Exhaustion Devilry

Chapter 22 - Sleepless Time

Aifaa's POV

It was already 7 o'clock and the sunlight began to arise from its sleep. Aifaa felt sleepy so she sleep after Subuh for about 3 hours only as she has to do house chores and help her mother to cook for lunch. After that 3 hours of peaceful sleep, she swept the floor, starting from her room, her mother's room, living room and lastly, the kitchen. She did not clean her brothers' and sisters' rooms as they could clean them by themselves.

With the amount of three hours before lunch, she started making bubur lambuk, fried chicken and rojak sayur. She knew she did not have much time to steam rice and cook other dishes thus she cooked the easiest menu for lunch. It took only less than 2 hours to make the three menus. Once done, she decided to make roti jala and chicken curry as she craved it. It was hard to find roti jala in her area so she had to make it by herself. It took nearly half an hour for the chicken curry to cook while roti jala was simple, less than 20 minutes then voila! She then put some in a container and went to her mother's room.

"Mummy, I'm going to Nurul's house. I made lots of roti jala and chicken curry. So, I wanna give her some and I will be back after... Um... 25 minutes, maybe?" She told her after thinking hard.

"Okay. Send her and her family regards. Don't come back too late" Her mother replied.

"I will, boss. Don't forget to lock the door" She said while saluting.

She headed out and went straight to Nurul's house. Gladly, their houses were just a few metres apart. She wanted to give her and her family the Roti Jala and chicken curry she made just now as she accidentally made it more than two servings. She forgot that her three brothers and two sisters will not come today. She put a mental note to not make lots of serving after this.

After reaching Nurul's place, she gave her the roti jala and chicken curry. Nurul looked moody and was surprised at the same time as she did not think Aifaa would come today. Yet pleased as she gave her food. Food is heaven! Once she hold it, a grin on her face did not vanish. Aifaa queried Nurul a bit regarding her health and life before she went back home and eat lunch with her mother then carried on with the house chores and such.

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Nurul's POV

Whilst this person made up her mind to continue sleeping for 2 hours or more before Zuhr, after lunch at 12.30 in the afternoon. But before that, she cooked lunch for the whole family. It was already thirty-nine past eleven thus she went to the kitchen and started steaming the rice first for 7 servings. She thought of cooking chicken soup, fried chicken and belacan kangkung. She prepared all ingredients and put them on the table.

She took a bowl and put salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and onion blended as well as a whole chicken. She mixed it all and fried those in a frying pan. She then took a pot and put a bit of oil. Once heated, she put crushed onions, garlics and ginger then poured some water. After that, she put carrots and potatoes then chickens as well as soup spices. And lastly, she put a bit of salt and scallions with fried onions to boot. For the belacan kangkung, she took another frying pan and put a little oil before putting crushed onions, garlic, green and red chillies, belacan and anchovies. After inserting those ingredients, she put the spinaches also a bit petai then a pinch of salts. Voila!

She then called her family and ate together with them. She was peckish thus she finished first without speaking much. Her family also did not talk much as they were busy tasting and chewing those foods. She washed her plate and cleaned the table then leisurely went to her room. Relief a heavy sigh after she got on the bed. After a quarter of minutes of resting, she collected everyone's basket of clothes and lifted the clothes on the clothesline.

Once finished, she placed the baskets back in the owner's room and paced to her room at last. She sat on the chair and thinking about what to do next but suddenly remember she wanted to write about what had happened yesterday in her diary as a memory she wants to keep. She took her pencil box from the bookshelf and grabbed a black and blue pen together with her diary. She nearly write the first word but heard someone call her name yet apparently knew who it was. Aifaa came out of the blue and gave her two containers full of roti jala and chicken curry. They talked for a bit before Aifaa excused herself the moment her stomach grumbled.

She did not have the mood to write after Aifaa came so she put back the diary in the rack. She wanted to have fun so she decided to watch a drama instead. Not wanting to be depressed and angsty when it was still bright outside. 'Night will be the best time to write the story' She thought. Keep the tears for the night. She decided to watch the same romance drama that she left for weeks. She did not finish it yet and chose to binge-watch it until the last episode. She already watched 26 episodes, so only 3 episodes left.

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Dee's POV

She was resting on the mattress as she barely got sleep last night. She slept after fajr prayer for 4 hours as her peepers felt heavy ever since she came back home yesterday. After awake, she took a bath and carried her black printed shirt and blue tracksuit together with a towel to the bog. She wore those inside the bog and quickly dried her hair with a hairdryer after. She was bored then so she clicked on her social media and scrolled down to see what was happening in and outside the country or any news she should know. Sadly, she read an article about bullying.

'A woman got bullied by her co-workers on her first day of work? Why do these kinds of people exist? Ya Allah, may the victim become strong day by day and ease everything for her. Ameen ya rabbal alamiin' She thought, unsatisfied with the news thereupon scrolled down to read others. This time it was about double standards.

'Pity the underprivileged people. These rich communities should lend alms to them instead of using their wealth for misusing the powers they have for themselves. Selfish! I'm mad just imagining it! Ya Allah' She prayed to the poor society as well as instantly alms 5 to 10 ringgit to the charity organizations in the country.

She felt bored of scrolling and stalking her favourite actors and actresses after 2 hours and a quarter. She felt lifeless as nothing could be done during her leisure time today. Nothing obtained her interest and had no fun yet. After spacing out for several minutes, she got an idea of what she had to do. It was better that she went on with taking a siesta while waiting till asr prayer. Sleepyhead got the better of her. Then, she dozed off.

After asr, she did some light workouts before stepping outside to jog and brought her phone and earphone to boot. The windy and cloudy weather made her excited although she feels bad for doing nothing during her leisure time earlier. She also thought of jogging longer than she usually did to get a well-built body and healthy. She wore earphones and began finding her favourite playlist. She started warming up while listening to her favourite song to divert herself from thinking. She needs to remove the distress thus she jogged for an hour.

She then sat in the pedestrian area to take five before going back home and stretched a little to cool down. She wanted to change the song so she rummaged in her pocket and took her phone. Without notice, it rang. She exaggerated a huff without looking at the caller. She knew it was someone that she hates. "THIS ANNOYING HUMAN!!! WHY DID HE CALL ME?!!" She let it ring till it stops. An exasperated expression was evident on her face. After the fifth ring, she accepted the call as she was annoyed. Before she could swear, the caller called her name and gently queried her where she go. She briskly said sorry to her father for late accepting the call.

'This is all your fault, Nazri!' She furiously thought.