Quickly, Leeya held her hand and, in a gentle tone, said,

“Sit down, let’s talk, my sister. Please forgive me. Wallahi, this matter is truly strange. I don’t know if you’ll be able to understand what I’m about to tell you, but please be patient with me. Wallahi, it’s not the way your thoughts are making you believe. We are now one, and we will be telling each other our problems.”

Khulud sat down, listening to the words Leeya used to apologize to her.

Leeya then narrated everything to her about the man who had been sending her messages even though she didn’t know him, and how long he had been sending them—about a whole year. Sometimes the messages even came with voice notes. Throughout that entire period, there wasn’t a single day he failed to send her a message. Every morning he would send more than three messages, for a whole year. Whether she replied or not didn’t matter to him. In fact, he didn’t care about replies at all, because he would send the messages and then remove the SIM card from his phone. If she tried to call, she wouldn’t get through, and even if she replied, it wouldn’t deliver because the line wasn’t active. She told her everything, including the message from yesterday and what he said in it.

“Hmmm, honestly this matter is very strange. But haven’t you ever asked him any questions, like where he got your number from, or where he had ever seen you?”

“Khulud, you’ve forgotten that in my explanation I told you he never gave me any chance to ask him questions or know anything about him. It’s only this time, yesterday, that in his message he told me not to worry, that I would know later, and that I shouldn’t intensify my investigation.”

“So what decision have you made about what he said—that he truly loves you?”

“Wallahi, Khulud, that’s the reason you found me thinking deeply. I honestly don’t even know what to do.”

“Well, in my honest opinion, I think you should agree and accept, because from the story you told me, he has been following your life for a whole year. If he wanted something other than love, he should have achieved it by now. To me, it seems his love for you is genuine, so you already know what to do if your heart agrees with him.”

“That’s exactly how I feel, Khulud. At first I didn’t pay attention to his messages, then I started checking and reading them. It got to the point where I began to feel a bit disturbed if I saw only one or two messages from him in a day. I would feel like something had happened to him or that he wasn’t well, because it’s very unusual for him to send just one or two messages in a day.”

“Uhmm… hmm, sis Leeya, congratulations,” Khulud said with a mischievous smile on her face.

In great surprise, Leeya raised her head and looked at Khulud intently, her expression clearly showing her shock. She found herself blurting out, “Bitter kola.”

“I don’t like bitter kola, it’s too bitter. Change it to its opposite.”

Leeya raised her head slightly as if thinking, then said,

“Okay, honey.”

“Alright, I accept honey. Do you know what?”

“No, no,” she said, widening her lamp-like eyes.

“You’re in love. Just accept it—wallahi, you’re in love.”

“How can you say I’m in love with someone I’ve never seen and don’t even know whether he’s human or a spirit? I don’t know if he’ll hurt me. I don’t know where he comes from. I don’t know, I don’t know…”

“That’s enough, sis Leeya. Whether you believe me or not, you’re in love, and I have my reasons for saying that. Look at the length of time he’s been messaging you—you’ve never felt harassed enough to take action. You could have changed your SIM card, but you didn’t. Whenever he sends you a message, you try calling the number, but you never get through, yet you still trace the number to reply to him. And yesterday, when he finally gave you the chance to talk to him, the first thing you asked was who he was—because he’s already in your heart.

“There was nothing else you would have asked if he wasn’t in your heart. Yesterday you couldn’t sleep because he gave you two choices to guide your heart. And right now, even thinking about him has made you unable to talk, let alone think of anything else.

“Tell me, don’t all these signs show that you love him? If you didn’t love him, would all this be happening? If you didn’t love him, would you let him continue to enter your life like this? If you didn’t love him, you wouldn’t allow all this, because you know you could easily remove him from your life.

Leeya, upon hearing what Khulud said, began to feel that perhaps she truly had fallen in love with him—but who exactly was he?

“Khulud, you see, I don’t even know who he is, so how can I love someone I don’t know?”

