It's been a while since Aariz has been staring at Yelin's hand clasping Selena's as they whispered. At the end of the event when all the participants stand up the media club members of various schools gather in front of the stage to snap a photo for their school magazines.

A good ten minutes are wasted on arranging the people into a presentable order. The shorter ones are at the front while the taller ones are at the back. The middle ones are arranged at the periphery of the tall people's line.

"Aww... You're so short.", Selena is startled by Aariz whispering behind her. She gasps and shoots his eyes at him. He snickers beneath his breath looking in the camera's direction.

"I am not short. You are the epitome of acromegaly.", she smiles at the photographer.

"And you of dwarfism. Hmm... Thinking of it they are quite the same.", he adjusts his mask on his face, "Or are we?"

"She isn't that short.", Yasir's familiar voice beside Aariz makes both of them shoot their eyes at him.

"No one asked!", they both say in unison. They both slowly turn to each other and roll their eyes looking away.

"Okay guys!", Salah claps his hands. Amelia steps beside him proudly looking in her sister's direction who is busy being volatile to Aariz's words.

"How can two people who look at each other like this not fall in love?", she sighs. Salah steals a glance at her.

"Your sister?", he asks to which she simply nods, "They'll.", he replies. Amelia snaps a photo.

"Jeez!", Yasir mumbles under his breath, "By the way, Aariz, how is your life with cigarettes?", he snorts.

Aariz calmly smiles beneath his mask, "Which part of my speech did you zone out? I hope you don't do that in your lecture.", his statement pricks Selena's ears. She is here for the drama. But the speechless Yasir has no answer to the question.

"Amelia!", Warren waves standing in the doorway leading to the corridor. Ishfaq walks in from the path leading to the football field with his hand occupied by the cat meowing.

"Kitty!", Amelia rushes towards the cat tempted by the tabby pattern and olive green eyes. She shoves her polaroid camera in Warren's hand and rubs her finger in between the cat's ears. The cat meows, closing its eyes. Ishfaq pulls the cat closer to his chest, "Hey! Sharing is caring! Gimme the cat.", but Ishfaq turns around hollering as he runs down the corridor knowing short Amelia won't be able to catch his tall existence eloping with the cat.

Warren in the background glances at his black painted nails before clicking a photo. He giggles to himself watching his friends fight over a cat.

"WARREN MARTIN!", Amelia hisses midway in the corridor, "Stop wasting the film! HELP ME GET THE CAT, YOU CHICKEN!", she screams. But Warren flips his hair at her and sashays back to the auditorium with a hand in his pocket. His shiny black silky hair bounces with every step he takes towards the auditorium. Amelia sighs and stares in the direction Ishfaq ran then at the auditorium's door. Her footsteps lead her back to the auditorium.

The principals stand up to meet their alumni. The principal of The Ma'arif High pulls Yelin by her hand to take her to her office. She resists and slaps her hand free of her grip, "Enough is enough."

In the auditorium when Aariz and Selena climb down the stage a student asks them to remove their mask for a picture. Aariz slowly pulls his mask off not knowing what to do with his face and sweaty hands. His fake smile catches Selena's eyes. There he goes again. Edematous face of congestive heart failure.

"So how do I look?", she asks nonchalantly, smiling at the camera. The sudden concerning question makes him look down at her.

He broadens his shoulder and pulls the flap of his coat slightly, "You look okay.", he clears his throat. He eyes the camera with his face hanging low.

"Oh I thought you would say something like, 'you are an ugly duckling in a pool of mud'", she laughs as she changes her pose and shoves her hand in her pants pocket.

"I guess the ugly duckling grew into a pretty, aggressive..." he leans towards her which makes her look in his eyes but she doesn't step backward because of this scent, she wants to memorize this scent that engulfs her in it briefly like it did a few times back.

(Selena's POV) Was this fragrance always this breezy?

