Luke and Naila did not meet again.
Neither of them texted the other, despite both having the other's number saved. Luke was curious about her, as he always seemed to be, but he had no intention of invading her space. Whatever she was dealing with, he felt she deserved the freedom to handle it in her own time.
The day after they met, Luke left the valley and wanted to return back before the next weekend.
Work in the city kept him occupied for the entire week, leaving him with barely enough time to catch his breath between meetings, shoots, and other commitments. Yet, no matter how busy his days became, there was one small habit he couldn't seem to shake.
He checked her social media.
Not obsessively. Just once in a while, whenever curiosity got the better of him.
But there was nothing.
Naila hadn't posted anything.
Not a picture. Not a story. Not even a random update.
Luke would stare at her profile for a few seconds before locking his phone and returning to whatever he was doing, telling himself it was nothing.
Meanwhile, Naila had a completely different problem.
She looked at the photographs Luke had taken of her almost every day.
She was tempted to post them. More than tempted, actually. The photographs had turned out beautifully, and she couldn't deny that she loved seeing herself captured in those quiet moments among the cottages and flowers.
But she had made herself a promise.
No social media updates until she had sorted out the problems in her life.
So, the pictures remained safely tucked away in her gallery.
She would open them, scroll through them one by one, smile at a few, linger on others, and then put her phone away.
Luke, apparently, had taken his photography very seriously.
There were shots captured at 3x, 5x, and 1x zoom, some in portrait mode and others without it. Somehow, every single one of them had turned out surprisingly decent. The cottages looked charming, the flowers added a soft touch to the background, and the natural light made everything look almost cinematic.
Luke had spent an embarrassing amount of time going through the photographs himself.
He finally leaned back with a satisfied smile, looking rather pleased with his work.
"I am actually pretty good at photography, I guess," he told himself.
And, for once, Luke had absolutely no one around to disagree with him.
For the first time in a while, Naila felt that she looked pretty too. The person who hates the candid liked these ones. "These are good," she told herself too. "He has clicked good pictures. Great..Great," Naila smiled. She then updated her Instagram profile picture.
Luke too always remembered to look through the pictures he clicked. "Who is it?" The hairstylist asked Luke while getting ready for his modeling gig.
"A friend," Luke smiled and replied to his regular stylist.
"Great clicks," the hair stylist said. "Does she like modeling? Maybe you can suggest her. She looks good. She has it. The shape and the face," Luke immediately stopped smiling and gave a death stare. The stylist immediately stopped. "Fine, fine, we will not talk about anyone's woman," he wanted truce. Luke went back admiring the photo. He opened the Instagram and started stalking Naila again. "Hell yeah," his mind screamed. She had updated the profile picture with the photo he clicked.
Luke sat quietly in the styling chair, with Naila's profile open as the stylists worked around him. He barely moved as strands of his hair were carefully bleached and dyed, transforming his usual look into something entirely different. By the time they were finished, his hair had turned a striking silver, streaked with subtle maroon highlights that caught the light whenever he moved.
The transformation was completed with the outfit.
Luke slipped into a black-and-white varsity jacket, its bold red and black lettering representing the game, the character, and its sponsors. The jacket sat perfectly over his frame, while a pair of ripped black jeans completed the look. With his silver hair and the sharp contrast of the outfit, he looked almost unreal more like the character had stepped straight out of the game and into the studio.
One of the crew members handed him a pair of dummy weapons, and Luke took them without a word. As the cameras began clicking and the lights shifted around him, his expression changed. The easygoing Luke disappeared, replaced by the fierce, confident persona of the character he was portraying.
Across town, Naila's Friday was far less glamorous.
She had spent most of the day at school, barely finding a moment to breathe between one responsibility and another. She stayed late into the evening, finalising the speech the children would deliver at the upcoming Christmas celebration, making last-minute changes to the drama script, and sorting through costumes for the dance performances.
And that wasn't even the end of her list.
She was also in charge of the orchestra, which meant spending hours with the children, teaching them Christmas carols and patiently correcting missed notes, forgotten lyrics, and out-of-sync voices. The school was already beginning to buzz with the excitement of the approaching celebration, but for Naila, it meant long hours, endless lists, and little time to herself.
While Luke spent his Friday becoming someone else in front of flashing cameras, Naila was quietly making sure everyone else was ready to shine.
This year, the school wanted to celebrate Christmas differently that they decided to hold it in the late evening after 6 PM. This mean extra decors and budget and this meant overtime till the celebration day.
"I'm so tired Naila," Sony always complained.
"So are we," the other teachers complained too. They often took breaks, spending an hour at some coffee shops and bakeries before heading home.
"This feels good," one day Brenda, a teacher said. "At least we all grew close, due to overtime," that was the truth. The team bonded well for the first time. But one thing remained the same. Naila was always given more work.
"We have kids at home, a family to take care, please understand, this time, just once," this was everyone's excuse. Luckily Sony got few shares too since she was also single, but distance heloed her often.
"Not today, I have to catch the bus," she would run away leaving Naila alone, to everything.
Naila walked down the quiet corridor toward her classroom, humming one of her favourite songs under her breath. The campus was almost completely deserted now. Apart from her, only the security guards remained, stationed quietly at the gates as the evening settled over the school.
She pushed open the classroom door and took a moment to look around.
The room was slowly beginning to take on the warmth of Christmas.
Naila went from one corner to another, making sure every decoration was in its place. She adjusted a few ornaments that had been left crooked, straightened the festive garlands, and checked the small details she knew the children would notice the moment they walked in.
Once she was satisfied, she turned her attention to the board. With careful strokes, she finished writing a cheerful welcome message for the children, adding a few festive touches around it. She then placed a greeting card on each desk, making sure every child would have a little surprise waiting for them when they arrived.
There was still more to do.
Naila sat down with her laptop and went through the final versions of the scripts, checking them one last time before sending them out. Once the files were mailed, she shared them in the respective WhatsApp groups so that everyone involved had the latest copies.
Her fingers paused over the keyboard for a moment before she opened another chat.
The costumes.
They were running out of time.
She quickly typed a message to the vendor responsible for the dance costumes.
"Hi, I hope everything is going well. Kindly send me an update regarding the progress of the costumes, as we have only a week left. I would appreciate it if you could share the update by tomorrow. Please let me know if you require any additional details or information from my end."
Naila hit send and leaned back in her chair, letting out a quiet sigh.
There was still so much left to finish, but at least for the night, she had managed to cross a few more things off her ever-growing list.