Chapter Four: Secret He kept
304 Words
Amina thought she understood Idris.
She knew his favourite songs, the way he smiled when he was trying not to laugh, and how he always looked at the sky whenever he was lost in thought.
But she didn’t know everything.
There were parts of Idris that he kept hidden.
One afternoon, Amina noticed that Idris was unusually quiet. He answered her questions, but his mind seemed somewhere else.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
Idris forced a small smile. “I’m fine.”
Amina looked at him. She had learned that Idris’s “I’m fine” usually meant the opposite.
“You don’t have to pretend with me,” she said.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he finally spoke.
“There’s something about my past that you don’t know.”
Amina waited patiently.
Idris looked down at his hands. “Before I met you, I stopped believing that people stayed. I thought everyone eventually left.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Because someone I trusted hurt me. After that, I decided it was easier not to let anyone get close.”
Amina felt her heart ache for him.
She wanted to tell him that not everyone would leave. That he deserved happiness. That he deserved someone who would understand him.
Instead, she simply said, “Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me.”
Idris looked at her, surprised.
“You’re not asking questions?”
“I have questions,” she admitted with a smile. “But I don’t want to force you to tell me something you’re not ready to share.”
For the first time in a long time, Idris felt safe.
And that scared him.
Because Amina was slowly becoming the person he never expected to find.
The person who made him want to believe again.
- Writer
