Part Nineteen

The days that followed were filled with excitement, laughter and fun. We hardly spent time at the hotel, eager to make the most of the few days that we had left. Atiyyah and I had a blast, from shopping to eating to acting like our crazy selves. The days flew by, and before we knew it we were flying back to Phuket. I sat next to Naeem on the plane.
“I owe you an apology,” I began.
He looked at me curiously. “For what?”
“I judged you before I had gotten to know you properly, and the past two weeks made me realize just how wrong I was about you. I’m really glad that my father sent you along with us, and I hope that you had as much of fun as we did,” I said shyly.
Smiling, he said, “Don’t worry about it, I did the same with you. And yes, I had a blast. Never in my life have I met such a crazy 18 year old!”
“Heyyy now that’s not fair,” I pouted.
“All’s fair in love and war, Divergent. And this is war, remember? You’re out to steal my job.”
“Oh pssht. I’m being nice here and you’ve just officially declared war.” I pretended to be upset and made a big show of it to a laughing Naeem. Suddenly a tiny voice in my head spoke up. “But when will this war turn to love?” Dumbfounded, I pulled away in horror. Did I really just think that? I wondered in amazement. Just then my phone beeped, interrupting my thoughts. ‘New whatsapp message from unknown number’ flashed on my screen. Frowning, I opened it.

Unknown: Hey you😀 how’s your holiday going?
Me: Hey..going great.. Who’s this?
Unknown: I’m sad that you haven’t saved my number as yet😪
Me: lol. Maybe if you tell me who you are..
Unknown: Haha it’s Azhar.. Azhar Paruk😊