LIMITLESS

Chapter VIII

"Assalamu alaykum." Hakeem said with a wide smile.

"Alaykum salam." Rayan replied with her head down. Hakeem tried to get a good look at her face but couldn't.

"Your brother and father have told me great things about you." he said shyly. "It's great to finally meet you."

"Rayan say hello properly." her father said. Rayan lifted her head and gave Hakeem an awkward smile.

"It's nice to meet you too."

His eyes widened as soon as he caught a good glimpse of her face.

"Do you have a sister?" he asked.

"Nope, I'm the only girl."

"Wow. That's weird. I know a girl that looks exactly like you. Except she doesn't wear hijab." he explained.

"That's interesting." Rayan laughed. "I guess we all have a twin somewhere in the world."

                                ...

Asad laid in his bed and thought about what he would do about Rayan. He'd had a few crushes but nothing that ever made him feel like this. He'd had a few girlfriends but it was never anything serious, to him at least. He wasn't sure what it was about Rayan, but lately he had been seeing something in her that he never saw in her before. Whatever it was, it was driving him crazy. He was deep in thought when his only older sister, Ayesha, came into his room.

"Asad, Ma has been calling you." she said. "Are you going deaf?"

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." Ayesha was his favorite sister and the only person in his family that he actually told things to. Asad was completely comfortable with her. "Can I ask you for advice?" he asked.

"Yeah, what's going on?" she asked. She sat on the chair next to his desk.

"So I like this girl."

"What?" she asked excitedly. She suddenly sat up straighter and gave him a full smile. She had been waiting for her brother to come to her with something like this for years.

"Yeah, you heard me right." he laughed. "There's this girl and I think I really like her."

"Tell me about her."

"She's funny, she can carry a conversation, she's interesting, she's beautiful. Really really beautiful. I've known her for a long time but only started to realize it recently." he explained. "But there's nothing I can do about it."

"Why not?" she asked. "She sounds amazing."

"It's hard to explain."

"Try."

"There's a few things in my way. I think she likes me too but she did a few things that got her in trouble. Now she doesn't really have control over her life."

"That's tough." Ayesha put her hand on her chin in thought. "Is she worth the effort that it might take to get her?"

"I don't know." he shrugged. "I just know that these past few weeks, I started liking her more than I've liked any other girl. Isn't that weird? All it took was a few weeks."

"Well you said you've known her for a long time. Maybe you've liked her for longer than you think. If it's this deep then go for it. It won't hurt to try."

"There's actually a lot at risk." he said.

"Can you stop leaving details out?" she asked, annoyed. "Tell me everything or I can't help you."

"It's Rayan." he said.

"Omar's little sister?"

"Yup." Ayesha looked around the room in shock.