She wants to memorize it all before it fades away, "... And intelligent swan.", her lips curl into a smirk as she locks her eyes on him. The photographer clears his throat and both of them move a step away from each other unable to look back at each other covering their faces with masks to hide the red flush.

"Really!" she smirks.

"Yeah. Why you don't believe me? He frowns.

"Yeah, I don't". Selena walks back to him. "Hmm... Your face says it all. You are a liar".

"Lie or not. Is it me or are ypu having SLE?" He points at her face.

Selena taps her fingers on her face pulling out her mobile to see her face in the camera. "Why-what?!"

"Oh, you are blushing!" He hollers. "I forgot SLE runs in the family. But blushing... It just needs a compliment even if it's a fake one".

"Chalo-chalo". Selena motions Aariz to keep moving and skiter away.

Amelia and Salah high-five in the background while Selena and Aariz are busy being dazed in each other's company.

"How can you say ill about your school? This school has offered you so much?", the principal hisses, walking Yelin to an abandoned corridor.

"What has this school done for me? I can't recall anything.", Yelin furrows her eyes as she glares at the principal, "You mean not taking my certificate away as the topper but also giving Sara the certificate because her fucking rich mom paid you."

"You have no proof.", the principal folds her arms

Yelin opens her mobile and searches for a name on WhatsApp and scrolls in the chats till she reaches one audio. The principal clears his throat as she hears one of her teachers snitching on her. She pauses, "and if by chance I come across you making her life hell in here I'll expose you to the world. I'll send this to the media.", Yelin shoves her to the side. Her heels clack as she walks out of the corridor.

A gentle touch on the shoulder makes Selena turn. She recognizes the familiar face. It's the principal of her school. She can see Aariz and his school principal sitting together chit-chatting.

"Don't you even dare to talk about the school days! My school days at your school were miserable. My school in Abu Dhabi was also run by the Pakistan embassy but was a thousand times better. And in the end, all I get is you taking away the credit for whatever I studied by myself.", she looks away in anger.

"I am well aware of this fact. But we didn't take the credit for your hard work. We were just too surprised by your achievements that we had to post it on Facebook. We are proud of you for where you are today and we are remorseful for what we never did for you."

"You did nothing for me.", Selena fights the urge to roll her eyes but chooses to remark quietly.

The principal nods, "But you did a lot for us. You motivated your students. Your handouts are still in our library for-"

"You mean a sorry excuse for the library?", Selena interrupts.

"If you can give me a moment. We can walk to the school to show you all the new changes we have brought to the school. We were too late to realize that our resources can have a great impact on our students.", she offers Selena a walk to her old school.

Spotting Yelin in the crowd she rushes towards her. Yelin's weak smile makes her pout and wraps a hand around her. Yelin holds Selena in place as she silently cries.

"Let's go.", she wraps an arm around Yelin as she pulls her through the crowd.

"Where?", Yelin whines.

"So apparently my school principal says that they have renovated the school.", Selena walks up to the principal, "she needs our opinion on that."

When they enter the school the reception has been completely renovated from having a knockoff reception table to an aesthetic white reception desk matching the white tiles. The dysfunctional vending machines that once stood outside the offices have been replaced by fancy IKEA plants.

Aariz scans the auditorium for Selena and comes across Amelia walking out of the school with Salah. Upon asking her she points at Selena's school.

"You going home?", he asks Amelia who nods as her footsteps lead her towards the bridge with Salah looking at the small rectangle screen of his DSLR. She pauses in the middle and flips around striding back to Aariz.

"You might need this.", she pushes a polaroid in his direction. It's blank on the upper. But when he takes and flips it around in curiosity and anticipation of Amelia digging up dirt against him, he gawks blankly at the photograph. Of course, she is Selena's sister. He should have expected this from her. His eyebrows furrow and his expressions soften with each passing minute. He tries to catch up on breathing but he can't because it's the picture he is studying.

Selena's hands are in her pants pockets, her eyes fixated on him. His eyes fixated on her with his fingers playing with his coat's lapel. And their shoulders almost brushing against each other.

