Kifayat was standing next to the hallway window outside her classroom, watching the students pass by. Her mind was not on the lecture notes in her hands. These dates she has been thinking if she should really approch Dylan. However her thought were cut short, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Kifayat."
Kifayat turned around. She saw Dylan was standing there, smiling softly, there were some books and notes in his hands, like a first year model student.
"Oh, hi." Kifayat replied, her tone was not as cold as before.
"I was wondering if we could talk, or have a coffee together ?"
Does this boy have only this pick up line? Kifayat thought.
Dylan continued, "Oh I forgot that you don't drink coffee, then what do you like? Don't.. misunderstand. I just want to talk about the group project that teacher assigned us today.." seeing how flustered Dylan was, Kifayat couldn't keep her straight face anymore.
She smiled politely, "Sure, and can I bring my friends along? I promised to hangout with them earlier. "
Dylan blinked, he was surprised Kifayat agreed so easily. " Of course, the more, the merrier."
"Okay, see you later."
In the afternoon, Kifayat, Cyra, Dina, Dylan sat on a small table in the corner of the cafe. The atmosphere was nice, but all of them look slightly stiff. Cyra keeps sending amused looks to Kifayat, she whispered, "This boy is quite handsome." Kifayat told her to shut up. Dina was pretending to hold the menu very seriously as if it's a scripture.
In order to ease the awkward atmosphere, Kifayat first introduced her friends to Dylan. After they greeted each other, Cyra casually asked, "So Dylan where are you from?"
"I am from B city."
"What a coincidence, we are also from there. What's your school name?" Cyra continued to ask questions.
"I am from St. George, we actually lived in lived in different city before due to my father's job. We recently moved from there."
"Oh I see." Kifayat who was sipping on her milk tea suddenly asked, "Dylan, are you into writing?"
"Yes. How do you know?"
"That's....Abia from our class told me that you write very well. So we were thinking about assigning the writing part to you."
"Oh, sure. I would love to."
"By the way, what do you like to write?"
"I sometimes write poems, I am not very good at it."
Dina enthusiasticly asked, "Wow, I really like such artistic people. Why don't you show us some of your writing?"
"Okay." Dylan took out his diary which was full of his poems. Surprisingly they were very good.
Kifayat read a few, and genuinely praised, "You can be a poet at this rate." Dylan smiled shyly, "Thank you."
Dina added, "Your handwriting is nice too."
Amidst these chatter, the awkward atmosphere from before was gone.
From a nearby table, half shielded by a potted plant, Arbaz was observing all of these actions but he couldn't exactly hear what they were saying. Samir whispered, "Do you have to do these? People would think we are some kind of criminal." The owner already came to check us twice.
Aman said, "Bro she is not interested in my cousin, chill out."
"Look, she is flipping through the diary he has given! she is smiling!!" Arbaz glared at his friends, "This is all your fault."
"What did we even do, your plan just backfired." Samir retorted.
Arbaz looked away from them, his lips tightened. Kifayat hadn't smiled at him for a while. He could not help but feel sad.
Later in the dormitory,
"Mission accomplished," Cyra announced. "You confirmed it's not him, also rejected him politely. Killing two birds with one stone."
Dina said, " I feel bad for the boy. He seems quite nice."
Kifayat nodded, "Yeah. I hope he moves on."
"Hey don't worry, he'll be alright. But Kifayat what is your plan now. The suspect list is almost empty now."
Kifayat didn't respond, her hands traced on the edge of the notebook. She remembered the poem Arbaz had written before. Someone had written the later verse of that poem to her before, The letter guy.
Besides why would he deliberately write in such ugly handwriting. What did he have to hide. Remembering all his suspicious action before, Kifayat said in her heart, "You are not yet out of the suspect list, Arbaz."
The next day Kifayat stepped out of her classroom, holding her books in one hand. She saw a familiar figure standing outside.
It was Arbaz. He looked like he had been waiting for someone. When their eyes met, he straitened his collar, pretending to be casual.
"Oh hi," Kifayat greeted first, "What are you doing here?"
"I was just passing by."
"You were passing by our department building?"
"Yeah, I had something to do nearby." Arbaz replied weakly.
Kifayat didn't push it any further. "I see. I will go then."
"Wait a minute. Are you free now?"
"Well no, I have group assignment to do."
"Who are you going with?" Arbaz nodded first then quickly asked.
"Dylan, Abia, and some others."
Hearing Dylan's name, Arbaz's face darkened, "You seem to have grown closer with Dylan."
Kifayat didn't deny it. "He is quite nice. And you know I suspect he is the letter guy."
"Impossible." Arbaz strongly refuted.
"How are you so sure? Kifayat asked.
"He clearly didn't know you before. I am sure the handwriting and all other details didn't match either."
"Didn't you say he can use others to write, maybe he is pretending to not know me or lying about other things."
Arbaz knew if he says something now, it would be contradictory to his previous words. At this point, he was already losing the argument. So he blurted out, "He can't be the letter guy because the letter guy is here."
Kifayat's heart skipping a bit. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the letter guy came to me and told me that he had been wanting to meet you. This time he gave me the letter to send it to you."
"So you have seen his face. Did you ask his name? Why didn't you tell me before?"
"That.. I am telling you now. You will know everything soon. He is preparing for a surprise."
"Oh Okay then where is the letter?"
Arbaz thought I blurted out the letter on a whim. What should I do now?
"Wait for ten minutes. I forgot to bring the letter with me. I'll bring it now."
Before Kifayat could say anything, Arbaz rushed out. He ran through the corridor, found a nearby stationary stall, bought pen and paper, scribbled something. Then went back. The whole process took less than 10 minutes.
Kifayat was still standing at the place where he left her with her arms crossed. She looked at him suspiciously.
"You are quite fast."
"Well I forgot that the letter was in my pocket. Now here take it."
She took the folded paper, opened to read it. Arbaz's throat was dry. Suddenly she smiled, she put the letter in her bag and said to Arbaz, "Bring him to meet me tomorrow. I will wait there."
Arbaz nodded hurriedly with excitement and at the same time he became nervous thinking how her reaction would be tomorrow.