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I would like to dedicate this chapter to my constant supporters shifa_yousufi Duniya_04 trima_r gypsy_hassan liferocker saniya15022001and my favourite duo's zaharahabibi fruity_touch

This chapter is even special to me cause, my bloody best friends started reading my story and I dedicate this to them also💕

The credit to my new cover goes to awards_graphics Thank you so much❤

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The heart palpitations increased right after grasping his pleasant smile, which brightened his face and intensified my heart. The unseen little butterflies in my stomach were whirling, devising euphoria.

I couldn't be anymore happier. His mere smile was enough to make my entire day more glorious. It was the first time where he directly glanced at me and smiled.

Coming out of my bewildered state, I asked Anna again, "Did you see that?! He smiled at me!"

"Yes, Naiza. I saw him smiling at you whilst stirring the spoon in his coffee," Anna answered while we were strolling towards the cafeteria.

I nodded being content and had the most dazzling smiles plastered on my face. I was vaguely thrilled and delighted to share this news with the rest of my gang.

Cafeteria being our constant spot whenever we miss the class, has now turned out to be our favourite place. But the lethargic part is, we never order anything to eat or drink and simply sit there, scrolling through phone or chatting with each other. Consequently, now even the person who takes order doesn't even come near us acknowledging that we are hereafter skipping class and not to eat.

After killing roughly half an hour in the cafeteria, we heard the bell, betokening that the next hour was going to start. We got up immediately to leave, not because I was interested to attend the lecture. But for the reason that, I could say the morning incident to my friends as sharing the encounter with your friends is more fun than the actual incident.

I penetrated to my class with a vivacious smile, flaunting off my thirty-two teeth. Shifa, Jina, and Issa stared at me and hoisted their eyebrows in unison. As assumed, they knew something happened by noticing my smirk. Therefore, I described the short yet remarkable encounter I had with Shaym to them very graciously. They got equally excited like me after knowing how Mr Cute smiled at me.

That's when I realised, it was important to have a bunch of friends when you have a crush on someone. Otherwise, it would be meaningless if there are no friends to share all the incidents and squeal together.

Shortly, it was time for lunch. Today, some of my friends decided to have Biriyani, especially Shifa as she was craving for spicy chicken Biriyani. But I was not in a mood to eat that and even Jina was not craving. So, we told them to eat that food without us and we spilt in two groups and dispersed.

The place where we get to eat Biriyani, Majlis Corner was located in the north end, the backside of our college and for some reason, I declined to eat from there for the sole cause I was lazy to walk till there. It was a little far away than we normally walk and also that place was not so familiar for us.

I along with Jina marched towards our usual spot to have lunch, the cafeteria. When we were nearing the college gate, we saw our senior boys standing there, but that one person who I wanted see was not there with them. We walked out from the main gate and I peered my eyes towards the parking lot, hoping that I would see Mr Cute, where he habitually sits on the bike but to my misfortune, he was not there.

"We are grabbing the usual lunch right?" Jina inquired.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I replied nonchalantly.

We ordered our mandatory food, chicken sandwich along with apple juice. Both of us shoved them in haste as soon as the food arrived because we were extremely hungry.

My juice was nearly over when I received a call from Anna. Keeping back the glass of juice from my hand on the table, I picked up the call.

"Hel-"

"Naizaa... Shaym is here, in the Majlis corner. If you want to see him come here soon."

"Oh wow. I'm coming!"

That's why he was not here. I muttered.

"What?" Jina asked hearing me.

"Well, Shaym is in Majlis Corner. Let's go there?"

"Is that even a question? Let's go, girl!" Jina squealed.

Paying money for the lunch we had in a swift, we hastened towards the place where he was eating. The fact that we had to walk a little extra than we normally paced didn't bother me at that time. I had only one desire and that was just to get a glimpse of him. I have come to a state where a mere thought of not being able to see him omits an unknown agitated feel inside me.

We reached the shop and scanned with my eyes to find my friends. The shop, Majlis Corner, had a cozy atmosphere having a homely touch interior. They only had two rows of tables where one row have seven tables and more than eight people can adjust and sit on one table to dine. They had a limited number of seats as the shop was newly opened but still, the place was quite popular and was always packed with students from our college.

I noticed my friends sitting at the fourth table on the right side. Slowly pacing towards them, I whispered sitting in front of Anna while Jina sat opposite to me along with Anna and Shifa.

"Where is he?"

"He is behind you, the first table on the left side."

Oh, I'm facing my back to him now. I was glad that I chose to sit in this place facing my back to him otherwise I would be audaciously staring at him eating Biriyani.

But, deep down I wanted to have a mere glimpse of him. Suspecting my inner motive, Anna said,

"Naiza, don't turn and make it obvious." I sighed, nodding.

For some reason, I was even nervous that he could easily see me even though when I was facing my back. I engaged in some random conversations with my friends to act normal in his eyes.

