Hope this finds you well, xoxo.

Chapter 1

After filling almost half her diary, Malika decided that she needed something different, something completely out of the blue and unexpected that would take her mind off things, that would allow her to feel something other than the constant agony crushing her heart day after day.

This is how she ended up doing something...a little bit crazy. Maybe it was just the serious lack of sleep she was experiencing, maybe it was her dad checking on her for the fifth time in less than an hour, or maybe it was the nagging to 'just kill the guy with the head scarf of her ex-best friend' by her college Nancy, who yes, turned out to be crazy just like Malika thought but also an amazing friend. She didn't really know where this crazy idea came from but next thing she knew, she was searching google, after blindly pointing to a place on the map hanging on her bedroom wall, and what if she had chosen twice because she didn't like the first country?! it was fate and that's it.

"Adara Azzam." She whispered; The perfect stranger, the perfect 'No One' in her life, that was exactly what Malika needed.

In a blur she'd grabbed a paper and a pen and started to write, not really thinking about it, just letting the words flow. Folding the letter in four, she went to her dad's office to find an envelope to put it in, resolute that she would send it the next afternoon.

She just never expected she'd get an answer.

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Arsh was busy wrapping things in newspapers, packing boxes and labeling them when his little sister Abela came in through the front door of his apartment, holding what looked like his mail in her left hand.

"Salam big bro, how's the packing going? Abela greeted him cheerfully.

'That's not normal,' Arsh thought when he saw the fake cheerfulness his baby sister threw his way, 'She's  hiding something.'

"Is that my mail?" He asked her, suspicious.

"Yeah, just some bills and taxes, and..." She paused, and with practiced nonchalant way said "someone sent a letter to Adara from Egypt. It's probably a spam, we should throw it away, right?" She answered, curiosity and kindness shining in her chocolate colored eyes.

Arsh forced a calm mask on his face before answering "Maybe a relative who didn't get the notification, let me check that ." He added with a fake frown " And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop going through my mail." just to let her know that he was OK.

"Ooh grumpy I see!" Abela joked.

"No, trying to maintain the little bit of privacy I've still got left."

"Alright...here's your mail." Abela said, sighing heavily and extended her hand towards Arsh for him to grab his mail.

Taking hold of the few envelopes he'd received, Arsh quickly went through them, putting the bills and taxes on the table to take care of later, and looked down at the pink envelope that was left. Curious and frightened at the same time, he decided he could leave that letter alone for a while and take a well-deserved break. A glance at his watch told him it was lunch time.

Setting the envelope on the breakfast bar in the kitchen, he busied himself by cooking something quick for his sister and he. 

Just standing in that kitchen was bringing him down; maybe he needed the change like his sister said. But knowing that moving was the right step didn't help the feeling of loss he felt for leaving everything behind. Every corner of this home held a memory, a laugh, a tear, a smile or just a simple tender touch of her hand. How could he leave that behind? How could he leave her behind?

"Adara, If you are not in heaven now have the greatest time ever, I will be so angry at you for leaving me behind. "

"Hmm, smells nice, what are we having, Roshyio?"

He discreetly wiped his tears and said in what he hoped was a normal voice "Nothing for you, if you keep calling me that."

"Yeah, right." Abela answered amused, already busy filling her plate.

Sitting down, she couldn't help her curiosity at the letter that was just sitting there at the end of the table. Abela waited patiently for Arsh to address the elephant in the room, but when he did nothing she tried to take it from the table, but just when she reached it, Arsh snatched it from her hands.

"That's mine, Bella." He scowled.

"Actually, it's Adara's."

She backed away at the first sign of agony in his eyes, but that didn't prevent her from leaning over and trying to read over his shoulder but Arsh blocked her every attempt until she finally gave up and went to sit on the other side of the table.

"Oh please, you will tell me anyway. So let me see, what have we here?"

"It's none of your business." Arsh grumbled. But tilted the letter a little so she could read along with him.

They started reading it together and nobody addressed the feeling of anxiety that surrounded them or that they can both hear the others rapid breathe like they both ran a mile.

 

Hey stranger,

 

You don't know me, I don't know you. But I think God planned for us to be friends. I'm not really good at expressing myself, so I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I will be completely unresponsive when you read this, and therefore incapable of messing things up.

To be honest I messed a lot of things lately and  you were what I found as I was looking for something new, someone new, someone unknown. I know this might all seem crazy to you, and to be honest I think I'm a little bit crazy, my dad might argue that I always have. But I promise I'm not a serial killer or a stalker or anything- well maybe a little stalker-ish, but just the healthy dose.

 

All I know about you is that you live in Texas, and that your name is Adara Azzam. Which is really cool, like a Bollywood movie star name., so I think  you must be very pretty with amazingly long hair and big brown eyes.

 

Oh! My name is Malika by the way. Which means the little queen, I'm not feeling like a queen now, more like the girl who cleans after the queen when the queen goes to the ball with the king. But, besides that I have always liked my name. I'm a teacher. I teach a class of 20 little monkeys, at the school I graduated from, here in Cairo.

 

What does your name mean? What do you do for a living besides being a celebrity of course ;)? Have you always lived in Texas?

 

As you can probably tell I'm a curious hyper active kid trapped in a body of 25 years old woman. I hope me sending you this letter won't offend you. Because just writing it put a real smile on my face for the first time in like 6 months, so thank you for that.

 

Hope this finds you well, xoxo,

Malika Mahmoud

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Notes:

Salam= peace (kind of a greeting like hi)