She opened her eyes to the sound of rain.
Soft. Gentle. Familiar.
Just like before.
But something in her chest felt… wrong.
Like her heart remembered something her mind didn't.
She sat up in bed, her hands trembling.
Same apartment. Same white curtains. Same dreamcatcher above the lamp.
But today—
her tears came before the thoughts did.
"Why am I crying?" she whispered to no one.
She walked to the mirror.
Her reflection looked the same…
but her eyes—red.
Like they'd seen centuries.
At breakfast, her mother looked at her strangely.
"You okay, kanna?"
"I don't know," she said,fake smiling.
"You looked… gone for a minute."
"Maybe I was."
At 12:12 p.m., her pen slipped.
She stared at her notebook.
Her fingers… had written a name.
"Ayaan."
She didn't know who that was.
Or… did she?
The name pulsed like a heartbeat.
Like home.
And suddenly—
She was there again.
Room 212.
Hospital lights.
The smell of iodine.
Her hand reaching out.
A shadow leaving.
Her voice screaming: "Ayaan, don't go—!"
She dropped the pen.
Students around her turned.
"Anaya?" her friend whispered.
"You okay?"
She stood, breathless.
"I need to find him."
"Find who?"
"I don't know yet… but I've known him forever."
She ran through the rain.
To where? She wasn't sure.
But her feet remembered.
Every puddle splashed like déjà vu.
Every turn—familiar.
She stopped outside a small clock shop.
The same one he'd seen her in.
Inside, a girl arranged shelves.
It was her.
But she didn't recognize the place.
Or why she had come.
Then—she saw it.
The same music box.
The same black paper.
And next to it…
A napkin.
Folded. Neatly.
Four words, written in her own handwriting:
"He dies if you forget."
Her breath caught.
And deep inside her mind…
the loops unlocked.
Memories flooded in.
• Him laughing in the rain.
• A kiss on a rooftop.
• A ring she never got to wear.
• A scream. A hospital.
• A reset.
• Another.
• And another.
• Always ending at 12:12.
She clutched her head, gasping.
"Ayaan…
I remember you now."
Suddenly
Her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A message appeared:
"If you remember, they'll come for you."
"Run."
She turned toward the door—
but outside,
everyone was frozen.
Only one figure moved.
A boy.
Soaked in rain.
Standing across the street.
Their eyes locked.
"Ayaan?" she whispered.
He ran toward her.
So did she.
And as they reached for each other—
The clocks shattered.
Time fractured.
And the loop… began to break.