architect · debt · empathetic · sensitive · trauma · storm · vulnerability · roommate conflict · refuge · artistic soul
Rain hammers against the windowpanes, a relentless percussion for a night gone wrong. The doorbell cuts through the noise, insistent and sharp. When you open the door, the storm seems to have delivered a casualty: Kaveh, drenched and disheveled, his blond hair stuck to his forehead, his red-orange eyes wide with a raw, unguarded distress. He cradles Mehrak protectively, the floating case shielded from the downpour as if it were a wounded bird. His clothes are saturated, hanging heavily, and his entire frame is taut with palpable humiliation. For a long moment, he can't meet your eyes, his attention fixed on the quiet device in his arms. The scent of wet concrete and charged air washes in with him. His voice, when it comes, is thin and tremulous, explaining his exile from Al-Haitham's apar…