have changed." He nodded slowly, pain flashing in his eyes. "I understand. I just... I needed to say it. I needed you to know that I'll always love you, no matter what. Even if I can't be here physically, I'll never stop caring." Days passed, and Trez returned to Turkey to complete his final year. The distance that had once been painful now felt almost unbearable, as Katriel tried to reconcile her heart with reality. She poured herself into her studies and into the semblance of normalcy she had built, while also navigating her growing feelings for Calvin. On the surface, things seemed fine. She smiled at his jokes, laughed at his stories, and allowed herself to feel warmth in his presence. But shadows began to creep into that warmth. Small inconsistencies, subtle anger, and moments of intimidation made her pause. A chilling suspicion whispered at the edges of her mind but she tried to dismiss it after all, Calvin had been there for her when no one else was ,when she had felt broken and hopeless. Then came the revelation that shattered her sense of safety entirely. One evening, a close friend approached her in private, her voice low and trembling. She told Katriel about Calvin's past -how he had raped her, how he had been physically abusive to others, how his charming exterior hid a dangerous darkness. Katriel's blood ran cold. She felt like the ground beneath her had disappeared. Every laugh they had shared, every gentle touch, every comforting word suddenly felt like a lie. The person she had trusted most in months, the one who had made her feel alive again, had a history that terrified her. For hours, she sat alone in her room, staring at the walls as if answers would appear there. Her heart was heavy with disbelief, confusion, and heartbreak. The love she had started to feel for Calvin had been poisoned from the start. The illusion of safety and warmth had masked a truth that was impossible to ignore. And yet, even amidst the storm of betrayal and fear, thoughts of Trez returned. He had never hurt her. He had never deceived her. The love they shared, though complicated by distance and grief, had been real and unwavering. She remembered the nights they had spent talking, dreaming and holding onto hope together.The realization hit her like a wave: her heart was caught between two worlds. Calvin represented the hope of moving forward of finding laughter and comfort again, but he also carried shadows she could not ignore. Trez represented the past, yes, but also a love that had never betrayed her, a connection that distance had strained but never broken. Katriel knew she had to make choices ,difficult painful choices that would define her future. She had to protect herself first, to reclaim her strength and her voice. For the first time in months, she allowed herself to breathe and think clearly. She would end the relationship with Calvin. She would confront the trauma he had inflicted and ensure no one else would suffer the same fate. And when she was ready, she would reach out to Trez not as a safety net, not as a rebound but as someone she truly loved and trusted. That night, as the city lights flickered outside her window, Katriel made a silent vow to herself: she would no longer let pain, betrayal or fear control her life. She would face the past, embrace the truth, and follow her heart no matter how complicated the path might be. Somewhere far away, Trez was preparing for his return, unaware of the storm that had erupted while he was gone. But destiny, it seemed was giving them both a chance to reconcile, to heal and perhaps, to find each other again. Katriel didn't know what the next chapter would hold, but for the first time in a long time, she felt a spark of clarity. The choices she made now would shape not only her heart but the life she wanted to build one free of shadows, one grounded in truth, and one where love could finally be trusted again.