A Hazel Haven

Chapter 5

"Huma, wake up."

Huma's lids fluttered open and she inhaled sharply, stretching in her seat as she yawned. Her father was standing in front of her; his eyes squinted as he read something on his phone.

After they had sought solace in each other's arms, they gabbed for sometime, then her father had gone back to bury himself in his work while Huma ensconced herself in the study, watching a talk show until she had drowsed.

The television was turned off and her father looked ready to go out. In his left hand, keys dangled.

"Didn't you say your internship defence was two days from now?" he asked, glancing at Huma to see her nod in the affirmative while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"You got a message. It was rescheduled to hold today."

Mouth agape, Huma stared at her father, flabbergasted by the news. She sprang to her feet, suddenly fraught as her heart began thudding heavily. Why would the internship coordinators shift the date on such short notice? And she was among the first set of students up for appraisal!

"It seems they sent it sometime in the morning. Around six....it's supposed to start at exactly one," he raised his hand to check the time on his watch. "We have exactly thirty minutes to get there." Turning to Huma, he was instantly remorseful. "This phone has been turned off since yesterday. If I had known I---" he faltered when Huma darted to the door and hightailed it out of the room.

"Meet me outside!" He called out after her.

No, no, no.....

Her phone had been trampled upon by a car when it had fallen in the middle of the road while she attempted to cross over to her father on the day of her arrival. She had heard the grating crack and knew it was all over. Huma had made plans to get a new one with some of her cash rewards, but for the time being, her father had offered to swap her SIM card with his so that she could keep abreast of things whenever she wanted to--- as long as the phone was returned after.

As Huma dashed up the stairs, her mother was climbing down, and she swerved just in time to avoid crashing into her. Zainab, startled by the abrupt appearance of her daughter, uttered a yelp and leaned towards the banister she had a hand on, staring after Huma with a puzzled look.

Huma threw her door open, barreling into her room, and bustled to the wardrobe, her hands shaking a little as she plucked out the suit she had kept specifically to serve today's function and fit into, pulling and tweaking where necessary.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, she contemplated her look with a cursory glance down her frame, and nodded at the immaculate nature of the suit, which was wrinkle free and clung to her body loosely enough.

It was a size too big, but stylishly so, even though she felt the woman had inveigled her into purchasing the suit, it was a good thing she had succumbed----it would serve a couple of years after now.

Her face was wan and, looking closely, beads of sweat coated her forehead, making her look sickly.

A little make-up would remedy that, she thought as she settled down in front of the dresser and hastily, but deftly, applied some powder and lipstick after dabbing her face dry.

There was no time to be artistic, not that she was in anyway, but as Huma assessed what she had done, it was amateurish compared to what she was capable of. Her scarf was out of place, so she sought out a matching hijab and swaddled her hair into it with the gentle care of a raging tornado.

Less than thirty minutes...

It was a wonder how long it took a girl to get ready.

She grabbed her school bag from where it was on her bed, its content strewn across the white sheets, replaced what she needed, and slung a strap over her shoulder before pacing to her polished flats under her reading table and slipping her feet into it.