BROKEN

Ayeeyo's Favorite Restaurant

"Oh yeah you're right." I attempted to play it off.

"Yeah she's really cool I think you would like her a lot."

"Hey, I'm getting really tired. I spent the day with my family and I could use some sleep." I said in an attempt to escape the conversation.

"Okay princess, I love you."

"I love you too."

I hung up and rolled over. I felt a sense of uneasiness in my chest. I thought about what the worst thing that could possibly happen was. Fuad tells Naima about us and she remembers me and tells him that she caught me kissing Hakeem. I doubt that Fuad would tell her, he was very lowkey about our relationship. The only person he had told was Istahil and she probably wouldn't tell anybody. I had a sigh of relief, I thought that everything would be fine. I took out my phone and texted Istahil, she was like an older sister to me also.

"Hey Istahil."

"Hey lil sis." she responded almost immediately. "Call me, I'm no good with texting."

I called her and there was something comforting about hearing her voice.

"I've been waiting for you to call me, Fuad told me you were going through a tough time. He wouldn't specify though."

"Yeah but I would rather not talk about it. I just wanted to see how you're doing."

"I'm doing fine. Just miss Fuad a lot."

"I miss him too."

"Something is telling me that he doesn't like it there." she said.

"Why do you think that? He sounds like he loves it every time I talk to him."

"A sister just knows sometimes. When I talk to him he doesn't sound genuinely happy like the old Fuad. Do you ever sense that from him too?"

"Now that I think about it, he doesn't seem like the old Fuad. I just assumed that he was losing feelings for me."

"Fuad would never lose feelings for you." she laughed. "I don't think you know how much he loves you. He's just never been away from home before. He probably doesn't know how to react, he's kind of pushed all of us away. Everybody deals with things differently, you know."

"Yeah I know."

Suddenly I felt really guilty for ever doubting Fuad. I really had been assuming the worst from him lately.

"Wanna know something though?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"You're all he ever talks about when I call him. He's in New York fucking City and all he can still talk about is you. That boy adores you, Warsan."

My heart melted in my chest.

"I love him too." I said.

"Good. It was nice talking to you but it's getting late. You should probably sleep hun."

"Goodnight Istahil."

"Goodnight Warsan."

I hung up and fell asleep with a warm heart. Fuad really did love me, it had been me that was wrong all along.

---

I called Tasneem as soon as I woke up. To my surprise, she finally answered.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I want to tell you in person, please come over."

"I don't have a ride. Why don't you ask Hakeem to bring you over?"