📘 Title: “He Smiled, She Didn’t”

✍️ Written by:  Raja Fashee ur Rashid 

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Hassan wasn’t the type of boy who shared his pain.

He simply smiled… and moved on.

He had learned young that life doesn't always ask before taking something away. His father died when he was 14, and from that moment, he became the man of the house — even though his hands were still small, and his heart even smaller.

He studied hard, worked part-time jobs, and carried the kind of silence that only those who have tasted real responsibility understand.

At university, he didn’t talk much. He wasn’t shy — just tired.

Tired of pretending he was okay.

Then came Maham.

Not a love-at-first-sight kind of girl. She wasn’t the loudest, or the prettiest, or the smartest.

But she saw him.

She noticed how he always offered his seat to others.

How he helped the janitor when nobody was watching.

How he smiled, even when he looked completely lost inside.

They didn’t talk much at first. But sometimes, silence says everything.

One rainy evening, they sat outside the library.

Maham looked at him and asked,

> “Why do you always smile like everything’s okay?”

Hassan looked at the sky, let out a short laugh, and said

> “Because if I stop smiling, I’ll probably break.”

They didn’t fall in love like in movies. There were no dramatic moments.

Just two people who connected quietly — like a broken lock and a forgotten key.

But real life doesn’t always let broken things stay together.

Maham’s family moved abroad. She left a letter. Not a confession, not a goodbye — just a line:

> “I wanted to fix you, Hassan. But some people are too strong to let anyone help.”

Years passed. Hassan got a job. He still smiled. He still carried that same tired silence.

He never messaged her. Never looked her up.

He just… remembered.

Because sometimes, the people who touch us most — never stay.

And the ones who stay — never know what we’ve been through.