manal | achraf hakimi [COMPLETE]

.21

happy one month of this book even if that was two days ago!

again, please pray if you haven't done so already!

double chapter !!

PLEASE comment and vote nothing motivates me to write like how you guys commenting does. without the overwhelming support for this book through comments i would not have made it past chapter 5!!

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14/1/2023

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[1397 words]

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it was just after manal had finished praying maghrib that she got the first call.

she hadn't spoken to him in over a month, but the last letter he had left for her still sat on her desk, carefully folded to prevent it from ruining. so to hear from him was strange.

she had missed his presence in the classroom, pretending to be helping when he was just there to bother her and find excuses to hold her hand for some reason or another. she won't pretend that she didn't like it.

that's why when she saw the number glide across her phone screen, her first reaction was confusion. the number was already saved on her phone and under a name that made no sense to her.

'thief.' she was weirded out by it, and seeing the european code in front of it, she picked up the phone, half expecting it to be a scam call.

'hello?' she said into the phone, warily looking at it.

'hi.' the voice that she had almost memorised could be heard over the phone. she quickly put the phone away from her ear, and then blinked at the name. thief? what was iman up to now?

'assalam alaikum?' she said, almost as if she was asking a question. 'her voice was steady, but quiet.

'walaikum assalam, manal.' he had tried thinking of a name for her, but he never got past manal. simply manal. it was two syllables, the same as his, but it was so light on his tongue.

it was silent for a few seconds, as if all of the steady and easy flowing conversations they've ever had suddenly flown out of the window and they were at stage one once again.

'manal?'

she hummed into the phone, and then cleared her throat. she needed to stop being an idiot and actually talk.

'yes.' she replied, her fingernails itching to be bitten, but she resisted the urge. she wasn't going to ruin her nails over a phone call. she wasn't nervous, at all.

'are you okay?' he asked. she had always been so assertive and confident in what she wanted, even if she was gentle in manners.

'yes i'm okay. why wouldn't i be alright? is everything okay?' she rambled on, she didn't know what to say. so she said everything.

he chuckled, enjoying her clumsiness.

'i never took you to be awkward over the phone.' he said, leaning back on the couch of his living room. a day had passed since iman had given him his fiancé/wife's number. and he tried to coordinate his call so she wouldn't be at school, despite the time difference.

'i'm not, i'm just, caught off guard.' she defended, not wanting him to get the wrong idea.

'why? do i make you nervous?' he said, a smile on his face as he talked to her. he hadn't anticipated her to be this entertaining over the phone, awkwardly humorous.

'shouldn't i be asking you that? we haven't spoken in a month.'

'keeping count?' he teased further.