#FewWords
Everyone is dealing with issues you know nothing about, don’t add to their troubles.

Recap
"Nahhh, I'm not accepting that, this woman became who she is today after I gained admission into high school, after graduating now she's worried about my education?" She said in one breath

"I'm sorry dad, but I'm not on that level anymore, she has made me go through hell, will she make me come back through hell when I gain admission into any college of medical sciences?" She asked her dad but he kept quiet and didn't say anything

"Be optimistic" his voice was surely not requesting her to be, it was more like an order.

Chapter Thirty Nine
Third Person's POV
Few months after their graduation, things got very smooth for Salma, she had no one to actually disturb her peace unlike back in high school and her mother behaved or pretended to be loving because Salma wasn't willing to accept her and the new behavior. Jackson made sure they met to spend time together fortnightly because his brother insisted he studies out of the country and that will mean the beginning of their bond being separated. On one of their meetings, Hammad complained about how their bond will be broken few months after it was created but Nasir told them that was life's way of handling things.

Salma was mostly quiet and a lot clouded her mind when she remembers her father's words on her education. She clearly remembered his words

"Listen Salma, I can't handle the bills in a Medical College especially one out of the country, that's very difficult, you should think and get to decide on another field of study" since the day he told her, she has been rummaging her mind like a rat in a neighborhood's bin but she still goes back to medicine. Her friends have asked her on many occasions but she always manages to convince them she was okay and she has been successful all the time.

Suleiman came back to the city and his social media accounts were flooded with pictures and videos from every lacunae of the city, definitely with Jax, a huge party was thrown for their reunion, that was what they called it. Brenda left the country with his parents after his dad got a new job out of the country.

Mrs Acker, Brenda's mum found out about her son's relationship with Darby and she was happy for them but the happiness was short-lived when they all decided to travel out, she advised Darby as if she was her own daughter on the dangers of being in a long distance relationship.

"You'll meet better partners kids, it wasn't meant to be and I can't advice either of you to be in a long distance relationship" she told the two of them on their last meeting

Mrs Acker being a woman to the world let them be themselves in her presence.

"You can kiss her Brenda...a goodbye kiss" she whispered and winked but he almost screamed

"Muummm" they all laughed at his reaction.

Her advice was just for herself because the two teens were clearly not ready to part ways. Darby and Brenda planned to make sure fate got them together in the University, they were both playing a game of gain or lose, that's how life is anyway, it's either you gain or lose. They applied for the same college in Brenda's new place but no news was heard from the college.

On the other end, Darby, Hauwa and Amelia's bond was never rebuilt even after their graduation. Hauwa was among the first to gain admission, she gained into a college of Fashion and she was very happy about it, a few weeks after her admission was confirmed, she also left the country. Amelia started her degree too in one of the colleges in the state.

"Muuummm, daaadd, Salmaa" Maryam came home screaming one day

Her mum was the only one that came out running because she thought it was an emergency, her dad was in the parlor but he just raised his eyes to look at her.

"I was granted an admission daddd" Maryam said happily, her cheek bones were tired of smiling at all of them.

After a few minutes of jubilation, Mr Ahmad asked her the name of the college and she kept quiet, infact the entire room went silent.

"Dad, it's a fashion school at..."

"A fashion school...?" He asked, his mood immediately changed

"Dad, I...I"

"Yeahhh, she has a passion for fashion ... that's what she wants, right Maryam?" her mum backed up. Mr Ahmad surprisingly didn't say anything, he just kept quiet and let them go on with their celebration.

"I'll be leaving in the next month"

"Ah ha, congratulations Maryam" Salma smiled at them when she got down, she didn't spend any second after she said that. She just kept quiet and took the kitchen's direction.

"Hmm, Salma..." Mr Ahmad called her when Rukayyah and her mum left the parlor

"Listen dear, I know you've received an email too from..."

"I have dad but I don't want..."

"What do you mean by you don't want that field? Huh" his voice was raised immediately and Salma was surprised for a second, her father never raised his voice at her, maybe it's because she never objected to his commands.

"Have you accepted the admission yet?"

"No..." She looked down

"Accept it tonight and the acceptance process will be started soon"

"Okay..." After that, Mr Ahmad quietly left the house and left Salma in a state of dilemma.

In the night, Jackson called to tell her he was planning to travel in three days so he made plans for them to meet. Salma agreed and promised she'll meet them with cookies when Jackson asked her to help him with Aunt Zee's cookies recipe.

Plans were being made for Maryam, it was as if she was getting married, her wardrobe was completely changed coupled with other things, as much as Rukayyah tried to get Salma with them, Salma always politely rejected.

On the day they were to meet, Umm Kulthum helped Salma to pack the cookies.

"That's like the strangest things a friend could ask for... a male friend at that" Umm Kulthum chuckled

"Well... that's Jackson for you" she smiled

She took the public transport to their usual spot in a park, when she got to the park, Salma felt someone was looking at her but she didn't turn, she had that strange feeling in her.

"Heyy..." The girl tapped her by the shoulder and she jerked around.

"Did I scare you?" The girl smiled

"No...hmm... not really" she got so surprised that she couldn't say much

"Wow, Amelia is running up to talk to me?"  She asked herself when Amelia left

"That's interesting" she murmured

"Life is really a puzzle...maybe a puzzle..."

