Life of Me

chapter 1

Ismahan Malay, 19 years old, was the bubbly girl, the cheerful one. The one that wore an alluring smile everyday, everywhere and anytime. She was pure hearted and one of the kindest of them all. She adores children and loves helping the old aged. She had her personality of her own and that's what everyone loved about her. Her friends was inspired.

But that all came crashing down when she skipped school and came back a month later. Her friends were the first ones to realize that this girl, the most cheerful one, she wasn't the Ismahan they knew.

Ever since she came back, she never spoke. She never smiled and lost it. Most of all she wasn't as cheerful as before. She wasn't bubbly. That talkative girl that rambles on about everything. No one knew what happened within that month. She disappeared.

However, it didn't change the fact that her friends were always there for her and tried their best to make her feel comfortable.

The bell rang for lunch time and the hallways of university begins to crowd with groups of male and female making their way towards the cafeteria room. Ismahan sat down at the usual table that she sat by everyday. Opposite her was the loveliest married couple, Ibrahim and Nuhaa. Nuhaa was doing part time hifths(memorizing the holy Quran) and she's been a niqabi(Veil that covers the face) for some quiet time now. Ibrahim and Nuhaa have been married a year now and the two were definitely inseparable. Moving to the next two who sat next to Ismahan, Nur and Israh, who are siblings and always jokes around with each other. Then we get Aisha and Hannah who are majoring in Islamic Classes(Islam religion classes) and are currently eating french fries They sat between Nuhaa and Israh.

Lastly we have Hamza Zain, 19 years old who finished his hifths a few months ago. Hafiz Hamza Zain has been majoring in engineering as a senior at University. He was the definition of handsome, unique, tall. Today he wore an oversized black tracksuit that perfectly fitted his frame. Kicking it off with his black and white Nike dunk.

Typical friend group. They love each other.

"Isma! Are you listening?" All of their eyes was now on Ismahan, who had her head down staring off at her lunch with a blank face. "Ukhti!" Nur calls to her causing her to snap back to reality. Hamza's head slightly tilts as he catches her lack of responds.

(Ukhti - sister)

Uh, yeah?" She blurts.

"We're going to jummah." Nur looks at her, laying his arms out on the table. "Do you want to come?" Hamza asks and had his eyes locked with her for a split second before he looked at Nur. He had obviously noticed her lack off action and attention in the conversation.

(Jummah - a prayer on a Friday)

"Sure." She smiles softly.

"Okay, then it's settled." Hamza now says, taking a bite from his cheeseburger. "Right, so... Israh, Ibrahim, Nuhaa, Hannah and I will go with my car."  Nur says, pausing before he looks at Hamza. "Then Isma, Aisha and you can go with your car?"

Hamza nods. "Yeah."

"Fine by everyone?" They nod.

"Fine by me." Ismahan whispers softly.

Hamza studies her for a moment as he sits opposite her. Something was definitely off. And he was determined to find out. "akhi." Ibrahim calls to Hamza who had taken his eyes of Ismahan.

(Akhi - brother)

"Sheikh Raees is giving gutbah today..." Hamza smiles. As he was about to respond to Ibrahim, a surprising answer came from opposite him.
"Your favourite..." He looks bewildered at Ismahan. "Yeah, how'd you know?" He looks at her with shiny eyes. "You always listen to him whenever you can get the chance to." She shrugs. Hamza chuckles.

(Gutbah - a talk given every Friday at the mosque)

Ismahan was the one that could attract anyone. Not just by her style of dressing but by her beauty that was beyond this universe. She wears her brown satin abaya topping it off with a white layered khimar. Her accessories as a gold wrist watch and a fine thin gold chain with the name of Allah Ta'alah. She finishes her outfit off with her white Nike air forces.

(Allah - God)
(Khimar & Abaya - basically Islamic traditional clothes, but more fancy in my opinion)

Nuhaa was one that got inspired by the way Ismahan had styled her clothes and eventually it all led up to her going into niqab for the sake of Allah Ta'alah.

"Hm, he's my favourite yes."

"I know." Ismahan laughs.

"Okay, after jummah... Can we go get lunch?" Nuhaa suggests as she leans onto Ibrahim shoulder looking at her friends. "I'm down." Nur and Israh says together. "Fine by me." Hannah says, followed by the rest. Hannah never quiet spoke, unless spoken to. She was so mysterious herself. She was a quiet girl.

As the group fell into here and there conversations, the bell rang. They greeted each other off like every other day before heading off to their next classes. Ismahan was packing up some things of hers and Hamza was getting ready to leave.

"What's your next class?" Hamza startles her.

"Hamza! I thought you left." She laughs. "I have Islamic Class now." She answers to his questions and gathers her bag slinging it over her shoulder, holding onto two books in her hand. Islamic books.

"I have it too, let's go together." He suggests.

"Okay." And she walks to class with Hamza following right after her. As they walked, Ismahan felt the weight of her hands reduce as to Hamza taking the books out of her hold and holds it for her. He made sure not to get in contact with her skin by touching her as to maybe she had wudhu.

He remembered her mentioning she had wudhu at the time of lunch earlier.

(Wudhu -  Performing a ablution before prayer.)

"Shukran." She smiles.

It would be a complete lie to himself if Hamza said Ismahan wasn't gorgeous. She was a literal walking queen. "Afwan..." He trails. "Do you know where my car is parked?" He looks at her in question.

"I don't..." She gasps softly. Yet he falls into a smile.

"Its okay. Maybe I can get you at your last class?" He suggests and she nods. "What's your last class?"

"Literature." He makes a mental note not forget to get her at literature class. "Okay then. We basically have the same classes. Except that you do literature and I do engineering." He chuckles. She giggles.
"Yeah..."

The two hadn't spoken a word after, but Hamza was always one to break the silence. I mean, why not? "I'll get you at your literature class." He says with a final tone as he takes a halt at her class. He passes her books to her. She takes it happily.

"Yeah, inshallah." She nods, humming making Hamza chuckles. "Okay then. See you later, inshallah." He says before walking off to engineering class.

Ismahan had her eyes feasted on Hamza as he walked down the hallway. He had taken a glance back to Ismahan, before looking back after waving off to her. She giggles, attempting to wave back but immediately shakes her head with a smile. She walks into class, sits down and awaits for the end of the day with a bubbly feeling resting in her stomach.

~R