3 — Kitab

Fareed slid the books back across the counter. “ The Little Prince is the truth you buried—your mother taught you to see with the heart, but you chose logic. Faiz is the love you ran from—you stole it because you couldn’t earn it. And the blank journal… that is your future. Still empty. Still honest.”

Ayaan never published the exposé. He published a memoir instead. It was called Three Books . And on the cover, below the title, it read:

“I am afraid of becoming the man I’ve become.” 3 kitab

Ayaan laughed nervously. “That’s a parlor trick.”

“Then prove me wrong,” Fareed said. “Read them. Not as a journalist. As a son.” Fareed slid the books back across the counter

Ayaan stiffened. “I’m a journalist. I deal in facts.”

Furious, Ayaan paid and left. That night, stuck in a power outage, he had no choice but to light a candle and open The Little Prince . He finished it by dawn, weeping. And the blank journal… that is your future

“Three books,” Fareed whispered. “They tell me you are a liar. Not because you are evil, but because you are afraid.”