Chapter Six: Texts, Tricks, and Little Lies
Khali Williams wasn't used to being ignored. Not by a lecturer, not by a girl, not by life. But ignoring him was exactly what Liyah tried to do and it made his bet feel less like a game and more like an itch under his skin he couldn't scratch.
He started with harmless texts:
Khali: Hey Ice Queen. Had lunch yet?
Liyah: Busy.
Khali: Busy looking pretty or busy ignoring me?
Liyah: Goodbye, Khali.
His friends, Mark, lex and Daniels, teased him endlessly. "Ah ah, lover boy! So the girl's still forming hard to get?" Siey laughed, nearly choking on suya one evening.
Khali scrolled through her last cold reply, irritation brewing, but then he thought of Mirah's annoying giggles and the way she'd wink and push Liyah at him. He smirked to himself. She's just testing me.
Meanwhile, Mirah was too busy saving the world to notice her friend's silent irritation.
One afternoon, she spotted an elderly cleaner on campus dragging two heavy buckets up the hostel stairs. Without thinking, Mirah dropped her bag, rushed over, and carried one of the buckets like a determined ant. The old woman gasped, praising her between short breaths.
"Oh, my dear! You will marry a the best man! May you never lack food in your house!"
Mirah giggled, ignoring the curious students watching her. "Amen oh! Food is life, ma'am!"
Another day, she snuck leftover cafeteria chicken into a tissue and left it for a scrawny stray cat that always lingered near the library. She sat on the ground, feeding the suspicious animal piece by piece while other students stepped over her and whispered, " weirdo."
When Liyah scolded her, she shrugged dramatically, "It's not my fault. My romantic novel heroines are all kindhearted. I'm practicing!"
While Mirah played Mother Teresa, Khali kept up his small attacks. He timed his "accidental" run-ins with Liyah: waiting outside her lecture hall with chilled iced tea ("You look stressed, hydration is key."); bumping into her at the cafeteria just as she joined the rice queue ("Oh! What a coincidence. Let's share a table, Ice Queen."); even waiting outside the hostel with a snack bag for Mirah because he knew Mirah would drag Liyah down eventually.
"Stop calling me Ice Queen," Liyah snapped once, her arms folded as he leaned too close for her liking.
Khali just grinned. "Melt a little and I'll stop."
Liyah didn't plan to melt but she didn't want to argue with Mirah every single night either. So, she started replying to his texts with short but polite answers. She agreed to lunch once in a while, as long as Mirah was there. She let him follow her home with takeaway food she claimed she didn't want but finished later anyway.
But when Khali bragged to Daniels, Daniels laughed, "Are you sure she's falling for you? Or just tolerating you?"
Khali waved him off. "Same difference. Give it time."
Time, however, was not helping Missi much.
Missi's new boyfriend, Jason, had started acting strange. He still sent cute messages and voice notes, but sometimes he wouldn't pick her late-night calls. Or he'd claim his battery died when he didn't reply for hours. Once, Mirah saw him near the school gate, leaning a bit too close to a girl with dyed blonde braids. She squinted, ready to confront him but the moment Jason spotted Mirah, he quickly waved her over, acting like nothing happened.
When Mirah told Liyah privately, Liyah sighed. "Should we tell Missi?"
Mirah bit her lip. "Hmm… Not yet. Let's watch first. You know how Missi loves with her whole heart. If we're wrong, it'll break her trust for nothing."
Meanwhile, Missi giggled daily in the group chat about her "sweet sugar plum", oblivious to the possible storm brewing behind her back.
Back to Liyah and Khali. Liyah had her own way to deal with his constant presence.
One Friday night, she texted him: Come over if you're bored. We can watch a movie.
Khali smirked and showed Daniels. "It's working. She wants me to come over. One more week, and she's mine."
Except Liyah had prepared an evil plan. She made him sit through a three-hour historical documentary about 17th-century European politics complete with subtitles, zero action scenes, and endless ancient maps.
By the second hour, Khali's head was nodding, his eyelids heavy. Liyah watched him blankly, sipping juice. "Fascinating, right?" she said in her most innocent voice.
He forced a smile. "Yeah… very… educational."
By the time the credits rolled, Khali all but ran out of her room, half-asleep and deeply reconsidering whether this girl was worth the bet.
Liyah told Mirah later, laughing quietly, "If he survives one more documentary night, maybe he deserves a date."
Mirah clapped like a proud mom. "Yes! See love blossoming before my eyes! My romantic soul is so fulfilled!"
Liyah shook her head. She didn't believe in Khali's sweet lines but if playing along meant Mirah would stop giving her daily lectures about moving on from Alexis, then so be it.
And so, while Missi floated in her rosy bubble, Mirah spread kindness (and leftover food), and Khali wrestled with an Ice Queen and a mischievous fairy godmother rolled into one, the bet ticked closer to its deadline and fate kept stirring secrets nobody was ready for.