Anna had ordered a Falooda of Pistachio flavour. It is an Indian version of cold dessert made with rose syrup, freshly cut fruits, vermicelli, sweet basil seeds with milk and a big scoop of ice cream on the top with nuts. By the time it arrived, we all attacked her dessert with our spoons, letting her have only three scoops.

Asudden, Jina stated, "Naizaa, he is looking here." Just by hearing what she said, I instantly got somewhat startled.

"Jina, don't look at him. He will get suspicious," I said not even moving a little inch from my position, feeling scrutinised by him and had no idea why he was looking at us.

"Naizaa, I think he is staring at you," This time it was Anna who said this.

Staring at me?! Why?

"Maybe he is looking somewhere else and not me! Let's quickly finish this desert and leave," I spoke and scooped the fruits on the Falooda. "Let's go after he goes. Otherwise, he might think that I came here to see him," I added saying.

"But you came to see him." Anna grinned.

"No. I came to see you guys." I lied.

Well, what she said was true. I came to see him. But now I felt like going far away from his sight. I was able to sense his stare from the corner of my eyes and felt anguish.

Ignoring the uneasiness I was feeling, we decided to talk until he leaves. Abruptly, Jina shrugged her shoulders, raised the eyebrows lightly and whispered "Mr Cute."

He walked pass near me and I saw him going to the washroom along with his friend. Thankfully, he nor his friend turned back. If they did, they would have caught me staring at them.

Exactly after five minutes, they came out from the washroom. I instantly turned my gaze from their retrieving figure and concentrated talking with my friends. When he was getting almost near to us, I didn't know what made me do this. I shifted my gaze from the people sitting in front of me, gazed at him, and slightly smiled. I glanced at him as I just wanted to see his face, but he saw me smiling at him, returned a small smile, and then strolled away from the restaurant after paying his bill.

"Woah! Naiza, did you just smile at him again?" Issa asked with a dismayed expression.

"And he smiled back again!" Shifa replied completing the sentence.

I sat there grinning back to them, bestowing my teeth and said, "Eeeee..."

"Smiling two times in one day. Ehem...ahem," Jina fake coughed and started her taunts.

"Argh! Come on, let's go. Our afternoon class will start soon," I said and got up to leave. Throughout the walk from the restaurant to my classroom, I had a blissful smile on my face.

•••

Cheerfully walking from bus stop to home, I reminisced his smiles and pondered to write it on my dairy. I rang the bell to my house multiple times as soon as I reached. Nuhma opened the door for me, said Salaam(greetings) instantly and walked away without even waiting to hear my reply.

Why is she in a hurry today?

When I entered inside, a big scream from both my sides were heard.

"Supprriisseeee!!!!!" Salma and Zuha squealed!

"WHAT?WOW! When did you both land, and why didn't you guys tell me that you were coming back from Dubai?" I got startled by seeing them and was happy to see them after four months.

They have been my best mates ever since childhood. We all studied together until 12th grade in Dubai. That was the reason why I didn't know how to read and write our native language as I grew up without learning them. We all planned to presume our degree at our homeland, India, but due to some reasons, they got delayed coming here, and I joined college early. It was our rule to always study and stuck with each other like an octopus.

"Well, we landed here early in the morning," Zuha replied.

"And you didn't even bother to inform me this!"

"We requested your mom not to tell you earlier as we wanted to surprise and see that shocked face of yours!" Salma said to which Zuha nodded and said, "Yeah, and there is one more shocking news!! Guess what?"

I was already overly astounded and delighted to see them, and my mind was not in a state to guess something, so I briskly replied, "What is it Zuha? Tell me"

"I joined in your college for statistics!" Zuha announced and I  embraced her in hug felicitously.

"I tried to join your college too, the same course as you, but your department was already full, and there was no seat left. So, I took admission in another college. Zuha, luckily, got a seat as one girl dropped out," Salma said this a bit wistfully, and I knew that she really wanted to study with us. But, things like this does not always happen like our plans and desires.

"It's alright. You are now back from Dubai. That's enough, and I missed you guys so much," saying this, I hugged them both tightly, literally choking their throats.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow, and I have some paperwork to do for my admission," Salma announced and prepared to leave, taking her bag from the sofa.

"Hey, don't go now. I have so many stories to tell you guys," I said, but Salma was in a bit of a hurry so she hugged me once again before going and handed me a cover whispering with a pleasant smile, "It's for you."

She promised to come home tomorrow, so I thought to tell her Mr Cute's story when she comes back as I wanted to tell her the story directly and not while chatting or calling. As per my perspective, amazing and thrilling stories like this should be shared face to face.

I gently opened the cover which Salma gave me and tears of joy started pouring from my eyes. The cover had kinds of stuff which I like the most, pretty journals, shoes, gorgeous hijabs, coffee mugs, and a cover full of my favourite chocolates.

"AWW. THANK YOU SO MUCH." I said to Zuha. They both bought these things for me and I was beyond happy.

"So, what's that story that you wanted to tell us?" Zuha asked, and I grinned at her thinking about what happened today at college.

