The Next Chapter

In an excerpt from Malala Yousafzai's new memoir, she recalls the start of a life-changing romance and the barriers that stood in her way. Photographed by Vivek Vadoliya.

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TWO OF HEARTS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE MALALA YOUSAFZAI WITH HER HUSBAND, ASSER MALIK, PHOTOGRAPHED AT LORD'S CRICKET GROUND IN LONDON IN JULY. SITTINGS EDITOR: TALLULAH HARLECH.

When Asser told me he was coming back to the UK in July from Pakistan, I was delighted if not completely surprised.

His niece was graduating from medical school and England was hosting the Cricket World Cup, a great opportunity to broaden his professional network as a mid-level cricket manager. But the main reason was me. He didn't need to say it I knew I wasn't wrong about his feelings this time.

After that first phone call when I told him what I was going through at Oxford-the exhaustion and panic attacks he called almost every day. At first he mostly checked on my health, making sure I took my iron pills and gently lecturing me when I admitted to eating nothing but french fries for two days in a row. Then our conversations got longer, stretching to include topics like celebrity crushes, our childhood dreams, the existence of God. Asser kept up with all the gossip about my friends' love lives; I learned that he loved to deejay in college but gave it up after he witnessed a murder at an illegal rave in Lahore. Like most of my friends, I preferred texting over phone calls, but with Asser, I could talk for hours.

We had become more than friends and we both acknowledged it-he called me "babe" and said I looked beautiful in the pictures I sent him. My lack of dating experience sometimes meant I was trying to court a 29-year-old man with the romantic tool kit of a 12-year-old girl. If he sent a text saying he had a busy day and couldn't call at our usual time, I sulked and replied, "u don't even have time for me. must not be that important to u." Sometimes I picked fights just to get his attention. He laughed off these antics, calling me "president of the drama club" and promising that he missed me.