"Naiza..." The mere whisper of my name from Zuha frantically stirred me up from my deep slumber. Gradually opening my drowsy eyelids, I hummed in response.

I pulled the cosy duvet off from my body and decided to shower first. Otherwise, if she leaves first to shower, I would be taking a nap again in the meantime and I was sure that scenario would happen.

The chilled water pierced undeviatingly into my body creating electrification and intensely made me shiver.

I should have taken bath later.

Zuha's brother fetched new clothes for her to wear early in the morning. Considering I always wore Abaya's, my wardrobe didn't have a perfect dress for her to wear for her first day of college. So, I was the one who urged to bring it for her even though she was perfectly alright to wear my shabby dress.

We both dressed promptly in no time due to excitement. It was always easy for me to dress for college as I always wore Abayas and didn't have to agonise about the dress which I would wear inside. However, there was one thing that puzzles me in the morning on which one to wear. And, that were my shoes. I'm a person who loathes shopping, dresses, all the girly stuff but, there is one thing I love and adore the most which are my shoes.

I had a huge rack of shoes and never concedes my sister to touch it. All my shoes are of different blend of colour and features as I always wear black abayas, my classy collection of shoes were the one which outstood in my overall appearance.

So today, I decided to wear my favourite vibrant red shoes. Black abaya and red shoes, perfect. A combination which always excels.

The breakfast table was blown describing all the nook and corners of my college. I was proffering Zuha an insight and she couldn't wait any longer to witness it all with her own eyes.

We rushed towards the bus stop after finishing breakfast. As presumed, the bus was too crowded and tightly compressed. We had to stand in the corner, clutching firmly on the side of the seats to get a balance and not to fall.

Zuha's department was opposite to my department so, I first took her to my class to introduce her to my friends.

"We have heard a lot about you from Naiza," Shifa stated.

"Oh, I know she loves and misses me the most," Zuha replied, squinting at me.

"No, I don't." I replied, shaking my head.

The first bell for the class to commence was about to ring. So, I along with my friends walked Zuha to her department, decided to meet at lunchtime and we parted our ways.

•••

The first two hours class went pretty well without boring me much. It was different for me to feel this way about shallow classes.

Guess it is going to be a good day.

All of us got startled by the sudden buzz of the speakers. Instead of clanging the bell for the third-hour class, it was the buzz for an announcement,

"Today's afternoon classes are cancelled due to teachers meeting."

YAY!, My guess was right, a bit of good news.

As soon as we heard the announcement, everyone squealed, banged on the desks and clapped their hands to express euphoria.

"Yay! We don't have to listen to that tedious afternoon lecture today," Anna exclaimed to which we all nodded whilst beaming in glee.

In the next second, the bell rang, we decided to have lunch and stay back at college till our usual time. Jina and Issa excused themselves and strolled towards the restroom. Zuha called and informed me that she was waiting for us near the cafeteria with her new-made friends. Without dissipating any time, Shifa, Anna, and I went towards the cafeteria, debating what we should do till evening.

I saw Zuha waving her hands at me when we were nearing her. Along with her, there were five other girls. I guess that's her new friends. Amidst them, I first noticed the two girls who were taller than all of us and one among them wore spectacles.

The one who wore spectacles soon introduced herself as Zareen, who was also known as Zari. She had a beautiful wide smile and was extremely good at sarcasm. Her witty replies and some counter-attacks were hilarious, which was unable to beat by us and a reliable person to have in a friend circle.

The other lofty girl stretched her hand to us and introduced herself, "Hey, I'm Zayna, but people call me Zey." We all shook our hands with her gleefully. She resembled like those clever and bold girls we usually see in all classes, but we soon came to know that she was an impeccable tube light among all of us. Nevertheless, that's what we fancied and loved her unique character.

Then, the next girl we got to know was Fathima. She looked like a complete nerd wearing those spectacles, but surprising us, she was an outgoing amiable nature and had an attractive smile, flaunting all of her teeth.

Alongside, we met the weirdest duo best friends, Ziya and Shiril, who were uniquely the contrast of each other. They had been best friends since childhood and always studied together. Shiril had an attitude kind of appearance on her grimace, flaunting few strands of her new straightened chestnut hair in front of her eyes and a shade of beautiful nude lipstick to compliment her flawless fashionable look. Whereas, Ziya was opposite to Shiril who was genuinely entertaining, fun nature and the most slow-witted one among them.

There is a stone bench near the main gate, where we usually sit by. We all got along well with our newfound friends. Zuha and I started sharing our Dubai stories with some extra spicy masalas, adding up stories.

We were laughing hard for a lame joke Ziya said but stopped abruptly when we heard a raucous noise of roaring which sounded like a quarrel from the main gate, which was near to the place where we were sitting. Nonetheless, we ignored speculating that it might be some of our seniors fighting with each other for ridiculous matters which was nothing new in the college as it was now normalised.

After a few minutes of this commotion, Jina and Issa came tumbling and stood in front of me. That's when we all remembered that they were not with us this whole time.

"Why so lat-"

"Naizaa, a guy from sports department hit Mr Cute on his head with a stone," as soon as those words came from Jina's mouth, I panicked.

Sports department boys were the ones who had more power in college than everyone else. Even the boys studying in the first year had that authority and privilege. Every juniors, especially girls are afraid of them because of the wicked way of ragging and their well-built bodies. All of them were very rough and not so easy to mingle sort of people. No one ever dares to say 'no' to them for anything. If someone does, then they would be in huge trouble.

"What?! Why?" were the only words I could manage to utter.

