I quickly turn off the lights of my room. I am still in my towel. I jumped on my bed and landed on my stomach. I bang my head on my pillow, embarrassed by the fact that my skin was exposed to another guy.Who happens to be my neighbor. Who happens to be younger than me. Who also happens to be intern whom I have to face EVERYDAY.

. . .

I scrub Lola harder when he passes by my gate. I'm giving my best to act normal. I mean this is the best I could do to act normal. He must have seen me doing all those embarrassing stuff while I was in my towel, how would I ever face him.

. . .

His words are echoing in my head.
..I mean I don't intend to look at you in any condition in that sense..

Do I look too old? I'm definitely better than the girls who gives in to him. But a part of me is relieved . I am glad he cleared the air between us.

.  .  .

Dadi and Nani are so childish, they can't even hide their annoyance whenever Khaleda bu topples from nowhere.
Khaleda bu is very caring and loving. I understand why everyone hates her presence; she gossips a lot. But no one tries to understand she has no job, no grandchildren, a husband that barely comes home, a daughter who is least bothered about her, a son that is busy...so she gossips so that her time flies quickly.
She makes me want to do everything she chose not to do. Only if she chose herself back then.

. . .

I miss Sidra but not as much as I thought I would. Masha and Nazlee listen to me patiently like Sidra would, so that I miss her less. And then there's Zaymaan to entertain. In his presence no one could stay upset at home. Yeah, including me.

But as for being friends with him, he has a long way to go.

. . .

Zaymaan flips the chess board as soon as he realises I am about to check-mate him. He is such a baby at times.

Now that I look at him, it amazes me how he manages to be so cheerful without taking any break.

. . .

I know I talk a lot but that doesn't mean Masha and Nazlee gets to hang up on me. I miss Sidra so much.

It's 2a.m. No work tomorrow.
Friday yayyy!.

I go to the balcony to find Zaymaan running his fingers across the guitar,laying on his lap, strings.
He slowly starts to playing his guitar and hums along , his hum synchronised with the movement of his fingers.

Suddenly his eyes meets mine. I awkwardly wave at him before switching off the lights of my room.

. . .

"Next week, Tuli, you, your intern and me...we have to go at Cox's Bazar. Our company is going to merge with another company so we need to go their. You need to be their to check everything", Boss said.

"Yes, sir".

. . .

"Zeenat, tomorrow i'm taking Ayan ,Ayin and your Nani with me to the orphanage for the donating some clothes and other essential things.We will spend some time with them so we will be back at evening. You and Reena only get to rest on friday. You both stay at home and take rest", Dadi said as I rested my head on her lap and Reena's head on my stomach.

My phone chimed with a text. It's from Reena who is laying perpendicular to me.

Reena: Roney, asked me out on a date. Tomorrow. Let me off the hook mmhm?please??

Zeenat: -.-

. . .

Zaymaan showed up, which became a routine, at lunch after Jummah.
Reena waved at him and kissed my cheeks before leaving. Lunch date.

Zaymaan sits on the counter as I cut the vegetables.
I don't know when I got so comfortable around him. I kept on talking, he listened with full attention.
Till he dropped the glass, I jolted,the knife pierced my skin from my fore finger to my palm and the broken pieces of the glass dug into my foot.

Whata Friday.

He panics. I ask him to calm down and instruct him to clean the floor first. He takes the broom and cleans the floor while I moaned in pain.
He quickly washed his hands and lifted me without any warning. He smells of sandalwood, his fragrance is so...good. I fit perfectly in his arms while my hand wrapped around his neck. He gently puts me on the counter he was sitting on.

He has no idea how to disinfect wounds. But he is adamant to disinfect my wounds with his hand, he was feeling guilty maybe, so I instruct him to disinfect my foot while I disinfected my hand.

. . .

We ordered pizza for lunch. Zaymaan fed me. I could see how guilty he felt so I let him do so.

"Fine. You must do all the chores of the house today", I said.

Zaymaan's face lit up.

There wasn't much to do but he wouldn't give up, he wanted to make it up to me. If I hadn't asked him to do the chores he might have cut his own palm to make it up to me.
So I made him mop the floor  which I mopped this morning and gave him to laundry the clothes I have already washed.
Lines of guilt on his forehead finally seemed to disappear.

I sit on the couch as Zaymaan reaches the main door to leave.

"Zaymaan..", I call him from his back.

"Yeah?", he turns to me instantly, as if he was waiting for me to call him.

"It's really okay. Okay?".

"If its really OKAY..then...friends?", he asks with a nervous smile on his face which contradicts his personality.

"Only if i'm asked properly", I say in a mischievous tone.

"Zeenat Shah, would you do me an extraordinary honour by accepting me as your friend?", he says majestically.

"I don't think you are allowed to call me Zeenat, i'm quite older than you Zaymaan Abdullah".

"You don't look that old...Zeenat with big Z"

"Uhm..thank you? Zaymaan without F".

"Wait, there's no F in my name"

"That's why I said "without F"" .

"That was quite lame", he says, laughing.

"That's what he said", I said. And then we both laugh.

. . .

I can never let him read me. If he finds out how I think of him now, he might not sleep for days. He loves compliments. After all he is Zaymaan Abdullah. He reminds me of Sidra.