The first text came at midnight.

The second during fajr.

They would have seemed threatening, if the sender wasn't someone she'd tackled down before. Even if that wasn't exactly in a fight situation.

Stay away from Amjad.

I'm serious, stop going out with him.

Nila ignored Mikhail's messages, and continued with her day at Uni.
Until the third text arrived when she was at her afternoon lecture.

He wants to marry you.

She wanted to dismiss it as a prank.

But the more she thought about, the more it seemed unlikely that Mikhail would text her after all this time to prank her. They weren't friends, they didn't even speak.

The seed of belief had been planted and now it was growing.

Unable to ignore him any longer, she picked up her phone and dialled a number she'd thought she'd never call.

"Finally, you respond."

♧

If you like COTN, please check out "At the Mosque", a new Muslim story I'm writing.