The Biggest leap
# CHAPTER TWENTY
The typing indicator appeared. Then disappeared. Then appeared again. Se’ad’s heart was beating so violently that she almost regretted telling him anything at all. She had said too much. Far too much.
She had taken every feeling she had carefully hidden and placed it directly in front of him, without knowing what he would do with it. Then his message came.
“I'm glad you told me.” She exhaled.Her shoulders relaxed slightly. Then another message appeared.
“Yeah, I told you to tell me more but holy fuck..I wasn't expecting this 🤣I was way off lmao” She covered her face “Ya Allah.”
Of all the responses she had imagined after confessing that she had fallen in love with him, this was not one of them. She laughed nervously. Then typed: “What exactly were you expecting? “😭 His reply came quickly. Honestly, I don't know 😂 She laughed. “That's not an answer.”
He responded “I thought you were going to tell me something random.”
“Random??” And instead I gave you a whole emotional confession?
“Exactly “ She buried her face in her pillow.
“Wallahi, this boy…” She typed:”I hate you.”
His response appeared almost immediately. “No you don't.” She stared at the words then smiled.
“Don't be so sure.”
I'm sure. Her heart did that ridiculous little thing again. She hated how easily he could make it flutter. But then the conversation slowed.
The jokes disappeared. For a few moments, there was only silence.
Then his next message appeared. “And I've always thought you're cool. I like the way you carry yourself. From what I've seen. From what you've shown me. I like you.”
Se’ad's fingers went completely still. Three words. Simple. Almost ordinary. Yet coming from him, they felt anything but ordinary. She stared at them. “I like you.” Not I love you. Not some dramatic declaration.
Just— I like you.
But somehow, she could feel the weight behind it. Then another message appeared.
“Actually... I find myself sending you selfies. Clear selfies showing you my face?
Trying to show you my jewelry in another?”
She laughed softly. He was talking about the gold chain. The deliberate little photographs.
Then came the sentence that made her smile disappear.
“That's the biggest leap I've made with any stranger on this app.” Se’ad leaned back against her pillow. She read it again. A stranger.? That was what she had been to him.
Yet somehow, she had already become someone he was willing to show pieces of himself to. Someone he was allowing closer.
Someone who had seen his face. His voice, his habits and strange humor. His softer side. And apparently, that meant something. Her phone vibrated again.
“It's safe to say I've had the hots for you.”
She gasped. “Nasib!” and immediately typed:
THE HOTS?? 😭 His response: Yes.
“That's how you're describing it?” He replied “Would you prefer something else?”
She smiled. “I don't know.”
“Then there you go.” She shook her head.
He was impossible. But before she could reply, another message appeared. And this one was different.
I know "I like you" isn't anywhere close to an "I love you," or even the right response to what you just told me. Her smile faded as she read the message carefully.
“But trust me, it's a big deal for me.I've never ever done anything like this.”
Se’ad sat completely still.
For the first time since she had sent her confession, she didn't feel embarrassed. She didn't feel foolish or feel as though she had exposed herself to someone who didn't care.
Instead, she felt something much gentler.
Relief. Not because he had said I love you. He hadn't.
And perhaps that was what made his words feel real. He wasn't giving her something simply because she had handed him her heart. He was giving her what he actually knew he felt.
And somehow, she respected that more.
She typed slowly: “Thank you for telling me.”
His reply: “You don't have to thank me.”
Se’ad: “I do.” Why? She smiled.
“Because you could've made me feel stupid for saying it.”. He replied “I'd never do that.”
Her eyes softened.
---
That night, they didn't make grand promises. There was no sudden discussion about marriage. No dramatic declarations about forever. No unrealistic certainty about where they were heading. Instead, they talked. About the things they wanted, what made them happy, things they feared and About the people who had shaped them.
And Se’ad found herself realizing something. She didn't want to rush this. For once, she didn't want to build an entire future around a feeling that had only just begun. She wanted to know him. Not the man from the snaps. Not the mysterious gentleman or the wealthy stranger whose lifestyle she couldn't quite understand. Not even the man behind the black-framed glasses and those dark, slender eyes.
She wanted Nasib.The actual person. The story behind him. The parts he didn't post and the things he didn't tell everyone. The reason he was so private, and why he found it difficult to let people close. The person behind all that mystery. She wanted to discover him slowly.
And perhaps, for the first time, Se’ad understood that love didn't have to begin with certainty.
Sometimes it began with curiosity.
---
Still, when the conversation ended that night, Se’ad lay awake. Her phone rested beside her.
His name remained on the screen. Nass💵
A thought crept into her mind. What if I'm doing it again? Her heart tightened. What if this was simply another version of what happened with Ridhwan? What if she was once again falling for someone because he made her feel seen? Was she was attaching herself to the idea of a person before truly knowing the person himself?
She turned onto her side and remembered Ridhwan. The late-night conversations, the promises, conversations about marriage.All the things she had believed and prayed for. And how quickly everything had collapsed.
She closed her eyes. No. Nass wasn't Ridhwan.
She knew thatBut her heart had been broken once. It remembered. And perhaps that was why every new feeling came with a warning. Be careful. Don't rush. Don't build a future from a few beautiful moments. So she made herself a quiet promise. She would not chase him or force anything.
She would not start imagining herself as his wife or allow her heart to run ten years ahead of reality. She would simply get to know him. Slowly, Patiently. One conversation at a time.
---
But there was another question she hadn't yet dared to ask herself. Could she actually fit into his world?
She knew enough from his snaps to understand that Nasib's life was different from hers.
The cars. The places, restauran, jewelry.
The work around the Senate.The way he travelled, people he seemed to know.
The quiet confidence. The lifestyle she had only ever glimpsed through a phone screen. Se’ad had grown up comfortable. Her family was wealthy. She knew what luxury looked like.
She had grown up around beautiful houses, expensive cars, businesses and people who had means. But something about Nasib's world felt different.
Perhaps because she couldn't see its boundaries. She didn't know where his life began or ended or what kind of family he came from and what expectations surrounded him.
She didn't know what kind of woman belonged beside him. And she certainly didn't know whether that woman could be her. She smiled bitterly. “Se’ad, you're thinking too much.”
A new message had arrived. “You awake?”
Her heart warmed immediately. She replied:””Yes,Why?” Thinking. About what? She hesitated.
Then typed: “Nothing important.” His reply came:
“Liar.” She smiled. “Goodnight, Sugar.”
A few seconds later: “Goodnight, my girl.” She stared at the words. “My girl.”? Her heart gave a dangerous little flutter. She placed the phone against her chest. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself.Maybe she wasn't.
Perhaps Nasib Wali would become nothing more than a beautiful chapter in her life.
Or maybe—
just maybe— Allah had written something completely different. Something neither of them had seen coming. For now, Se’ad chose not to ask. She had spent too much of her life trying to predict how love would end.
This time, she wanted to discover how it unfolded. Slowly. Without forcing it. But somewhere in the quiet darkness of that night, one thing had already changed.
She was no longer wondering whether Nass💵 liked her. She knew. And he knew she liked him too. The game had changed. And neither of them yet understood just how much.