Him & His Muslimah

24

Zoya

"You can't take a leave as soon as you've rejoined Ms. Zoya Malik." The blonde woman stated, the British accent rolling off her tongue making every word more profound. Zoya always yearned to speak with such clarity but could only dream of it.

"I understand that Ma'am. But the new semester starts around next week. I'm only asking for that one week of concession." The chancellor's frown only grew as she observed the time on her wrist watch and sighed.

"You're perfectly aware that all the material and assignments are delivered in that very first week of classes. I'm unable to help you with this. You have got to come otherwise later you'll be begging your professors and I can guarantee you, they do not care and would gladly award you a zero."

Zoya managed a forced smile and thanked the chancellor for her time. She stood, grabbing her bag as she greeted Mrs. James one last time and departed to the bus station.

The sun greeted her as she stepped out of the tall building. It was a fairly warm morning. She shrugged at herself for bringing an umbrella along her journey. After all, the weather forecast was mostly unreliable in Seattle.

She walked down the street to the bus station. Last night, her scooter had officially called it quits and stopped functioning at all: the brakes weren't working either; therefore, Bilal finally agreed upon getting it checked.

Buses were crammed but fun to ride. She didn't have to put in any effort and could think about stuff without an interruption as she watched the world pass by.

These days her mind was flooded with Zaib.

She didn't want to think of him so much but her heart was stronger pulling strings faster. The second she found herself unoccupied, her mind raced to flash the memory of his eyes staring into hers with his smile lifting his lips and she smiled like an idiot. She felt light-headed upon every thought of him, a plunging feeling in her stomach at play.

Before he left that Friday, he smiled at her directly and walked out of the house. Later when the house was quiet, Bilal visited her room to 'talk' to her about something.

Bilal seemed smug as he quirked his eyebrows at his little sister and teased her regarding Zaib. When she was about to kick him out, he broke the news to her.

Flashback

"Zaib wants your number."

Her eyes zeroed. Her heart was ready to explode as she scrambled off her bed and lunged towards her brother. "What are you saying! He what—" she roared almost waking up their parents. Bilal chuckled at her over-dramatized reaction.

"I—no! He can't have my number. I don't even know how to talk to a random guy—let alone him! There's no way I'll know how to talk to Zaib," she declared, almost as if she was talking to herself contemplating whether it was really that bad of an idea.

"Don't give him my number Bilal!" She concluded panic stricken. It was weird but she didn't know how to talk to men outside work or formal purposes. With her zero-to-no experience with guy friends, she would only end up in awkward situations if she tried. She didn't want to make things weird with Zaib.

"Can you stop screaming! My ears are hurting," his palms flattened against his ears as he stared at his sister maddeningly. Zoya could be really fierce at times.

She inhaled a good amount of air, attempting to calm herself down but her heart couldn't stop thundering so she whipped back towards Bilal. "He asked for my number? From you?"