MANAL

41: Jawaad

Why aren't you following me? 😔

•

The last thing I expected when I opened the door, was to see Farida's friend, Manal, standing right in front of me. The way she flinched and halted in her tracks was quite hilarious to me. Had the situation permitted it, I would have laughed. Judging by the expression she had on, one could think she had just seen a ghost.

"Jawaad!" Farida's voice pulled me out of my reverie. "You're finally here. We've all been waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" I raised a brow. "Why? What's the occasion?"

"There's no occasion." Farida responded. "It's just that we've missed you a lot and—"

"Hmm...Farida, I think I should leave already. I've kept Ummi waiting for too long already. She will be pissed." Manal stated, cutting her off.

Before Farida even had the chance to give her a reply, she hurried—pratically ran out of the house.

"Manal, wait up." Farida yelled after her.

"It's fine, Farida, you don't have to walk me out." Manal yelled back just before she opened the gate and disappeared.

Weird.

"She's gone." Farida remarked.

"Was she supposed to sleep over?" I sneered.

"No, but I was supposed to walk her out. I wanted to say hi to her mum. She left in a hurry, because of you."

"What did I do?"

"I guess she was just shy."

"Shy?" I huffed. "And why would she be? I hope you haven't filled her head with delusions. She couldn't even say hello, so much for being respectful." I muttered my last statement and began to walk away.

"What?" Farida ran after me. "But you didn't say hello to her as well."

"Whatever. I don't care."

"But you do." Farida continued. "You wouldn't have mentioned it otherwise. And—"

One glare from me was all it took for her to shut up.

"Where is mum?"

"She's sleeping."

"Sleeping?" I stopped walking and turned to her. "She's sleeping?"

"Yeah. I guess she got tired of waiting for your arrival. We expected you sooner."

I sighed. "So now, I'd have to wait for her to wake up?"

"I guess so." Farida shrugged.

"Alright then, I'll be in my room. Mum said she had the maid make some samosas for me, could you please bring some to my room?"

"Of course."

"Thanks, Farida."

"It's no big deal."

•

The only thought on my mind when I walked into my room was Farida's friend. I wonder what she had come to do. I just hoped she hadn't been fed with delusions. I hoped mum didn't invite her, because if that was the case, then surely, she must have given her false hope about me marrying her someday in the future.

Seeing her today, it became even clearer to me that she wasn't my type at all. First thing that was off about her was her lack of confidence. The way she stuttered and them ran off—in a nutshell, she seemed really frightened by my presence. But she seemed decent though.