“Even so, if you understand what he said—that you’ll know when the time comes—then be patient and wait to see what he’s capable of.”

Khulud continued advising and enlightening Leeya about the matter until Leeya became one hundred percent convinced that she was truly in love with him. Anyone who heard Khulud’s reasoning at that moment would know she was speaking the truth. There was no other option—she had to accept that she was in love.

“So now what you’ll do is write him a good morning message, with a soft tone, okay?”

“Wallahi, Khulud, I’m scared.”

“Just do what your heart tells you and push away all fear. Just write.”

“Okay.”

She sat properly and thought briefly before composing a morning text message.

Within a few minutes, she received a reply, written in the same gentle tone, filled with endless gratitude—after every single line, he thanked her.

When Khulud saw this, she jumped up excitedly, saying, “That’s it, my sister, you’ve fallen in love. May Allah make it a blessed one for you,” she said jokingly.

Leeya grabbed a pillow and threw it at her, and Khulud ran out of the room laughing.

---

Two weeks later

Things continued to progress. Khulud and Leeya grew very close, as if they were inseparable. Khulud’s behavior had changed so much that no one would believe she was the same Khulud as before.

As for Leeya and her lover, their love grew very strong—so much that she was amazed at how suddenly it all happened. They gave each other great care and importance, with a pure, meaningful love. However, it all remained within written messages; there was no physical meeting.

On another side, between Khulud and Idrak, their love only increased. Sayyid deeply loved Khulud, and there was nothing she could do about it since she was the one who sought it. Idrak also never failed to show Khulud that she belonged to them, even in front of people. Raudha and Amrah were deeply troubled by this, because despite Zohal advising them to tell their friends to reduce the conflicts with Sayyid, whenever Amrah or Raudha saw Khulud being treated badly, they would retaliate, causing further trouble. Sayyid even began to lose the respect between himself and Reemah due to what he would do to them.

On Turab’s side, things only worsened. He imposed stricter rules on them, especially regarding phone usage—they were not allowed to use their phones whenever he was at home, unless secretly.

Today was Friday, the 24th of the month, exactly one week before the wedding of ZOHAL KHALIL GIRAH to her groom FAHAD GAHEES WAASIB.

That day, Mum’s entire family gathered from far and near, as was their tradition whenever there was a wedding in the family.

People gathered in large numbers—far more than those who attended Turab’s wedding ceremony. Even Papu’s mother and her daughters from Borno came, along with many of Mum’s relatives.

Khulud busied herself with her relatives, especially those close to her age and those slightly older. Everyone was happy about her change, since in the past people avoided the house because of her behavior.

We were sitting in the parlor where Mum’s relatives were enjoying themselves and taking photos. I sat nearby, while Khulud and about four other girls chatted happily.

At one side sat an elderly woman who appeared wealthy, surrounded by three others, chatting as fruits were served to her. She leaned comfortably against a large soft pillow.

I kept watching them, wondering who she was, because even Mum paid her special attention.

Then I heard the elderly woman say, “Hey, servant of God, why are you silent, just staring at people?”

I smiled slightly—out of politeness—then lowered my head and said nothing.

“Come here,” she said again, gesturing for me.

I quickly stood up, went to her, knelt down and said, “Good evening. How are you?”

“I’m fine. How is your husband?”

I lowered my head further, then heard Khulud laughing and saying, “Hajiya, she’s not married yet. She’s Meenal’s age mate.”

“Oh, I thought she was married because of her niqab.”

“No, Hajiya, she’s not married.”

“So why are you quiet among your mates? Go and join them and chat.”

“She doesn’t like sitting with family,” someone complained.

Khulud defended her, saying everyone had invited her.

Eventually, Leeya joined them, and they chatted happily until the call for Asr prayer.

Later, Leeya asked Khulud about the elderly woman.

“She’s our grandmother—the mother of Papu and Daddy Kaduna