The sun began to show up from the horizon, filling the blue sky with blended shades of yellow, orange and red.

I was sitting on my bed, with my arms hugging my knees and knees pressed against my chest, facing the window that was open with curtains drawn to both ends and letting the cool zephyr pepper my face and hair with morning kisses and enjoying the first light. It was an eyeful sight that made my day.

I didn't get enough sleep yesterday and it wasn't something new. Sleep was something that waved me goodbye whenever my mind was disturbed. And yesterday, my mind was.

After sitting for fifteen more minutes, I got off my bed and did my morning routines. Today was Saturday, so that meant either hanging out or binge watching something.

I put up a face to avoid questions from those two girls who could see right through me and climbed down the stairs to see Zinnia and Lily already in the kitchen. I wasn't surprised though. But they were surprised to see me this early.

"Good morning, Elka," Lily said, grinning.

"Morning," I said.

"You're up before 10?" scoffed Zinnia.

"Yeah, surprised?" I asked, taking a seat next to Zinnia.

"Of course," Zinnia cried out to which me and Lily chuckled.

"I'll make you coffee," Lily said.

I nodded and flashed her a smile.

"How are you feeling now?" I asked Zinnia who was reading the newspaper.

"I'm fine," she said, raising her head from it and smiling at me. "So, you and Danish are friends now?" asked Zinnia.

"Umm...kinda," I replied.

"Kinda? Lily said you became friends yesterday night and Danish said that himself," Zinnia said with narrowed eyes.

"Yeah, I saw them talking and laughing in the backyard yesterday," Lily said, turning towards us. "Elka even smacked his arm to which he just laughed. Not gonna lie, they looked cute together," she added, giggling.

"Cute? Lily please, not early in the morning. Wait, were you peeking at us?" I asked, a cringe plastered on my face.

Lily let out a small giggle again and went back to making coffee.

"Lily!" I yelled.

Did she see the fight then? Noooo. Then she would've asked about it last night itself.

A few minutes of silence passed with Lily brewing coffee for me and Zinnia still having her eyes on the newspaper.

"What are the plans for today? Outing or a movie marathon?" I asked, breaking the ice.

This whole week was a roller coaster for me. Project, secrets, match making, new people, fighting and whatnot.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Me and Andrew are going out. Shopping, to be specific. Do you guys want to join?" Lily asked, turning towards us again.

The image of me and Zinnia being a third wheel crossed my mind the second Lily offered the invitation.

"Nah! We are good," I said.

"No. I'm not," Zinnia said, making me look at her. "I want to get my ass out of this house because my mind is fucked up," she said, looking down.

Me and Lily took a glance at each other as we knew what she was referring to.

"Ok, then. We will join you," I said, looking at Lily. "Our soulless Zin needs a pump up."

Lily nodded and took her cellphone. "I'll call Drew and tell us to pick up at eleven?" she said, which came out more as a question.

Me and Zinnia nodded. Lily mouthed an 'ok' and as she was about to dial his number, she looked at me with a wide smile.

"What about telling Danish to join us as well?"

I opened my mouth just to get interrupted by Zinnia. "Yeah, that's great."

I looked back and forth between Lily and Zinnia before saying, "Why? He must be busy with something and why should we bother him?"

"I want to get to know him like you did," said Zinnia. "I talked to him yesterday for a bit and he already seemed like a cool guy to me."

I looked at Zinnia and said, "Do anything you want."

"Ok then, Danish is also coming with us", Lily said, dialing Andrew's number.

Zinnia patted my back saying, "Maybe you can get a date."

"Shut up," I hissed at her to which she chuckled.

Why do I feel nervous about facing him? Maybe because of what happened yesterday? Well I just asked him a question! Did he tell Andrew about it? Wait, where did Andrew come from? Stop fucking up your mind, Elka!

I shook my head and decided to put Danish at the back of mind and to be worried about him would be the last thing. Now my priority was my coffee which I didn't get as Lily was talking to Andrew on her phone, although she told him to pick us up.

"Coffee!" I screamed which startled Lily, who quickly cut the call and went to the coffee pot.

»»---------------------►

We got ready and were sitting in our living room, waiting for Andrew and Danish.

I didn't know why but I was a bit nervous. I was even having a mental preparation of what to say to Danish if he came to talk to me. Maybe it was because I found him as a good friend. The way we were similar, the way he was easy to talk to, the way he made me laugh and teased me. No guy had ever made me feel like that. Precisely, I didn't let any guy. I had always built a wall whenever I found a man attractive because of my phobia, the one I wasn't aware about and got to know latterly. But Danish... he was different...

