Integration, Not Replacement
Chapter 12 – Integration, Not Replacement
The first time the groups met properly, it wasn’t arranged like a ceremony.
No one said, We should all sit down and discuss this relationship.
No one made it into a milestone.
It happened the way integration was meant to happen–through life.
Through food.
Through someone saying, casually, Come by if you’re free.
Dan was the one who started it.
He sent a message into Aleem’s group chat with the urgency of a man announcing a national emergency.
Dan: Boys. There’s a new café. It has outdoor seating. It has good lighting. It has waffles. It is meant for us.
Im: You sound unstable.
Fiz: What time?
Aaron: If there are waffles, I’m in.
Dan then sent a separate message to Aleem directly.
Dan: Invite Kira and her girls. No pressure. I just think it’ll be cute.
Aleem stared at his phone.
Cute.
Dan used that word too freely.
Aleem didn’t want it to feel like an audition.
So he asked the only person whose opinion mattered.
He texted Kira.
Aleem: Dan wants to try a new café this Saturday. He asked if you and your friends want to come. No pressure at all.
Kira read the message and smiled.
Not because she needed his world.
But because he was offering it gently.
She forwarded it to the girls.
Kira: Café with Aleem’s friends? Totally optional.
Yuxin replied immediately.
Yuxin: YES. I want to see the bros.
Farah:
Farah: If it’s an audition, I’m bringing a clipboard.
Aisyah:
Aisyah: I’ll come. But I’m watching.
Wen:
Wen: Okay.
Kira exhaled, amused.
Then she replied to Aleem.
Kira: We can come.
Aleem: Okay. Thank you.
Even now.
Even for something as simple as coffee.
He treated her choice like it mattered.
The café Dan chose was exactly what Dan would choose.
Bright. A little too trendy. Outdoor seating with plants arranged like intentional decoration. A menu with too many options and a pastry display that looked like it belonged in a photoshoot.
Dan arrived early to claim a table, waving at Aleem and the boys like he owned the place.
Im sat down calmly, already scanning the menu.
Fiz leaned back in his chair, eyes half-lidded, conserving energy like it was a resource.
Aaron took the seat with the best view of the street.
Aleem arrived last, not because he was late–he wasn’t–but because he’d timed it so Kira wouldn’t have to walk in alone.
When Kira and her girls approached, they did not come in single file.
They came the way they always did.
Together.
Wen slightly to Kira’s side.
Aisyah a step behind, watching.
Yuxin already taking in the aesthetic.
Farah wearing sunglasses despite the fact that the sun was barely present.
Dan stood so quickly his chair nearly fell.
“Oh my God,” he said, grinning. “It’s the girls.”
Farah lowered her sunglasses slowly.
“Are you always like this,” she asked, “or is today a performance?”
Dan laughed. “Both.”
Im covered his mouth as if hiding a smile.
Fiz blinked slowly, unbothered.
Aaron’s gaze flicked over the group with quiet assessment, then softened slightly at the sight of Wen’s calmness.
Kira introduced them simply.
“Dan, Im, Fiz, Aaron–this is Wen, Aisyah, Yuxin, Farah.”
No titles.
No hierarchy.
Just people.
They exchanged greetings.
Aisyah’s handshake was firm.
Dan’s was enthusiastic.
Im’s was warm.
Fiz nodded more than he spoke.
Aaron’s greeting was quiet but sincere.
“Hi,” he said.
Wen nodded back. “Hi.”
There was a moment of stillness where everyone adjusted.
Not awkward.
Just new.
Then Yuxin gasped softly.
“Waffles,” she said, reverent.
The tension broke.
Dan immediately leaned toward her. “You like waffles? I like waffles. We’re basically family.”
Farah groaned. “He’s going to adopt all of us.”
Kira laughed.
Aleem watched her, chest warm.
He didn’t feel like he was balancing two separate lives.
He felt like he was letting two full lives exist in the same space.
They ordered in overlapping clusters.
Dan tried to convince everyone to get the same drink “for the aesthetic.”
Yuxin supported him, because of course she did.
Fiz refused on principle.
Aisyah refused on instinct.
Im suggested a compromise.
Farah rolled her eyes but smiled anyway.
Kira found herself watching Aleem speak with his friends.
He was the same Aleem.
Not performing romance.
Not acting like a different man because she was there.
And she realised, quietly, that she liked him more for it.
Across the table, Aleem watched Kira with her girls.
He noticed how Wen stayed close without clinging.
How Aisyah’s protectiveness was gentle rather than sharp.
How Farah’s bluntness carried care.
How Yuxin made ordinary things feel festive.
He understood why Kira loved them.
He didn’t feel threatened.
He felt grateful.
Because they had made her this steady.
And now, she had chosen to bring that steadiness to him.
At one point, Dan stood up to take a group photo.
“Everyone in,” he demanded, waving his phone.
Kira instinctively moved toward Wen.
Aleem instinctively moved toward Fiz.
Not because they were avoiding each other.
Because their bodies remembered their foundations.
Dan pouted. “No, no. Mix. Integrate. We are one nation.”
Farah snorted. “This is not a government campaign.”
Aisyah muttered, “Alhamdulillah.”
“Alhamdulillah.”
Praise be to God.
Everyone laughed.
They shuffled.
Kira ended up standing beside Aleem, their shoulders touching lightly.
Aleem didn’t wrap his arm around her.
He didn’t claim her for the photo.
He simply stood close.
Kira’s fingers found his briefly behind her back.
A soft squeeze.
Aleem returned it once.
Then released.
The camera clicked.
The photo captured exactly what this was.
Not two halves becoming one.
But two wholes standing together.
Surrounded.
After the café, they drifted outside in no particular order.
Dan and Yuxin walked ahead, arguing cheerfully about which dessert was superior.
Im fell into step with Farah, listening with polite interest as she explained something “deeply stupid” about office politics.
Fiz and Aisyah walked side by side in silence, both of them naturally protective people who didn’t need words to recognise each other.
Aaron walked slightly behind with Wen.
Not flirting.
Not forcing conversation.
Just… walking.
Wen looked at the street, then spoke quietly.
“You were worried last week,” she said.
Aaron blinked. “About?”
“Your father,” Wen replied.
Aaron’s throat tightened.
He nodded once.
Wen continued, voice soft. “I’m glad you weren’t alone.”
Aaron looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said, quietly, “Thank you.”
Not because she had fixed anything.
Because she had seen it.
Aleem and Kira walked behind the group.
Not chasing.
Not clinging.
Just together.
Kira’s hand brushed Aleem’s.
Aleem didn’t take it immediately.
He looked at her first.
Kira nodded once.
He laced their fingers gently.
Their friends were right there.
And somehow, that made it feel safer.
Not private.
But protected.
爱不是孤岛。
Love is not an island.
At the corner where they would eventually split ways, Kira looked around at the messy cluster of people.
Two groups.
One space.
No one reduced.
No one replaced.
Just… expanded.
Kira leaned slightly toward Aleem.
“This went well,” she murmured.
Aleem’s mouth curved.
“It did,” he replied.
Kira’s eyes softened.
“Thank you for not making it weird,” she said.
Aleem laughed quietly.
“I was trying very hard,” he admitted.
Kira squeezed his hand once.
“I know,” she said.
And she meant it.