Keeping It Halal

Chapter Three

I had a rough night of sleep, mainly because there was no aircon. But I woke up early in the morning at 8, peculiarly. I jumped out of my bed joyfully and glanced around my room, hoping to find my hijab. I quickly grabbed my hijab and put it on as soon as I found it. I got out of my room and saw that the living room was empty. Feeling puzzled, I shrugged and decided to get some breakfast. I decided not to care about the absence of my family as I was really hungry. Thankfully, there was a loaf of bread on the table, together with a jar of jam beside it. But there was a note on the table. I discovered that it was a note from my mother as soon as I began reading it.

"Arina, Aunt Munirah and I are going out to mingle with the villagers while your father had gone fishing with your uncle. I don't know where did Amer go though as he was already out since 7."

I shrugged and spread the jam on a piece of bread and proceeded to the living room. As I walked over to the sofa, I noticed a silver watch which looked familiar. I picked it up when someone came in and said, "MashaAllah! You've found my watch!"

I turned around and saw Zul, together with Amer, who was right behind him.

"Well it was on the table but it looked quite familiar so I decided to take a closer look at it," I responded casually, handing him his watch.

"Thank you so much! This watch was given to me from my late grandfather," he thanked and gave me his charming smile.

I smiled back and began eating my bread as they both went into Amer's room. I decided to turn the television on and watch the news, but it turned out to be a bad idea. Muslims in Syria and Egypt were being threatened and killed. My heart sank as I felt tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn't watch it. It made my heart ache.

"Are you alright?" asked a voice.

I looked up and saw Zul, standing in the doorway.

"I-I'm fine. I just can't stand seeing our brothers and sisters getting hurt and killed in Syria and Egypt and we can't really do anything about it. The only thing we can do is pray for them," I said with more tears filling up my eyes.

He nodded in agreement and went back inside. Since praying was the only thing we could to help the Muslims all over the world, I did my Dhuha prayer to seek help from Allah. Just as I finished my prayer, Amer and Zul invited me to follow them take a walk around the village after I finished my prayer so I quickly followed them as soon as I got ready.

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"What are you looking at?" I snapped at Zul, noticing that he was looking at me.

"N-nothing," he stuttered, smirking.

Confused, I ignored him and continued walking ahead. I looked around in amazement. No doubts that the view was beautiful. I love nature. It shows how beautiful Allah's creations are.

Amer was now chasing Zul, which I had no idea why, so they were now ahead of me.

"Boys will always be boys," I said to myself, letting out a small chuckle.

I continued walking as per normal, admiring the nature. But something was missing. The boys' laughter. It had died away, which made me began tormenting. They were nowhere in sight. I started panicking as I quicken my pace ahead.

"Boo!" a voice shouted.

I turned around and saw Zul and Amer laughing their heads off, standing behind the bushes. I shot a glare at them and walked away ahead. After several minutes walking, I heard heavy footsteps from behind. I quickly turned around, being more aware of the surrounding after the incident I had encountered the day before. But apparently the footsteps belonged to Zul and Amer as they were trying to catch up with me as I may had gone too far.

"Please don't be mad at us, we were just fooling around," stated Zul.

"What if the same incident happen to me occurred again when both of you were gone to hide yourselves?" I shouted, trying to control my anger.

Zul was apparently a determined person and would not easily give up. He tried various ways to cheer me up: making funny faces, doing stunts, and lots more. But every attempt he did unfortunately failed.

Feeling satisfied with myself as I had disappointed him by showing no emotions for what he did, I decided to give in. But he did not give up. The last act he did had taken me aback; he stopped me by standing in front of me, having him towering over me. He looked me in my eyes but then looked away as I noticed the colour of his face turned into a shade of red. I watched his actions curiously as he handed me a bunch of colourful wild flowers. I accepted it hesitantly, not knowing what to say or do.

*A/N Sorry if it's short, I'm really busy these days! Thank you for reading, I will keep the book updated!