A Latte of Love

【☕】4

"Sana Saba! Look at me! Stop writing for once," I whine. I was at my best friend's house, craving for her attention which was fully towards the paper she was holding in her hands.

"Wait, I'm almost done. Let me add some perfume to the letter." She stands up to grab a perfume bottle while I stare at her like she's some weirdo.

"Why the Jahannam would you do that?" I ask, bewildered. She moves the letter a few inches away from the perfume, sprays it, and then sets it on her windowsill to dry.

"To send him my presence," Sana whispers quietly while blushing ear to ear. I inwardly barf at her reply.

"Why do you have to do penpalling? You could just go on Instagram and talk to people. Isn't it easier than waiting weeks for a reply?" I ask out of curiosity, trying to understand her.

"No! There's no sincere feelings that way! Instagram is full of attention seekers. How do I know those guys actually want me? They could be talking to several random girls but with a pen pal, it's just me and him. Our words are more thought out that way."

"But he could be talking to other people, too. How do you know it isn't just you?"

"No, shut up. He's mine."

I slap my forehead. This girl is lovesick. In the most bizarre way.

I make a motion to stand up after her declaration of love, in an attempt to finally leave this girl and her love letter alone. That was until she suddenly grabs at my hand. "Don't go just yet. Didn't you want to tell me something?"

I glare at her and cross my arms on my chest. "Then you should've listened to me while I was talking."

"Oh come on, you can't keep me hanging like this."

I roll my eyes. "You were too busy hanging on to your pen pal."

"Aww, is my little Sully jealous?" She coos, tickling under my chin. I inwardly puke at her sudden affection again. This time I attempt to dart away until I came to the realization that a sleeping Ahmed is resting on my lap.

I glare at her over his little snoring face. She knew how much I hated being called Sully, yet never stopped uttering the name out of her mouth.

Salma, Sully, what's next?

While she busies herself overlooking the letter, I rummage my brain for the right words to say. "Ahmed's dad wears Pokemon boxers," I blurt out.

Then clap a hand over my mouth. What the heck did I just say?

Sana slowly looks up from the letter, her eyes turning into round orbs and twinkling in amusement. "He what?"

My cheeks turn red as I shake my head furiously. "I meant to say-"

But Sana ignores my protests and grins widely. "How would you know that anyway? Did you intentionally leave out a few of these crucial details when you retold them to me?" She suddenly gasps, leaning closer to me. "Or maybe... did you see for yourself?"

I huff in annoyance. She was never going to let me hear the end of this. "What I meant to say, is that I was at Hamza's house the other day and Mariam Auntie was there."

Sana sends me a knowing look for changing the subject. Rolling my eyes, I continue, "She asked Hamza when he's getting married again and he seemed annoyed."

I watch Sana twist her lips, something she does when she's deeply thinking about something. I perk up when she opens her mouth to speak.

"You know, your love life could be a whole tragic movie," she says, breaking the silence. "She who was at the ripe age of courtship and attraction and just wanting to be loved, until she was forced to succumb to her parent's wishes of marrying into a wealthy family, with a brute who was never able to love anyone except his first..."