SOFTLY YOU FOUND ME

CHAPTER THREE: ZAINAB NOTICES FIRST

It was a Thursday afternoon when Zainab finally called me out.

We were sitting on the steps of our favorite park, the sun painting long golden streaks across the concrete, and I was… distracted.

Not by school, not by my worries, but by Daniel.

I didn’t mean to notice him. I didn’t mean to think about the quiet way he listened, the calm certainty in his smile, or the way he seemed to understand everything I never said. But I did.

Zainab, as usual, had noticed everything before I had.

“You’re smiling again,” she said, elbowing me lightly.

I looked away, pretending to tie my shoelace. “I’m not.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Aishat, don’t lie to me. You’ve been thinking about him all week. All week!”

I froze. She was right, and I hated that she could see it. “It’s… nothing,” I muttered.

Zainab laughed, shaking her head. “Nothing? Sweetheart, you’ve got it bad. And it’s so obvious!”

I sighed, feeling my cheeks warm. “Maybe I’m just… imagining things.”

“Imagining things?” she repeated, eyebrows raised. “Aishat, stop it. You like him. Admit it.”

I wanted to protest, to tell her I didn’t know, to tell her it was impossible. But the truth was… I did like him. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had for weeks.

Weeks of noticing the way he made ordinary moments feel special. Weeks of smiling at texts I barely admitted I enjoyed. Weeks of feeling lighter when he was near—and heavier when he was gone.

Zainab reached over, grabbed my hand, and shook it gently.

“Finally. I thought I’d have to write it on a sign for you to read it.”

I laughed, a little reluctantly. “It’s complicated,” I whispered.

“Life is always complicated, Aishat,” she said softly. “But this one… this one is simple. You like him. That’s it.”

Simple. The word echoed in my mind. Simple.

And yet, it didn’t feel simple at all.

Because liking Daniel was more than just a crush. It was realizing that maybe, for the first time in a long while, I wanted something gentle and real. Something steady. Something I had been too scared to hope for.

Zainab smiled knowingly. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone… yet. But you better figure it out soon, because I can see him noticing you too.”

I froze at the thought. Could he really notice me the way I noticed him? Or was it only my heart pretending that he did?

Whatever the answer, I knew one thing: my life was quietly shifting. And Daniel… he was at the center of it.