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The sentiment sent shivers down Amie’s arms and all at once her tears stopped; she’d learned to sense when Malik was acting, and this didn’t feel like it

Zafina squinted her eyes as though she were feeling her brother out Finally, she let his hand go “Then you ht”

Malik laughed with relief “Honestly, thank you Zafina You have no idea how much this means to me To both of us,” he corrected

“Yeah, yeah,” Zafina rolled her eyes as she startedher way over to the staircase “You’re still an idiot”

Amie and Malik stood frozen on the rooftop for so to be the first one to speak After a long, tense silence, the two of the roo and ahhing over the i to come

A in the house as sheShe couldn’t think of anything besides the people she would be disappointing And ould Malik say, down the road? That she’d left hiirl he wanted toher hoone by? These were all the questions she kept asking, and all the answers Malik didn’t have

She sat by the garden waterfall The water that flowed frohted by the sunset in an array of reds and purples as it gushed over the rock fountain into the pool below She could hear footsteps drawing nearer to her and turned to see Malik standing before her

He took a seat next to her and looked her up and down She still wore her dress froreatly with the bare feet that squeezed into the moist soil below them

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he chirped quietly He waited for a response, and when one failed to present itself, began walking around the pool

A him as he looked down at the water with his hands in his pockets The dawning night began to hide the colors around the and watching He looked over at her once more, afor

“Yes, it’s beautiful,” came her delayed response