Something lived, Something felt

CHAPTER 36

CHAPTER 36

Zinar pushed open Amna's room, the room was as big as expected. The mature off white pink paint followed with an elegant modern Arab sitting, the queen-sized bed in the middle but more to the left with a rug in front of it and beside it. At the far right a fine dressing mirror seated with all a girl could dream of.

Amna walked out of her closet and embraced Zinar. They said their salutations as Zinar made herself comfortable on the love seat that was beside a window directly opposite the door.

"You came alone?" she seemed happy to see her.

"Yeah, I thought why not come check on my sister in-law."

"Awn!" she hugged her. "I have actually missed you" she pouted

"We met two weeks ago" she said putting up her Nigerian emotional defense. As a Nigerian she wasn't used to being soft on others, saying things like I miss you or I love you came with a humorous attitude that usually sucked up the emotional air. "So what's up?" she wiggled her brow

"Nothing" she heaved, slumming into the chair. "Just enjoying home and joblessness"

"Well this is the only time you have to be jobless so enjoy it" she said enthusiastically. "Sign up for Zumba or salsa" they both chuckled "do things you've always wanted to do but never had the chance to" she advised

"There is this volunteer zoo thing I saw" she tapped on her phone and showed her the page.

"Seems nice"

"You know my dream job when I was kid was to be zookeeper. God works in mysterious ways" she praised and they both laughed. "Talking about jobs, how is work going?"

"Am now in the pediatric ward. You'd think it would get less exhausting" she sighed "But we're surviving". Their attention turned to Amna's phone that was ringing, the screen was facing down but she didn't feel the need to check the caller id before silencing it. She seemed somewhat ticked off.

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Don't even get me started, did you talk to Ahmad about Idrees?"

"You know your brother, he's still thinking about it but do you think he is all she says he is? Do you think he's good?" Zinar asked concerned.

"Don't even know these days with men"

"Is everything-" she got interrupted by the knock on the door. The door opened after a bit revealing Amir and a bottle of water. He said his salaam and sat down on the rug by the bedside.

"Amir where are my headphones?" Amna glared at him

"In the car"

"Why would you take my headphones and leave them in your car?" an annoyed Amna asked

"Uhf! Amna. The car is down stairs not another world. Just get another one" he shrugged.

"They're my headphones, you get another one"

"Am always forgetting to buy one" he replied causing Zinar to giggle and Amna to yelp in annoyance. They had a good time and Zinar left after about an hour and a half.

Amna came back to her room after dinner and chatting with her mother. She dove into her bed after wearing her pajamas, she scrolled down the zoo page on her phone and decided to sign up. She finished signing in and stared at the screen blankly just in time for it to start ringing. She exhaled and decided to get over with it.

"Hi, I've been trying to call you" Zaid's voice beamed through

"What do you want?" she asked bluntly