Chapter 2

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HIDAYA

"Assalam alaykum warahmatullah, Assalam alaykum warahmatullah."I mutter under my breath finishing my dhuhr salah. I do some dhikr before getting up to fold my prayer mat. As I get up I hear little feet tapping, Yusra my baby sis comes into the room running.

"Adda, mama says you should hurry up or else you'll be late." She says almost out of breath and runs out the second she said the last word not giving me a chance to respond. I swear she's something else.

I quickly grab my phone and shove it into my backpack before grabbing a couple of sweets from the bowl on my bedside table. I swing the backpack onto my shoulder and quickly search for my shoes around.

I had an early lecture from 8am to 10am but the second lecturer cancelled and instead of waiting for over 4 hours until the next lecture, I decided to come home and rest a bit before time.

I run out to the living room where mama is. I find her and Yusra setting the table for lunch. I give her a quick kiss on the cheek and hug Yusra.

"Love you" I shout while running outside. I get into the passengers seat and I'm immediately greeted by a very annoyed Ya Hafiz. I give him a sheepish smile and offer a sweet from my bag. He simply shakes his head and starts the car.

"Yaya" I say and he ignores me.
"I was praying yaya" I say with a pout.

"Just learn how to drive so I can finally rest" he says.

I apologize a few times before he smiles to which I hug his arm.

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"Okay everyone, that's all for today but before I dismiss you I have something very important to tell you." Prof Ahmad says and i immediately freeze.

I really hope it's not what I think. "Please ya rabb don't let it be another assignment" I say under my breath.

"I need you to pair yourselves up with a partner to study the last five chapters of your workbook. That is what will be coming up in the final exams. Please take this very seriously." He says picking up his books from his desk.

This is an introvert's worst nightmare. It's even worse than what I thought it would be.Why do we have to work in pairs? I'm not even a friend person. This is my last year and I seriously don't have anyone I can call a friend.

I quickly look around and see other people instantly pairing up with others, some even hugging each other. I look around and find a girl about to stand up and I muster up a little courage and walk to her.

"Hey...." Before I could say anything else a girl walks up from behind me and hugs her. They start talking and I move back. I look around again and we make eye contact with a girl from the end of the class. I smile at her and she smiles back.

She mouths something and the confused look on my face was enough to let her know I didn't get it. She signs 'wait' and walks to me. She offers a handshake and I take it.

"Hi, do you have a partner yet?" She asks and I smile.

"Not yet, do you?" I ask and she shakes her head in a 'no'.

"This feels like kindergarten" she says and we laugh. I reply with "I know right?"

"Let's be partners. I'm Zahra" she says.

"I'm Hidaya, nice to meet you Zahra" i say.

We start walking outside together and she makes small talk which is a relief to me because I honestly wouldn't know what to say.

"So how are we gonna do it? But first where do you live?." I laugh at her excitement before saying

"I think we can meet up at the school library. We can pick days and times to meet."

I didn't want to suggest studying at home because it would seem creepy seeing as I just met her but truth be told I live 40mins away from school and coming just to study at the library would be hectic! Plus I don't have a car and Yaya Hafiz already has enough to deal with.

"Yeah that would be great. Can I drive you home? We can talk on the way." She says in one breath.

I smile again "I would love that but my brother is already on his way here. But here's my contact, chat me up so we can fix a schedule" I hand her my phone with my contact info and she copies it.

"Cool no problem, maybe next time. Take care okay?" She says and hands me my phone after copying the phone number.

Just then, Yaya arrives and I turn to her with the intention to say goodbye but she hugs me instead. I was surprised but hugged her anyways.

Is this what people mean by extroverts adopting introverts? It's kind of funny honestly and amusing. How can one be so....free?

I get Into the car and Yaya looks at me with a surprised look.

"You got adopted?" He said making me laugh.

"Funny I was just thinking about the same thing . She's so bubbly Masha Allah." I say.

We talk more on the way home mostly discussing about how our day went.

He drops me off and drives to his house.

"Drive safe and thank you! Say hi to Adda Fatima for me." I said before he left.

I love the smile on his face whenever his wife is brought up.

"Insha Allah will do, tell mama I'll be back with her watermelon." He says and I nod in response.

Today was exhausting! I walk inside and Yusra comes running. She greets me with a hug and I scoop her up. Masha Allah she's heavy for a seven year old. We walk to my room with her in my arms telling me about how she helped mama cook.

After praying Isha, I eat dinner and get into the shower afterwards. I get dressed in my pajamas and grab my phone before heading to mama's room.

"Mama is there anything I can do for you? I'm going to bed now." I say with half my body leaning into the room from the door.

She looks up from her Qur'ān with her reading glasses sitting cutely on her nose making me smile. Yusra was sleeping comfortably on her lap.

"Is Yusra sleeping in your room today or should I just leave her here?" She asks.

"I think she should stay here since she's already asleep." I say walking into the room. I kiss Yusra on the forehead and gently pinch her cheek.

I say goodnight and walk back to my room. I check my phone for messages and I see a message from a new number. It was Zahra. We talked for a bit before deciding to study on days we don't have classes after Asr to Maghrib. We also decided to study at each other's houses. We'd shuffle between my and her house. Seemed like a good idea to me.

I put the phone on my table and recite my duas before falling asleep.

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