Without wasting more of my time, I narrated all the incidents which happened from day one and lastly about what happened today. She was so eager and excited to see Mr Cute after hearing all our encounter and my childish behaviours. She wanted to see the man who made me all crazy and dumbstruck at all the encounters. I told that she could see him directly from college tomorrow and I was thrilled that I got one more person to share my crush stories.

By issuing some documents and formalities to the principle of our college, Zuha's four months attendance issue was solved as she was joining at the end of the semester and attendance was compulsory to write exams. Zuha decided to stay over at my place today so that we could go together to college tomorrow and also, we could catch up talking about all the things which we missed to say.

Zuha got so happy upon hearing the fact that Shaym smiled at me more than I expected. She was so overexcited and decided to upload a story on her Instagram account as she wanted to express her happiness and I gleefully allowed it.

She grabbed her phone and typed a quote which came to her mind. Sitting beside me, she asked for the last time before uploading it as a story on whether she should upload it or not. I assured her she could post as a story because I didn't have any problem as long as Shaym does not see it.

I chuckled seeing her story and replied to that picture even when she was sitting beside me. I send her a laughing emoji and at the end, a heart. "Haha, Zuhaa, Shaym is not following you right?" I asked her.

Even though I knew she doesn't follow him and vice versa but I asked this solely to assure myself. If by any chance Shaym sees this, he would undoubtedly understand that I have a crush on him, and I didn't want that to happen now and never.

Admittedly, today was a very amusing day for so many reasons, therefore I thought to put a story on my account. It was the time when 'Ask Me A Question', a new feature came on Instagram. We could reply to the question sticker but it was not anonymous like Sarahah. Hence, I uploaded a story with a black image on the background along with a hashtag #AGOODDAY🙊

I hoped that Mr Cute does not understand that his smile was also a reason why I gave a hashtag #goodday. But a diminutive part of one per cent of me was expecting a reply from him for my story, asking why it was a good day or any random question.

As soon as I uploaded it as my story, the first one to reply was Zuha. As expected, sitting near me and giggling like an excited small kid.

"He won't ask anything! I bet he won't 😂😂😂😂"

This was Zuha's response to which I replied,

"Let's see! 😝😝"

Soon Shifa, Issa, Jina, and Anna also replied to my story,

"Mr Cute smiled right? 😉"

"You bloody."

"Who is Mr Cute? 😝"

"Mr Cute is in which department?"

"Do you have a crush on someone?🤔"

I took the screenshot of all their responses and added to my story gleefully. I sarcastically replied to all of their responses, uploaded on my story and still hoped that Shaym would send something after reading the messages on Mr Cute. Thinking that he would be curious and ask me who it is or anything.

The questions and many replies were showering like rain from all of my followers and I started getting messages in 'Ask Me A Question' sticker from my old friends from Dubai and even from the boys who were in my class. Most of the people were curious and asked about who Mr Cute was. ''Who is he'? Is he your college crush?', 'Is he in your department?', and many more similar questions like this. As perpetually, me being the dumbest fool, I uploaded all the responses in my story without leaving any one of them. First I thought to share some responses only on my story. I screenshotted all the responses together instead of sharing every question one by one as it may look annoying to see so many stories and people would directly skip my story. Now there were five to six stories in total when I shared the responses and overwhelming me, Shaym had viewed all my stories.

Woah! He read all those stupid questions and my witty comments!

Usually, whenever we see so many stories related to 'Ask Me A Question', we just skip that story. And according to me, boys skip them the most as they would not be that much interested in reading those crazy questions. But he viewed all of my stories.

Did he understand that he is Mr Cute? Was it obvious?

"Zuha, Shaym viewed all of my stories! I'm getting scared! What if he understood that he is Mr Cute and that I have a crush on him? Should I just delete all those responses?" I asked her and even thought of deleting that 'Ask Me A Question.'

"No, Naizaa. How will he understand that he is Mr Cute? There is no need to delete that now because he has already seen and read it," Zuha replied.

I scorned my doubtful mind and kept those stories like that.

Shortly, we both went downstairs to eat our dinner early so that we could stay up till late at night with our talks.

"Naiza, Dubai was so dry and boring without you. We missed those girls dayout, our night walk at Al Rashidiya park and everything." Zuha spoke, laying down on the bed.

"Those night walks at the park were the best! Remember how we used to do running race from there in our Abayas like small kids?" I evoked our old memories.

"And I always won." Zuha giggled, mocking me with her eye brows.

"I don't remember about that." I lied.

How could I ever forget the small races we had where I always lost. Zuha was five times faster than me and had an athletic spirit in her. So, it was always hard to beat her in every race.

We thought to sleep after some time as it would be the first day of college for Zuha, and she was even more thrilled to see Mr Cute than her first day of college. I deliberately didn't show her his picture because eventually, she would be seeing him from college, so I thought that was the best to see him face to face than showing one of his photos.

Assalamu Alaikum

So.. I'm back😆

When exams got over I became lazy to write lol🙊 but your responses, love & support made me write🤗

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Thatabayagirl :)