The late afternoon sun cast a golden glow over the bustling city streets. Raisa Elara sat at a corner café, her phone resting on the table in front of her. The screen displayed the image of her latest post—a perfectly curated shot of her in a sleek café, sipping coffee, her flawless skin glowing under the soft lighting. The caption read, "Feeling unstoppable today! #NoFilter #OnTopOfTheWorld #Blessed."

"Unstoppable," Raisa muttered to herself, her fingers lightly tapping on the cup in front of her. She glanced around the café, but the buzz of conversations and clattering dishes felt distant, almost surreal.

She smiled at the likes pouring in, but the excitement she once felt from these posts was beginning to wane. The dopamine hits had lost their sting.

Her phone buzzed again, and she tapped the screen, seeing a message from Kendra: "Coffee time?"

Raisa's lips curved into a small smile as she replied, "Meet me in 10?"

It didn’t take long for Kendra to walk through the café door. She looked effortlessly chic in her white shirt and loose jeans, her camera slung around her neck, as always. Raisa couldn't help but envy Kendra's ability to be both free-spirited and confident. Kendra was everything Raisa sometimes wished she could be—untethered from the chains of expectations and social media.

Kendra waved, her eyes lighting up when she saw Raisa. "You look tired," Kendra commented, sitting down across from her with a mischievous smile.

Raisa sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I guess I just need a break. My feed is all scheduled for the week, but I can't shake this feeling of... I don’t know, emptiness."

Kendra raised an eyebrow. "You don't look empty to me. You look like you're trying to fill a space that doesn't exist." She leaned in a little, her voice softening. "Have you been offline at all? Like, really offline?"

Raisa stared at Kendra, unsure how to respond. "Offline? You mean, like, not on social media?" She chuckled, but it didn’t sound genuine. "That’s... impossible."

Kendra shrugged, leaning back in her chair, her fingers tracing the rim of her coffee cup. "Not impossible. You should try it sometime. The world is bigger than Instagram."

Raisa blinked, the weight of Kendra’s words settling in her chest. She wasn’t sure how to express how much the idea scared her. "What if people forget about me? What if... I disappear?"

Kendra smiled. "You won't. You’ll just be present in your own life for once."

Raisa let out a long breath, unsure of where to take the conversation next. It was a strange feeling—having someone who truly seemed to see her behind the screen. But was she ready to confront it?

Just then, her phone rang, the screen lighting up with a notification. It was from Zayn.

“Can we meet today?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Her heart skipped a beat. She hadn’t seen Zayn since the brief exchange they had at the art gallery. He had been busy, and she’d been wrapped up in her work, but seeing his name made something shift within her. Her pulse quickened as she stared at the message.

Kendra nudged her playfully. "Someone's got a message," she teased.

Raisa blinked, glancing up at Kendra with a guilty smile. "It's from Zayn."

Kendra raised an eyebrow, her lips curling into an amused smile. "Oh? What does Mr. Architect want?"

"I don’t know," Raisa admitted, her voice soft. She looked down at the phone, her fingers hesitating over the keys. She felt the urge to respond, but something held her back. "Maybe... I should just leave it."

"Or maybe you should meet him," Kendra suggested with a shrug, her voice casual. "If you’re gonna live offline, you should start with real life, right?"

Raisa stared at the phone, her mind buzzing with possibilities. Her head said it was too soon, too complicated—Zayn was a reminder of the real world she kept avoiding. But her heart... her heart wasn’t so sure.

"Why not?" Raisa whispered, almost to herself.

Kendra grinned. "Exactly. Don’t overthink it."

With a deep breath, Raisa typed a quick reply: “Sure. Where and when?”

It wasn’t long before Zayn responded with an address and a time. Raisa looked up from her phone, her heart now thumping wildly in her chest. "I guess I'm meeting him."

Kendra grinned. "Looks like you're stepping into something real for once."

An hour later, Raisa found herself walking toward a small, upscale café on a quieter street of the city, away from the bustling noise of her usual hangouts. She tried to calm the butterflies swirling in her stomach, but they refused to listen.

As she entered the café, her eyes scanned the room until they landed on Zayn sitting by the window, his head bent as he studied his phone. He looked effortlessly put together—his usual composed self, but something in his posture, the way his lips were pressed in concentration, made him seem... different. Less like an architect and more like someone lost in thought.

Raisa's breath hitched as she approached, and she stopped a few steps away from his table. "Hi," she greeted softly, unsure of what else to say.

Zayn’s eyes lifted, and for the briefest moment, a flash of something unreadable passed through his gaze. Then his lips curved into a warm smile. "Raisa," he greeted her, standing up and motioning for her to sit. "You came."

"Of course," Raisa replied, her voice trembling slightly. "I thought... well, I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to meet."

"I do." His eyes locked onto hers. "I’ve been thinking about what you said at the gallery."

Raisa blinked, surprised by his words. "About the art?" she asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

Zayn nodded. "Yeah. It made me realize something. We both live in these worlds where everything seems... planned. And maybe, just maybe, we’re missing something important."

Raisa stared at him for a long moment, processing his words. Her mind was still buzzing with Kendra’s advice, her own fears of getting lost in the digital world, and now, Zayn’s presence—this new connection that felt so unplanned and raw.

"Maybe," she said finally, her voice quieter, "we're both looking for something we don’t even know how to find."

Zayn’s gaze softened, and he reached across the table, his hand resting near hers, the warmth of his touch making her breath catch in her throat. "I don’t think we have to look for it. I think we just have to feel it."

Raisa’s heart pounded. She looked into his eyes, and for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel the need to hide behind a screen. She didn’t have to be perfect. She didn’t have to be everything she showed the world.

For the first time, she just needed to be.

As they talked, the world outside blurred into the background. The rush of life seemed to slow, and for the first time, Raisa felt like she was truly living—feeling, breathing, and existing in a space where the virtual and the real collided.

And maybe, just maybe, this was what she'd been searching for all along.

The café bell rang, signaling the arrival of another customer, but neither Raisa nor Zayn noticed.

All that mattered was the space between them—the unspoken connection that had just begun.