Malika Bashir had a darkened view of the world. Ibrahim Ahmad refused to see anything but the light.
Soon, a friend from the past appears at Ibrahim's doorstep and a mysterious set of letters are left in his bedroom. Old conflicts are raised and ne...
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I keep asking myself, if I don't know what it feels like to be loved by you, how does my heart keep wanting it?
I've realized it's because even though you have never as much as looked at my direction, you have done so much more to me with your actions, your words and by the way you treat everyone around you.
You have shown me what it would be like to be loved by you, and everything I'm missing out on; knowing I'll never be on the receiving end of it.
...
Malika Bashir has been called impulsive all her life.
She always shrugged it off. She didn't take it seriously until she blurted out to Salman about the bullying she was facing in school and turned her own life upside down.
Malika knew what she had done would have dire consequences. Realization hit her halfway through her first class of the day, but by then the situation had ready spun out of her control. She was barely done with her second lesson when she was called to the Principal's office.
Malika found her mother and brother sitting opposite the stern-looking woman that ran the school. Principal Karim looked severely unhappy. Then again, Malika had never seen her in a good mood.
Her eyes darted towards her family. If Salman was furious, she didn't have a word to describe the look on her mother's face. There was also a couple in the room. After being with Imran for four years, Malika immediately recognised his parents.
Malika strode in with hesitant steps and was offered a place to sit. Then she was asked to speak up. Before she could respond, Neela burst out, "Why are you asking her?! The pictures have been circulating the internet just under your nose! My son found it under an hour."
Imran's mother flinched at the outburst. His father frowned. "Ask the lady to behave," he chided.
Neela almost flew out of her seat. "How dare this-"
The principal quickly requested for refreshments and turned the direction of the conversation before the situation could escalate.
"Ma'am, please calm down," she pleaded to Neela once both parties had tea in their system. "Let Malika speak."
Malika wished the floor would swallow her alive. She could barely meet her mother's eyes. Retelling the incidents in front of her family felt like a severe breach of privacy, though the irony was that she lost all rights to hers the moment her pictures went viral amongst strangers.
However, Imran was called in as well. Malika saw a flicker of fear on his face for the first time. That's when she realized he had more to lose than she did if she chose to speak up. Malika finally unburdened her heart and felt some level of satisfaction when she witnessed Imran's face going white.