He clears his throat and looks up, putting the picture in his coat pocket. But he lets it slip through his fingers as Amelia snatches it back, "It's for 10 dirhams."

"What- So you want me to pay for that?", he arches his eyes at Salah who pulls the polaroid from Amelia and scribbles something on the back.

"How can two people who look at each other like this not fall in love?", Aariz reads while Salah writes his and Amelia's name beneath the quote.

"Well that makes it for 50 dirhams.", Amelia folds her arms and leans against the wall behind her. Aariz glances at Selena's school then at Amelia while his hand rummages for money in his pants pocket.

"You better take the wallet out.", Salah finally speaks up pointing at the polaroid on his coat. Aariz shoots him a look before taking his wallet out.

"Hey! Excuse me!", Yasir huffs running towards them, "I'll pay you for the picture you showed me earlier."

"What picture?", Aariz hisses handling money to Amelia. Amelia's eyes widened with sparkling mischief. Salah and Amelia exchange a glance and he nods.

"Aariz...", Yasir's sheepish laugh makes her realize they both know each other. Aariz shifts away from him to which Amelia arches her brow, "What are you doing here? Buying a picture?", he snorts, "Did you end up fantasizing yourself with Selena?"

Amelia pushes the picture in front of Aariz but this time, flipped upwards. Aariz shakes the picture in Yasir's direction before putting it in his pocket, "Fantasizing doesn't do justice to my feelings."

Salah and Amelia glance at each other realizing the tension thickening between the two men. Amelia clears her throat and opens her handbag's zip. When she hands Yasir the polaroid he clicks his tongue giving it back.

"Not this one. The one you showed before."

"This is the only picture I have of you.", she lies knowing she still has the group photo with Selena and Aariz rolling their eyes.

"The one in which Selena was-", hearing Selena's name from his mouth the second time makes Aariz lose his demeanor.

"She says she doesn't have it. Stop pressuring her.", he gently places his hand on Yasir's shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze.

"She has it. And who are you to defend her?"

"Yasir, we don't have it.", Salah adds while Aariz's grip on Yasir's shoulder goes firm.

"You wanna know who I am to defend her?", Aariz walks in front of him, "Her cousin.", Amelia fakes a cough, biting her laughter beneath her mask. Liar.

"More like my future brother-in-law.", she mumbles to which Salah snorts, "I am leaving.", she announces smacking Salah's arm to hint him to stop gawking at them yearning for the tea.

The ground floor in the boys' section that was for grades 5-8 has been shifted to the first floor and has been renovated into a library.

"We have received generous donations from various people who offered us various books and novels. We have also allocated library time for all the students.", the principal comments as she guides them into the library.

Selena can feel a familiar figure moving in the background. When she turns around, it's Aariz. He waves a notebook in her direction that he has picked from the study material section. She realizes it's her notebook.

Aariz's eyes scan the pages blue and black with ink. Her cursive writing engraved in the pages made them rough. When he flips to the back his eyes glance at the various mannequins. The various outfits, the different poses. He could have sat down to read all the nonsense English essays she had written in her notebook. However, Selena's clacking heels storming in his direction startles him. Her hand launches towards him to snatch the book out of his hand but he raises his hand backward beyond her reach.

His body leans against the table behind him. As she reaches out for the notebook almost toppling onto him she catches herself. Not scared of the proximity that she has become accustomed to she punches her fist in his shoulder. He doesn't wince. The hand was heavy however he knows his smile will boil her more.

Shutting the notebook close and places it on the table with his hand over it he gives her his million-dollars smile. They both glare at the book but he reverts his gaze to her who is smoldering.

(Aariz's POV) I love her cursive writing. The mannequins she drew. Even the aggression that is always ready to rain down the storm. I love her.

She steps away from him, gives in to his antics, turns around, and walks away with her heels echoing in the library.

(Selena's POV) Love is the fire that will burn me down to ashes.

---

Who else has cursive writing here?

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