'Honk'

I was snapped from my thoughts when we heard Andrew's car horn.

"He's here. Come on, girls," Lily said, taking her bag and slinging it on her shoulders while Zinnia was trying to tie her canvas shoes.

"Wait," Zinnia said, struggling with the shoelaces.

She didn't know how to tie shoes despite the uncountable times she had tried.

"Oh God, Zinnia. You were joking around all this time and when he's right here in front of the house, you have to tie your shoes," Lily said, getting annoyed.

"He can wait," I said, standing beside Zinnia.

"No, he can't. He has a job, Elka," said Lily.

"And I have a car. So if we are making him wait, then you two can go. Remember? I can drive!" I snapped at her.

"Not now, Elka," Lily said, holding her temple with her two fingers.

"Fuck!" Zinnia said, making us look at her.

I sighed and bent down to tie the laces for her.

"When are you gonna learn to do this without anyone's help?" I asked after tying it and raising my head.

"I don't know. The laces get tangled on my fingers whenever I try to do it. Guess my fingers are only good for something else," she said, raising her index finger followed by her middle finger upwards, making me scrunch my nose.

"Ok, now come on," Lily said, stepping outside and waiting for us to get out so that she could lock the house.

Andrew waved at me and Zinnia as we got out. We waved back at him and walked towards his car. My heart was pounding inside as I took closer steps to the car. Even though Andrew was smiling and waving at us, my eyes went to look for a figure in the passenger seat.

But as we got close, I found Danish neither in the passenger seat nor in the backseat. Lily was just behind us and she asked about Danish when she saw the passenger seat empty.

"He said he had to go to the library to catch up with his lessons."

I don't have to meet him today. That's good.

"But he promised that he will join us at the mall," Andrew said.

Ok. Guess I have to meet him today.

»»---------------------►

"You can't stop me lovin' myself
Hoo, hoo
eolssu johda
You can't stop me lovin' myself
Damn, hoo, hoo
jihwaja johda
You can't stop me lovin' myself
Oh oh ooh oh
Oh oh ooh oh oh oh..."

Andrew was singing along, more like screaming on top of his lungs, to the song playing on his mobile that was connected to the speakers.

"I didn't know that you are a BTS fan," I said from the backseat, smiling as I watched Andrew fanboying.

"Oh, I'm an Army forever," he said, symbolizing a heart with his thumb and index finger crossed.

"Hearts later, now look straight and drive. I don't wanna die," Zinnia said, resting her chin on her hand and looking out of the window.

Andrew pouted looking at Zinnia from the rear view mirror to which Lily chuckled who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"You look cute when you pout," she said, pinching his cheeks.

"Not as cute as you, baby," he said, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it.

Ok, they're cute. But sometimes they make me cringe or even gag.

After ten more minutes, we reached the mall. We all entered the building and parted our ways. Me and Zinnia were sticking to each other and making plans on what to eat and drink while Lily and Andrew went their way to shop for clothes.

As it was just half past eleven in the morning, we went to Starbucks. I ordered my favorite Double Chocolatey Chip Creme Frappuccino Blended while Zinnia ordered her regular Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino.

We took our drinks and went to a table outside the Starbucks as it was a bit congested inside. We sat and started to take sips from our drinks and snapped it frequently.

"So, did you call Amy?" I asked as Zinnia was scrolling through her phone to show me a meme she saved on her insta.

She looked at me for a second and back to her phone. "No. She called me," she said.

"Really? She called you? What did you say?" I asked, leaning forward, curiosity getting the best of me.

"I didn't attend the call," Zinnia said without taking her eyes off the phone.

I was taken aback hearing that Zinnia ignored Amy's call. Before, she used to jump like a bunny around our house when Amy sent her a freaking message. That whipped Zinnia became a cold one? Overnight?

"Why?"

She shrugged her shoulders and then smiled and showed her phone in front of my face saying, "Here, this is the meme I was talking about."

I didn't spare a glance at her phone instead snatched it from her. "Fuck your meme. Give me an answer, Zin."

"Give my phone back, Elka. Don't act like a kid," Zinnia scolded me.

"No, I won't. You quit acting like a douche and give me an answer. Why didn't you take her call?"

She sighed before saying, "I didn't want to. I didn't want to hear her voice."

"Why, Zin?" I asked feebly.

"Because I already gave up on her, Elka."

Alone in my room
I sit and gloom
Over the past days
My lips prays
To let the past go
Like the strong gust that blow