Page 56 of The Mismatch

Soraya had just gotten to the twist in the book she was reading,Gone Girl, which made her sit up in bed, book firmly in hand.

‘As if,’ she muttered, turning the pages quickly, her eyes skimming over the words. She wasn’t ordinarily a fan of thrillers, but romances held little appeal for her now. They reminded her of how embarrassed she should be. A story about a psychotic wife attempting to ruin her cheating husband’s life suited her much better. Her phone rang. Another missed call from Magnus. It had been a week since he had texted her and he was becoming more persistent.

Her hand twitched, but there was no point. No point in talking to him. She’d always known their time together had an expiry date. It was a game, and it finished with Soraya getting burnt.

His excuse in the end was exceptionally flimsy: he had broken his phone. Apparently, he had not seen her messages. Even if she believed this, which she didn’t, the two of them were too different ever to be a real thing. She knew they could never be long-term, so really it had ended at the right time. Before anyone got too attached.

And yet despite her logical rationale about why this was a blessing in disguise, burning within her was rage. She wanted to answer his calls and tell him quite frankly to fuck off and leave her alone, but she also wanted to question him about why he thought it was OK to simply ditch her, and not get back to her for days. They weren’t in the Stone Age, if his phone was broken he could have Facebook messaged her – or even emailed her. And even if he somehow had no way to contact her, that didn’t explain why he didn’t meet her as planned. There was really no excuse. Priya’s words were imprinted in her mind.Respect yourself. And that she intended to do.

Instead of replying to Magnus, she wrote a long scathing diary entry about how disgusting he was. She didn’t even necessarily believe her own words, which annoyed her, but it felt good to get it out, to make him seem as small as he made her feel.

After another five hours in bed, during which time she had finished reading the book in between refreshing Indeed Jobs, she got up, put on a pair of old gym shorts and a baggy T-shirt. She wasn’t quite sure who she was kidding dressing to go for a run, but decided she needed to try. To clear her mind and move her body.

She ran down the stairs of her flat, hoping to give herself some much-needed adrenaline. When she opened the main door to leave the building, she jumped in surprise.

‘What—’

‘You weren’t answering my calls,’ Magnus said, his hand still in the air as though about to press the buzzer.

She wanted to say, ‘So get the hint,’ but the retort stuck in her throat. She couldn’t be that cutting in person, not with him standing in front of her, looking at her the way he was.

She shut the door behind her and continued walking, pretending she hadn’t seen him. This whole situation had become too sticky. She hoped putting a little distance between them would prevent her from becoming stuck in it.

‘Soraya,’ he called from behind her, grabbing her hand. She shut her eyes, wishing she was more normal. If she was they would have gone back to her flat to talk about this, rather than arguing in the street.

She shrugged herself free and turned to look over her shoulder at him. ‘I don’t know why you keep calling me.’

He sighed and put both hands in his hoody pocket, pushing them down.

‘Why are you ignoring me?’

‘That’s rich.’

In typical London fashion passers-by remained unbothered by their public argument. She continued walking up towards Telegraph Hill.

‘Would you just stop?’ he said, matching her pace.

‘I have somewhere to be. So I can’t really talk.’

He looked her up and down, and she remembered her tragic ensemble and make-up-free face, and realised this was the first time he’d seen her like this.

‘The gym?’ he asked.

She let out a frustrated sigh. ‘What do you want?’

‘I don’t get why you’re so mad at me. My phone broke, otherwise I would have texted you back. It was only a few days—’

‘Oh, come on, you stood me up at the cinema! That’s not OK—’

Realisation dawned on his face. ‘Oh, shit! I totally forgot we were meant to meet …’

Soraya began walking at an even brisker pace. He followed her along effortlessly whilst she was struggling to breathe properly.

‘It doesn’t even matter.’

‘So you forgive me?’

They walked up the steep street, the park where Soraya had planned to go for a run within sight.