Asiya was cruising through life, totally okay with carrying more weight than she could.
Or at least, that's what she wanted everyone to think.
Yusuf was cool and supposedly composed, committed to working hard.
Or at least, that was the plan until...
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The first message had come through Asiya's phone on the Friday after their first counselling session.
Two commanding words from an unknown messenger.
The anonymity didn't raise Asiya's suspicion. She shrugged the text off and labelled it as a mistake.
Someone had gotten the wrong number.
The second message came through on Saturday night, just when Asiya had started to forget the first. She had blinked at the two lines.
The messages were digital and too short to give away someone's language style. There was also no need for scrutiny because only one person was bothered enough by Asiya's presence to let her know it wasn't welcome anywhere near them.
After a few more blinks at the messages, Asiya asked Yusuf for Hina's number. She had made up a reason that he didn't believe. When he had pressed for the real reason, she had loudly snapped at him (and apologised later). Yusuf had only raised a confused brow before giving it to her.
Later, when Asiya clicked the unknown contact and tried to check the number against the one Yusuf had given her, she cursed. No Caller ID.
Coward, she thought. That's why she had texted. Didn't call or say it to her face. That's why she had hidden her number. Although there was no evidence, Asiya felt she didn't need any. She had never gotten sent accidental messages. She had never been a victim of a juvenile version of pretty little liars, either. That was fiction. This was a cowardly act. Hina was a coward, Asiya had concluded.
She was so much of a coward that two anonymous messages had probably exhausted her and blown her straw housedown. She wouldn't message again.
No more texts had come through that weekend.
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The flame that had struck itself lit in Asiya that day at Hina's house burned within her chest as she glared at her phone.
She thought it had gone out. But as she sat in her office, heat tickling through her chest, she realised it had stayed. Flickering inside of her, spreading smoky shadows that were blurring her vision.
