..Maybe... Just maybe... I liked him too.

I didn't know what to reply.

I stared at his message for what felt like forever.

My heart was beating so fast, and for some reason, I couldn't stop smiling.

Finally, I typed:

"I think I like you too."

I almost deleted the message before sending it.

But I didn't.

He replied almost immediately.

"Really?"

I laughed.

"Yes, really."

That night, we talked for hours.

We talked about what we wanted, what scared us and what we expected from each other.

And honestly, I was scared.

I was still a fresher, trying to understand university life, while he was already in his third year.

There was also the fear that maybe he wasn't serious.

So I told him exactly what was on my mind.

"I just don't want you to play with me."

He went quiet for a moment.

Then he said,

"I won't."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

That was all I needed to hear.

So, about a week before resumption, we officially became a couple.

Nothing dramatic happened.

There was no big proposal.

No flowers.

No fancy date.

It was just two young people who had slowly fallen for each other without even realizing when it happened.

When school resumed, everything somehow became even better.

He would visit me whenever he could.

Sometimes three times in a week.

Sometimes he would just show up because he wanted to see me.

Other times, he came because he knew I was having a difficult day.

University wasn't easy for me.

There was assignment,strict lecturers,text.

And the constant pressure of trying to prove that I belonged there.

Abdulrahman became the person I could always talk to.

Whenever I was confused about schoolwork, I called him.

Whenever I was stressed, I called him.

Whenever I didn't understand an assignment, he would patiently explain it to me.

He even had a way of making difficult things seem simple.

And somehow, he became more than just my boyfriend.

He became my best friend.

There were days when I didn't have enough money to buy food.

Sometimes I wouldn't even tell him.

He would somehow notice.

"You've eaten?"

"Yes."

He would look at me.

"You're lying."

And before I knew it, he was already buying food for me.

It was funny because my dad had also told him to look out for me since I was far from home and didn't really have family around me.

But I think Abdulrahman took that responsibility a little too seriously. 😂

He genuinely cared about me.

Then my first semester result came out.

And everything changed.

I had a carryover.

I still remember how I felt when I saw the result.

I was disappointed,angry,embarrassed.

Mostly, I was just tired.

I couldn't understand how I had worked so hard and still ended up with a carryover.

For days, I didn't feel like reading.

I felt like giving up.

I started thinking maybe university wasn't for me.

Maybe I wasn't smart enough.

Maybe I had chosen the wrong path.

But Abdulrahman wouldn't let me stay in that place.

He listened to me cry, he encouraged me.

He reminded me of how far I had already come.

"You failed one course, favour. You didn't fail at life."

Those words stayed with me.

Little by little, I found my way back.

I started studying again.

I became more serious with my academics.

And slowly, things began to improve.

Our relationship wasn't perfect either.

We argued.

We got angry at each other.

Sometimes we stopped talking for a while.

But somehow, we always found our way back to each other.

There was only one thing I constantly complained about.

He liked talking to other girls.

And I hated it.

"Abdulrahman, you promised me."

"I know."

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"I'm sorry."

He always promised he would change.

And because I loved him, I kept believing him.

Time kept moving.

Before I knew it, I was no longer the confused fresher who had nearly cried at a cyber café.

I was growing.

My academics were getting better.

And Abdulrahman was getting closer to graduation.

We had grown together.

Through assignments, Exams,Financial struggles,Bad days ,Good days,Everything.

But while our relationship was becoming stronger, something else was quietly becoming a problem.

My mother found out about him.

At first, I was terrified.

My mother had always been strict about me getting close to boys.

She didn't want me distracted.

She wanted me focused on school.

So when she discovered that I wasn't just talking to a guy but was actually dating one, she was angry.

But that wasn't even the biggest problem.

She asked me who he was.

I told her.

Then she asked the question I was afraid of.

"What religion is he?"

I went silent.

"He's Muslim."

The atmosphere changed immediately.

My mother was a Christian, and she had strong beliefs about Muslim men and marriage.

She had heard stories.

She had seen things she didn't want for me.

She believed a Muslim man could marry more than one wife, and she didn't want her daughter to ever find herself in that kind of situation.

She told me to end the relationship.

Just like that.

I told her I would.

I even promised her I would break up with him.

But deep down, I knew I was lying.

Because I couldn't.

I had already fallen too deeply.

Abdulrahman wasn't just some random guy anymore.

He was the person who stayed when I was struggling.

The person who encouraged me when I wanted to give up.

The person who had seen me at my worst and still chose to stay.

So how was I supposed to simply walk away?

I kept the relationship.

And for a while, I tried to keep it away from my mother too.

We continued living our little university life.

Fighting.

Laughing.

Making up.

Growing.

Loving each other.

And somehow, years passed.

By the end of my third year, Abdulrahman was already a finalist.

He was getting closer and closer to graduation.

And I couldn't have been prouder of him.

He had come so far.

And I had come so far too.

We had survived university life together.

But then, he started talking more seriously about what would happen after school.

Marriage.

Life after graduation.

The future.

Every time he brought it up, I smiled and changed the subject.

Because I knew something he didn't want to hear.

My mother still wouldn't accept him.

And no matter how much I loved him...

I wasn't sure love would be enough to change that.

Then one day, he asked me something that completely changed the way I looked at our relationship.

Fav , where do you see us after school?"

I looked at him.

For the first time, I didn't know what to say.

Because suddenly, our love wasn't just about university anymore.

It was about the future.

And for the first time...

I was scared that the future might not have both of us in it.......

To be continued... 💔