"Woah! That was Amelia, it's clear the girl is changing and Hauwa's has being a negative impact on her" Jackson interrupted her

"Don't judge" Hammad smiled

"Okay" Jackson rolled his eyes

They spent most of their time chatting and showing themselves memes which was Nasir's idea.

"Nasir, Can you give me Sa'ada's contact..."

"Of course! I'll give it to you" Salma chirped in

"Ohh, spoiler alert, are you Nasir?" Nasir laughed at her

"She probably is" Jackson yawned

"Helloooo?" She looked at him

"That's a good match, now I'll rest, that girl has been talking so much about Hammad" she thought

There discussions jumped from one topic to another till it got to their education.

"Nasir and I applied into the same college of Medical Sciences" Hammad announced

"Wow, I'm sure you guys will gain admission while I'll be stuck studying biology" Salma blurted

"What?" Nasir exclaimed

"Hmm, not really" she tried to take her words back but you can't eat your vomit.

"Wait... what?" Jackson looked at her

"I want to study Biology" she looked at all the places but not at any of them

"Biology?" Hammad asked

"Yeahhh, Biology, she'll teach in one of these high schools" Nasir laughed out loud

"It's not bad to be a teacher" she rolled her eyes

"Yeahh, it's not bad but your corpse will be taken on your first day of teaching" Jackson added

After their joked about what she said, Jackson and Hammad left while Nasir and Salma stayed behind with the excuse of getting books from a nearby bookstore and he needed Salma's help. Hammad and Jackson knew it was a way to get them out of the place so he could spend some time with her, indirectly though.

"So, you'll be a biologist?" He asked her and tried to initiate a conversation. She was quiet and immediately started to get aware of what she was into, a brown Palazzo with a long sleeve shirt that was large and almost up to her thigh. She had a cream color scarf with no make up on her face.

"It seems so" She answered

Nasir knew that conditions were making her study Biology but he made plans to get her out of it.

"Hmm, I came across a scholarship that's being offered by your dream school in your dream course" he closely looked at her, he remembered all that she said about building her career one time they talked about it.

"What...are you serious?"

"Yeahh, that's the school Hammad and I applied into and the first batch of admission will be out in 3 weeks so you still have time to apply for their scholarship which will be open for 2 more weeks only"

"Are you serious?" She asked him happily

"Of course! Do you want to..."

"Are you really asking me that question? I will apply for it...thank you so much... I feel like hugging you right now"

"Oh...well... do you want to?" He winked at her

"Damn you!" she hit his shoulder

"Owe, that hurts Missy?" He glared at her

"I'm so sorryyy" she placed her hand on the place she hit and he mentally closed his eyes but physically just looked at her hand on his shoulder and back to her face which was a few inches from his.

"You are pretending" she laughed and threw back her head

"Why won't I? For an electrifying touch from you"

"If I have that power I'd electrocute you to death"

"The hell? Salma?" He looked at her and laughed

They spent a few more minutes with Nasir explaining the scholarship's procedure for application.

"I pray I get this Nas"

"You will, I promise you, you can and will get it"

"Hmm" she looked at him and a shade just came over his eyes, as if he was hiding something, she noticed but didn't say anything. She questioned herself on how sure he was but she didn't say anything on that either.

"Your mum visited my house yesterday"

"My mum? In your house?" Salma asked

"Yeahh, I'm surprised as well, my mum doesn't like y...yoounnnggg" he changed the last word

"What?" She asked although she knew exactly what he was about to say.

"I meant my mum doesn't like young... chickens...yeahhh...young chickens becauseee...they don't have sweet meat" he widened his eyes because his attempt to lie and cover up what he meant failed miserably. Salma couldn't keep it in, she bursted out laughing at him. He just kept mute and stared at her for a second.

"You got an ugly laugh there... laughing like hahahaha..." He tried to change the topic and Salma flowed with him

"Damn, my laughter is better than yours Nas... you laugh like hehehehe" She made funny expressions as she continued mimicking him

Nasir was still holding his phone after he read a text and he didn't keep the phone back in his pockets and that was how he made record of her making those creepy faces and sounds. He got the chance by slowly shifting from her because they sat under a bench in the park.

"Don't you dare say you recorded me" she raised her finger and looked at him

"Welllll..."

"You?" She tried to grab his phone but he noticed her movement and got it into his pocket

"Nasir..."

"It's Haram to touch a guy" he got away from her

"Now it's Haram, really?"

Salma showed she wanted the video gone but she felt happy he made a video record of her making those faces and creepy sounds.

"If it makes him happy then...why not" She thought and shrugged.

After Nasir refused to delete the video, they settled and went to a bookstore to get books because he convinced her to read novels the previous week. She read one of his poems and she felt different unexplainable emotions

"Got a new poem?" She asked him when she was about to get down from the car

"Not yet, editing and making the final finishes" he replied

"Send it to me when you are"

"Okay, make sure you read those books and send me something on them"

"Okay, drive carefully learner" she sticked out her tongue and smiled

"Ohh, my heart is a puddle" he dropped his head on the steering and closed his eyes.

━─━────༺༻────━─━

End of Chapter 39, thank you so much for your reads and don't forget to vote, comment and share.

Tell me what you think in the comments section.

You can contact me on Instagram and Telegram with @jimeh_khadijah as my handle respectively.

Thank you so much for your reads, hang in there for the next update.