“Ugh, yeah, I remember. I was singing the song ‘Cinta Salah’ at the time,” I said, laughing.
It was pretty funny when I thought about it.
“Oh, right. He goes to college here, you know.”
“Heee.” I stopped in surprise and looked at the two of them.
“Whatever. He doesn’t know me either.” I continued walking ahead of them.
“Hey, Irsha, not that way.”
I looked back.
“Come this way. If you go there, that’s the men’s dorm.”
I walked back over to them. When I glanced to the side, I saw the garden divider.
“Oh, seriously? I almost went that way. If I had, people might’ve thought I was trying to get his attention.”
I said it.
That’s the campus up ahead, right? Ugh, I think it is, judging by all the activity over there.
“Irsh…”
“Yeah?”
I turned to look at her.
“Do you feel uncomfortable being around us?” Ulfi asked.
Of the three of us, she was the most sensitive. She felt and thought about everything, even things she really shouldn’t have been thinking about.
If you’re going to think about something, think about it once, then let it go. But she tended to dwell on things for a long time.
“Not at all. If anything, I feel kind of embarrassed. You two are still in college while I’m already working.”
“There’s nothing embarrassing about that. Come on, let’s go in.”
We went into Anissa’s dorm room. Oh my gosh, it was incredibly neat from front to back.
Luckily, her roommate had allowed me to stay over, so I could spend the night.
It was getting late in the afternoon. Ulfi had said goodbye earlier and gone to the room next door. Anissa and I were marathon-watching anime. It happened to be Saturday, so there were no classes the next day.
She was actually supposed to go home yesterday, but she postponed it because her assignments had really piled up.
“Hey, wait a second, Niss.” I paused the video.
“I thought you were going to work on your assignments?” I asked.
“Oh, right. Mashallah, I’ll work on them first.”
She got up and went to retrieve her stack of assignments from the study area.
I grabbed my blue-light glasses, opened my tablet, and checked today’s sales graph.
There had been a significant increase.
After I finished checking it and making my report, I got up to get a drink from the kitchen. When I returned to the room, I saw that Anissa was still working on her assignments.
“Not done yet, Niss?”
“Not yet. If you want to sleep, go ahead.”
“Okay, then. Good night, Anissa.”
“Too, Shasa.”
I went to my room and fell asleep.
For a room this size, it was pretty nice.
There were two beds up top, and underneath them were a wardrobe and two study desks. There was a small ladder in front leading upstairs, and a fairly large wardrobe near the bedroom door.
Oh, okay. Time to sleep.
The next morning, after I woke up, I made the bed. I saw that Anissa was still asleep, so I decided to go to the kitchen and make my breakfast: meat-filled bread and a smoothie bowl.
After dawn prayer, I had taken a walk and bought the ingredients for breakfast at the market beside the dorm.
I had actually wanted to invite Anissa along, but she looked tired from working on her assignments, so I went by myself.
Once I finished making everything, I put it in the fridge so it could chill. Then I headed back to the room to wake her up.
“Niss.”
“Nissa.”
“Just a little longer, Mom. Nissa’s still sleepy,” she mumbled, half-conscious.
“Hey, I’m not your mom. Wake up.”
I tickled her feet to make her get up. She finally woke up.
“Let’s eat. I bought porridge from the place out front, but you should shower first.”
She stared at me sharply.
“Why did you buy it already? I was going to buy it for you,” she complained.
“It’s okay. You’re tired too.”
After showering, Anissa and I went to the kitchen for breakfast.
“Wait, there’s only one bowl of porridge?”
“Mine’s in the fridge. I’ll eat it later since I already made this.”
“Oh. Enjoy your meal.”
After breakfast and washing the dishes, she and I agreed to go to the park. It was still early, so we had plenty of time.
At the park…
The weather was beautiful today. Birds chirped back and forth, and let’s not forget that morning air really is the best.
Anissa and I sat on a park bench, enjoying our favorite fruit salad.
Out of nowhere, a little kid suddenly came up to me.
“Auntie…”