Balls

43

The duo walked back to their abode in a daze. The 5 kilometre walk was peppered with rapid questions they never thought they'd ask each other.

"When did we start doing this?"

"By this, do you mean read each other's mind?"

"Have you ever read anything you didn't like from me?"

"Are you reading me now?"

"Could you read other people's minds?"

"Shall we try it on that guy?"

Their energetic steps paused for a few minutes as focused their attention on an elderly man reading under a tree at the beach.

A few minutes passed. Nothing.

After a few more minutes of manic walking, they took a break and tried reading each other's mind.

Blank.

Iqball could not tell Ballqis was thinking of number 7, her favourite. Ballqis could not dig out Iqball's most embarrassing memory, in which he could not pronounce the alphabet 'W' properly when he was in primary.

"I can't even tell what book he was reading, or what he thinks about what he's reading," Ballqis admitted.

"Come to think about it, I can't even hear your thoughts anymore," Iqball said.

Ballqis nodded, "Same here."

"How did we do it then? What changed since then? Is it the location? Or are we too tired to do it now?"

"I may be out of breath but I'm not that tired. We're still on the beach so that can't be it," Ballqis rejected the idea.

They slowly walk towards the convenience store and bought some drinks. They sat at the bench, contemplating.

"I've never been able to do anything like that before," Ballqis said.

"Same here. Could it be T7's doing? Nah, scrap that. He's too far away from us right now," Iqball said.

Ballqis stopped chugging her apple juice.

"But Iqball, you could be right. The place we hung out at just now... where it happened... wasn't it located just behind the lab? I reckoned the distance is quite near as we've gone around the back of the campus. If it wasn't for the lookout tower, we would have had the lab building directly behind us just now. Am I right?"

Iqball mulled the geography for a second before agreeing.

"That's right, we'd take only a couple of minutes to walk to the lab if we cross the fence and go behind the tower," he agreed.

Another silence claimed them as they deliberate the situation.

"Wait, let's say that it's true that it was T7's doing, why was he doing it at all? Is it only to us? Is he projecting his capabilities?" Iqball had so many questions.

"I wonder if he is just a 'power plant' or a 'Wi-Fi' that is transmitting its ability to others..." Ballqis was mulling similar thoughts at the same time.

They both looked at each other, their faces tinged with confusion and disappointment.

"What on earth is happening, Iqball?" she whispered.

"I don't know. But I know I am sad that we only held that capability for too short of a while. It would have been nice to have yet another big secret to share just with you..." he replied sadly.

"I guess what we did just now at the beach was just a one-off thing..."

"The mind-reading thing? Yeah..." Iqball agreed.

They both stared at their feet. Life would have been so cool if they could peer into the mind of each other, or maybe not, they thought.

"OK, maybe the mind-reading was a one-off thing. But a date with me shouldn't," Iqball almost grumbled.

Just like that, Ballqis laughed.

"Alright," she agreed.

Iqball grinned happily.

"So Shah's Pizzeria? The place opens at 11am, maybe we can try queueing at 10.30am?" he suggested.

"Next Saturday?" Ballqis offered.

"It's a date!" he sealed it.

***
Molly was quiet again as Aga and Nastia laughed about the fish jumping trick that almost went south at the lab that Friday evening.

"Imagine if the fish from Tank 8 could jump into the double tank for real. The couple inside that tank might just end up with a love triangle," Aga said in mirth.

"I did not expect the fish to be able to jump so high, I should not have dangled the hoop like that," Nastia apologised again, but laughing all the same.

Iqball and Ballqis joined in, but from Molly they only garnered a smile.

They were at Mirna's side of the campus to attend a cross-culture concert organised by the management students. Mirna and a few of her friends were scheduled to perform the Irish step dance. The Russian students will perform last, hence Nastia was still chilling with them.

Ballqis wasn't sure if Molly was disappointed because none of the other Russian students came around their table or Aga's preoccupation with Nastia was incessant.

Then Lev, the student with green eyes appeared.

He introduced himself to the group then quickly reminded Nastia.

"We're on after the next act. Let's get ready," he said.

"Oh leaving already?" Ballqis asked on behalf of Molly.

"If you'd still be around I can join you all after the performance," he offered.

"Please do. We should hang out," Aga extended an invitation.

The exchange student agreed. He and Nastia headed towards the backstage.

Molly was sporting an evil grin at Ballqis, and the girls nodded in understanding.

Iqball thought he'd be jealous, but Ballqis reassuring glance told him that she was just looking out for Molly.

Mirna's turn to perform came right before the exchange students' slot. Her troupe of a dozen students jigged energetically and garnered a rousing applause.

Her cheeks were still as red as apples by the time she met up with Ballqis and the rest.

They all watched the Russians deliver a short dance performance called the Barynya. The girls were swung so fast their feet flew off the ground, delighting the crowd.

The night ended with a short poem delivered on behalf of the faculty entitled Friends For Life.

The organiser even handed out box juice and made everyone cheer, 'Friends!' three times.

Lev and Nastia did come back to group armed with boxes of chicken wings. Aga bought everyone more juice and they all chatted happily.

Lev's attention got Molly simpering and Mirna sniggering while Aga had his hands full entertaining Nastia's unending questions. Only Ballqis and Iqball noticed that every now and then, Aga would steal a glance at Molly and at times, Molly would noticed him doing it.

"Ooh, such tension! I just hope Molly and Aga would end up fine somehow," Balqis sighed as Iqball walk her home later that night.

Iqball sighed dramatically, trying to humour her.

"At the end of this semester when the exchange students are all gone, Aga and Molly will only have each other to annoy," he reckoned.

"As long as they don't end up I think a shouting match, I'd be super glad already," Ballqis said.

"What's more important is that none of them show up at Shah's next Saturday. They totally ruined our pasta outing," Iqball whined.