EXPLICIT BLOOM

18• Breeze that whispers

"Explain that to her not me. I'm pretty sure she knows anyway" Lina shrugged. "Just don't stress it, maybe she's just coming late" She shrugged again.

"I hope so" Nahla sighed.

The moment she finished her sentence, the lecturer walked in so Nahla excused herself back to her sitting position and soon after, their final visual arts lectures started commencing.

The lecturer spent her time explaining the things she believed were the final foundation of their visual arts education as a course. She also informed them about the inevitable parts she knew would appear in examination. In other words, she gave them some areas of concentration while reading for exams.

It ended with her passing her soulful prayers to them immediately before she walked out, they made sure to thank her.

Oma didn't attend the class which made Nahla more worried. She wanted to mend what was broken between them and that was only possible if she meets her.

Oma wouldn't pick her calls and even when Nahla visited her home, they told her that she moved out. Nahla had her suspicions that maybe she moved to Oliver's house but she shrugged it off. Mainly because she had no idea where Oliver's house was located.

"Nahla!" Lina called the zoned out Nahla again. She was standing beside her and been calling out to her for a while."What's got you hooked up?" Lina asked. "Nothing"

"I know you're still thinking about Oma, it's that obvious" Lina said. "Why ask if you know then?" Nahla asked. "I wanted you to share it, sharing always makes one feel better" Lina replied and Nahla hummed.

"Anyways, we have an hour break before the next lecture. Figured we shouldn't misuse time" Lina voiced what actually took her there.

"Yes, library?" Nahla asked. "Sure" Lina smiled. They both were fans of reading both novels and books so they always had no problem with spending their leisure time at the library. How could they when their school library was filled with the best novels out there.

That day though, they decided to read because they knew exams would be tough. That kept Nahla distracted from Oma's thoughts and they both gladly understood what they learned.

They left the library ten minutes to their next lecture and arrived two minutes to it. Another lecturer stepped in so they settled and took their class.

When lectures ended, it was 30 minutes to 2:00pm so they decided to pray before going home. Nahla contacted Aalim and told him to come in 30 minutes as she was sure they'll be done by then.

They trekked to the school women's mosque and prayed then left when the time predicted to be Aalim's arrival neared.

They found him there already waiting for them so they entered the car and he drove them home. They dropped Lina first.

Nahla was exhausted by the time they arrived so she laid down on an empty stomach and fell into a deep slumber. She woke up only after the adhan of the mosque nearest to them startled her out of the sleep.

She moved slowly and carefully with drowsy eyes and entered the bathroom to take a bath. She took longer than intended in there before she came out and got ready in grey and black abaya and matching veil paired with niqab.

She took her bag and checked to confirm the presence of her credit card in it before she exited the room. Coincidentally, Farah was just exiting her own room.

"I was just going to check up on you, you didn't come to see me after your return and your food is also there on the table" Farah asked with concern.

"I was feeling really exhausted Ummie, guess I deprived myself some sleep because of the events that went on but I'm fine" Nahla replied sincerely.