It was Arham’s first day at university. He was strolling through the university halls, absorbed in his thoughts. He had to join a club and was thinking about which one to join. He started peeking into the various club rooms.

His curiosity led him past the music club, the debating society and finally to a small, slightly dim classroom marked “Magic Club”. He peeked through the slightly open door and saw a peculiar scene.

Inside, he saw a beautiful girl performing magic tricks alone. She dramatically addressed an imaginary audience and her hands waved over a deck of cards.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Prepare to be dazzled!” she declared. “In this trick, on the count of three, this card, the ace of hearts, will disappear from my hands. Now, one, two, three…”

Instead of the card disappearing, it slipped through her fingers. The very next moment, the whole deck of cards followed the ace, falling to the floor. She lunged at them in mid-air like a cat to grab them, but she lost her balance and fell face-first onto the ground.

Arham barely controlled his laughter. She then caught a glimpse of Arham and froze.

“Oh! Uh, hello!” she stammered from the floor. Her stage presence instantly evaporated. Her cheeks were red and she seemed nervous.

“Hi, I’m Arham,” he said cautiously.

“I’m… uh… Naila,” she mumbled.

Arham started to leave, thinking he’d had his fun, but Naila stopped him. Clutching her deck of cards, she insisted, “Wait! Wait, you must see my next trick!” She grabbed her magician’s hat from the table. “Behold! When I lift this red cloth, a pigeon will appear.”

Arham watched as she dramatically reached into the hat, except nothing came out.

Confused and nervous, she said, “Let me check.”

She turned around to check the bird’s cage behind her. As she did, a smug pigeon popped out of the hat and flew straight out of the window. Arham felt extremely embarrassed for her, but did not know what to say.

Naila did not notice. She mumbled to herself, “The bird is in the hat.”

She went on again with full confidence and pulled the red cloth. Nothing emerged. She blinked. She tried again. Still nothing. Her face burned crimson as she kept faking confidence, fumbling with the hat while Arham tried to contain his laughter.

Arham, with a smile, told her that her pigeon had escaped. This disaster left her ears scarlet. Still undeterred, she said she would now show her greatest trick to him.

“Give me, uh… a 5,000 rupee note!” Naila demanded, holding her hand out.

Arham hesitated. “5,000 rupees? Really? Are you sure? That’s a lot of money.”

“Yes,” she replied seriously.

He handed it over to her anyway, secretly amused. Naila placed it carefully in an envelope, picked up a pair of scissors and dramatically cut the envelope in half. Arham was shocked.

She said with full confidence and pride, “This money that I have cut in half will be restored on the count of one, two, three. Tada!”

Nothing happened. The money was cut clean in half. The ruined note slipped from the envelope and fell to the floor.

“Uh, magic!” she squeaked, pulling a whole 5,000-rupee note out of her own wallet. “This is magic; I teleported your 5,000 rupees into my purse, see!”

She was trying to cover up her mess, and what a pitiful cover-up it was. Arham took the money from her, but the next moment, she sniffled. Tears filled her eyes and she started wiping her cheeks messily.

Her voice trembled, “It was my whole month’s pocket money.”

Arham did not feel like taking the money from her anymore, so he returned it. Arham started to leave again.

She stopped him and said, “Please, join my club. I am bad at tricks, as you see, and this club will end if no one joins.” She spoke with tears still in her eyes.

Arham felt sorry for her and agreed to her request. She jumped for joy, leaving Arham questioning his life choices. As he watched her excitedly gather her scattered cards and fix her crooked magician’s hat, he realised that even though her tricks were a complete disaster, she never gave up.

For some strange reason, Arham started thinking that maybe, with a little help, he could turn her ridiculous magic tricks into something truly impressive and save her struggling club from shutting down.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 13th, 2026