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Observe always that everything is the result of change, and get used to thinking that there is nothing
- Marcus Aurelius
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It was Summer and Summer in England was hardly ever predictable; week long heat waves followed by the week long showers. But on the morning of July 16th it was the stuffy, humid air that caused Malika to wake.
It was never that she wasn't a morning person, if she was awake then she was awake but it was the scorching, unbearable heat that made her want to go back to her dreams. But of course she couldn't; it was impossible when the heat was too much to bear which was of course accompanied by the morning sun streaming through the open blinds in her over sized bedroom.
Even though she had always hated wide open spaces her parents insisted that she accept the second largest room being the only daughter. Therefore she had taken to filling the large room with as much clutter as she could; from a coffee table to beanbags and cuddly toys. But for the life of her she could not understand the need for such big windows and so many of them especially when she was sure she had closed every blind and even the thick curtains to the balcony doors the night before.
She pushed the duvet covers off herself as she made to get up slowly when the sound of the oak front door whining on its hinges and crashing open rang throughout the house.
Malika suddenly tensed. She knew that her two brothers would still be asleep and her parents were next door as always in the morning having breakfast with her aunt and uncle. She forced herself to remember that their estate was a safe area. A safe, peaceful, loving...nice... estate.
The sound of, most likely, designer heels stomping up the long, heavily carpeted staircase caused Malika to jump up into a sitting position; now fully awake all chants and peace of mind completely forgotten.
"Mal? You had better be at least half way ready!" A murderous feminie voice travelled over to her. Malika panicked- the owner of the voice could not have been more than fifteen feet away at most.
She shot out of her bed, hastily remaking it in the process so that it would look as though she had been up for a while. Her chocolate brown, messy hair fanning over her face as she awkwardly pushed the stray strands out of her eyes with one hand as she rushed to grab her alarm clock which was conveniently hidden under a plush heart shaped pillow with the other.
"Damn it," she muttered after seeing that she had overslept by two hours. Again.
Luckily, Malika was the type of girl who planned ahead for these all too common occasions. She ran over to her walk in wardrobe adjacent to her bed and brought out the outfit she had prepared the previous night. It was something that she knew would take up most of her time especially when she added in the time it took to arrange the different accessories and she even went to lengths of bringing out the Indian gold bangles she had inherited from her mother admiring the intricate white gold design briefly as she always did when she saw them.
She just hoped that this was enough progress to tame the beast that was Anaila.
It was clear that by the time Anaila had burst through Malika's bedroom door the 19 year old was not actually expecting her little cousin to be awake and calmly preparing her outfit as though she had been awake for hours. But with her crazy bed head and too calm approach to the elder cousin practically breaking her doors down, Anaila wasn't fooled. But for now, she let it slide because sometimes Malika was just too cute.
KAMU SEDANG MEMBACA
The Avenue
PertualanganShe was the sweetest soul and even he could now admit this to himself. She had an amazing ability to carry those around her to be better than they could ever have imagined or ever wanted to be. She didn't deserve the pain, the betrayal. Not for his...