"A senior boy from sports was ragging a girl in a harassing manner. Mr Cute was standing near them, so he got involved in it without hesitation. Then, they started fighting," Issa spoke everything so posthaste, trying to catch her breath as she came to me running.

"Out of the blue, someone grabbed a stone which was laying under the huge tree near the parking," Jina informed.

"Blood started coming from his head when he got hit with that stone, and soon, his friends came and took him to the hospital," Issa completed saying.

"Sto-stone? Bl-blood?" I mentally whispered.

All at once, I was begetting a mixture of emotions. My chest got tightened and it was throbbing more than I expected. I felt like crying out my emotions aloud and more than that I was extremely anxious, hearing this distressing news.

"Why didn't you guys call me at that time? You both knew that I was here!" All of a sudden I got furious at them for the reason that they didn't bother to inform me when I was vaguely near to the place where the incident occurred.

"Sorry, Naiza. We were standing with all the other students who were watching the fight between them and forgot to inform you," Jina said.

That's when it hit me and I realised that it was good that they did not call me over to the main gate at the time of the fight. If by any chance I was there at that time, I might cry watching the scene where he got hit by a stone, and Mr Cute would also see my distressed state, sobbing in front of him.

I asked the question which was dreading on my mind. "Is he alright?"

"It did seem a little severe but don't worry, his friends immediately took him to the hospital. So he would be fine," Issa informed, reassuring me.

All of them noticed my pathetic gloomy face but did not say anything. Even my new-made friends came to know about my crush on him but those things didn't bother to me at that time. I was feeling vaguely torn out and the slight pain in my chest never left me after hearing all these. Therefore, I considered going home early today. The uneasiness and disturbing pain in my heart would not go until I know what his situation was and how he was feeling now.

Is he okay? He would be, right?

•••

I slept as soon as I reached back home and got up when the sun was setting down. I spent the rest of my time watching a comedy movie to change my sombre state.

Soon, it was eleven in the night. I thought to sleep early today so that I could go to college on time, but I was not at all able to sleep. I kept on scrolling through Instagram and watched many videos to get some sleep as this technic to fall asleep sometimes worked on me. After half an hour of my scrolling, I saw Mr Cute had uploaded a story. I instantly viewed it and saw that he had surprisingly uploaded two of his photos as story.

I spontaneously identified that in both the photos he uploaded, the dress he wore was yesterday's shirt and I was sure he wouldn't have worn it today. I was sure that this photo must have taken yesterday. I don't know whether I was half asleep or in my right mind. Without pondering twice, being the curious distressed fool, I sent a reply to his story,

"How are you feeling now?"

After five minutes, he replied,

"Not bad

fine✌"

As usual, I read it from the notification bar without clicking the message. When I was about to click the message to reply, I heard mom calling from downstairs to help her in the kitchen.

I came back to my room after doing the chores exactly after fifteen minutes, grabbed my phone which was left on the bed with my internet on, and replied,

"Ooh"

For some reason, the peace emoji he sent along with fine gave me peace. I waited for ten minutes staring at my phone screen but there was no reply from his side and thought that he might have slept as he would be tired. Therefore, I kept my phone on the nightstand and drifted off to sleep.

The next day I roused up early and opened Instagram to check whether there were any messages from Mr Cute, but there was no reply and he didn't even see my message.

Maybe he is still sleeping.

He said he was fine, but still, I was not feeling okay. Possibly because of no response from him. I didn't discuss his matter from college and even didn't say about the message I sent feeling worried.

When it was lunchtime, I opened my inbox and checked whether he replied or saw my message. I was reassured and anxious at the same time. He had now seen the message I sent and did not give me a reply to it. Maybe he didn't have anything to reply. What made me sadder was the fact that I did not see him from college today.

What if he is not well?

Is his injury that serious? I kept on thinking these endless thoughts.

After spending particularly a morose day at college, I thought it was best to go home early without roaming much around the campus.

Unusual to me, tonight, I felt extremely drowsy and exhausted for no particular reason and within a snap of seconds, I was asleep.

The next day, I roused up abruptly from my sleep and as I slept early last night, I was able to wake up early even before the time of my alarm. The time was seven in the morning which was remarkably early for me. So, I thought to kill some time on the phone which I don't usually check in the morning.

A specific message notification startled me. It was a message from Mr Cute.

Huh? What? His reply?

Why did he send me a message now after viewing it hours ago?

I opened the message instantly and checked the time he sent it. The message was sent at half-past eleven in the night, almost midnight.

"Haa"

It was a simple reply to my last message, "Ooh."

I didn't know what to send, so in order to not make it look like I was happy, excited and desperate, I just sent him a simple emoji as a reply.

"😊"

The message was seen when I checked it from college, but he did not reply. Whatever! I don't care.

One week passed in a swift. The past days, I kept ignoring and made less of a chance of us seeing each other from college. I didn't know why I was literally running away from him. Maybe it was because of the message I asked on how he was which showed that I was worried and concerned about him. For some reason, that stupid message was making me awkward to face him.

On behalf of world Students day, it was announced that our college was conducting a program in two days. It was an inaugural function of the college for all the students for them to have entertainment, which included dancing, singing, musical instruments, and many other cultural activities. We all got excited, and I was sure that Shaym would be there for dancing, so I thought to act normal on that day and not to ignore him.

Assalamu Alaikum

So how was the Chapter?

Q) Why do you think Shaym replied to her, after already viewing the message ?

Wrote in a hurry so, sorry for my mistakes and next chapter will be a long one.

If you liked it please do VOTE & COMMENT

Love💕
Thatabayagirl