Aisha's POV
"Say whaaaat!" Sana abruptly stands up from her chair and it falls back from the force and all heads in the cafeteria turn towards us due to the sound of collision.
Clearing her throat she fixes her chair back to its place and settles down before me. "You're getting married to Hazek in three months?" She whispered hiss and I nodded my head while looking somewhere in the distance but nowhere particular. "Wow, that's… so sudden."
I slump my head on the table. "I don't want to get married! And not with Hazek! That narrow-minded man's going to suffocate me for life!" I bang my fist against the table.
"You should have refused when they asked!" Sana reasoned.
"How could I have? My parents looked expectantly at me, my aunt was so nice to me and Maleeha… Oh, God!" I exclaim, taking my head in my hands. "She always wanted us to become real sisters!"
"Till when are you going to live for others and not for yourself?"
"Right then… I couldn't say no. I couldn't break their hearts."
"Oh yeah? What about you Aisha? What is your opinion on this? This isn't why you started making Tiktok, right?! That place made you confident, you came out of your shell not to get pressured by the people around you but to impose your decision and to prove to them that you aren't fragile, an item to be kept at home that no one can see. You are a star that must shine!"
"It was you who boosted my confidence or else I would have stayed that fragile girl you met on the first day of our university."
"Look… I am your friend and not your enemy. If you had liked Hazek, it would have been another thing. Now that your feelings are crystal clear then why are you getting into this arranged marriage thing? This is torture, I swear!" She huffs out a breath of frustration.
"I don't know anymore, Sana… Hazek was right. I was only wasting my time with this application."
"Woah! Woah! Just stop right there!" She fiddles with her bag and retrieves her phone from it. "Do you even know how many of my followers have increased because of your account? The people who visited your profile must have seen the videos you posted with me and from there they followed me too! Since your video went viral I have been getting many messages asking about my relationship with you! People want to know everything about you and follow your path!"
"Oh…"
"Oh?" Her forehead creased with a frown. "Just oh?!"
"What else do you want me to say?" I replied.
"Where is your phone?"
"I turned it off last night. It was ringing like crazy." I wave off her concern.
"You stupid girl!" She stands up and snatches my bag from my side despite my protest, she retrieves my phone and switches it on. "Look at all these messages and followers!"
She brought my phone over my face and my eyes widened.
My followers had skyrocketed from ten thousand to one million!
I take the phone back in my hand and open the video that just went viral. It had more than five million views. I opened the messages I received and my eyes almost came out of their sockets.
"See! You were taking all this fame for granted." Sana retorts.
"D-d… David Smith just messaged me." I stutter as I stare at the screen, stunned.
"David Smith? The famous film producer?!" Sana's voice was filled with shock and I nodded my head. "What does he say?"
"He says…. Hi… You are beautiful." I looked her in the eyes and our eyes reflected utter disbelief. "Maybe it was a bad idea from the start… I shouldn't have listened to you, I shouldn't have made an account, I shouldn't have posted this dance video."
"Stop being so anxious! Let's reply to him first, alright?"
"No, no. Not happening." I raise my hand in protest but she grabs my phone and snatches it.
I struggled to take it back from her but she had already typed in a message and sent it.
Sent: Thank you. <3
Seen
"Oh, God! He has even seen my message already! Why did you do that Sana? And why'd you make a stupid heart?! I look so desperate!"
"Thank me later." She flexed. "And don't you go back down. Fight for yourself… and who knows maybe you could even meet your mister right guy." She winks at me and I scoff.
"Yeah… As if."
Ding! Ding!
"Is it his reply?" Sana asks and I nod my head with worry as I open his messages.
David Smith: Any girl in your place would have messaged me back right away. But you took two whole days to respond and here I couldn't sleep the night.
David Smith: I am sorry, It must have sounded weird.
"W-what do I say to this?" I ask Sana as I show her the messages.
"Aisha, you really have no experience with boys." She shook her head. "Just don't talk like a simple-minded girl. Boys like girls that are hard to catch." She winks.
Ding! Ding!
"What does he say now?" Sana asks.
I look at my text messages and my mouth forms into a thin line. "It's not him. It's Hazek."
"What does he want now?"
"He wants to meet me in the library."
"I bet he will try to stop you again. Now even more that he thinks he's going to marry you. Don't back down now Aisha. You have a whole new world that's waiting for you to discover it." I nod my head in affirmation.
Sana is right. I shouldn't lose hope, now of all time. I had waited for this day when people would come to me for PR, endorse me with their product, and use me as their brand ambassador.
Sana who's been using Tiktok even way before me couldn't get her hands lucky. While I was served on a silver platter, it was too soon of a reward for me. I should be thankful enough and here I was being ungrateful.
"You are right Sana. We should go to class now." I say picking up my back.
"What about Hazek?" She inquires.
"Let him keep waiting in the library."
"That's my girl!" Sana pats my cheek and walks ahead.
But the thought that concerned me right now was… how much time I had left until someone reveals my secret to my family.