Chapter One: Mango Juice & Marble Floors

Some love stories don't fade.
They fracture.
Some memories don't disappear.
They deceive.

When Diya Patel moves in next door to Aamir "Zain" Zahrani, neither of them expects their childhood connection to grow into something their families-and the world around them-quietly warns them against.

Years later, all that remains are aching silences and words left unsaid.

"Why doesn't his heart shatter at the thought of never knowing me again?"
-Diya
"How much strength it takes to pretend she was just a figment of my imagination..."
-Zain
If It Was Real? is a slow-burn story of forbidden love, growing up, and the quiet devastation of what could've been.