Throughout the conversation, I was able to appreciate Nick from a point of view I've yet to explore. He was not half as bad as what Abs letting on. All this while, I've been fed with gruesome ideas about how villainous Nick was, but it turned out that Nick was just a normal person behind that Jason Voorhees' mask. 

"So, enlighten me, Zahida." he emphasized my name which I no longer find it annoying. "In your UoM records, you claimed to be a Malaysian but have been living here long enough to get yourself a PR. Why didn't you apply for it?"

"My grandad wouldn't allow me to opt for permanent residency. He wants me to return to Kuala Lumpur once I'm done with my degree," I explained.

"And your parents?"

"My parents and my brother, Zahidi died in an accident at a national park in Canada, involving a caribou and a trailer. It was a road trip during Zahidi's term break on his first semester at Ottawa University. I didn't join them since I was in my final IGCSE."

"Do you have anyone else in your family?" he asked again.

"Nope, just me and my grandad," I sighed. "I have a few other relatives, but we aren't that close. They're the typical Malays, bunch of airheads mocking our accents, bitching about us, flexing at everything. We never like each other."

"What were your parents and your brother like?" he asked inquisitively.

"In short, we were a loving family. My parents were pragmatic folks. Zahidi and I were six minutes apart, I came out first. Zahidi inherited Dad's and grandad's intelligence, while I inherited Mom's valorous attitude. We both were toddlers when the family moved to KL after Dad completed his PhD. We returned here when we were eight because Dad was offered an accountant job at Oldham.

"I couldn't read at that time, my parents thought I had dyslexia. I just see bunch letters as images separately, not something that were constructed into words. So, they decided to put me to Year 1 to start new when I was supposed to be in Year 2. Zahidi's intelligence aced him to Year 3 straight. Some of Mom's nosy cousins would consider me as a black sheep. But not my parents and Zahidi, they knew me better and loved me to the brim no matter what. I remember getting the entire Spice Girls dolls, one doll for each subject whenever they saw improvements in my grades. Zahidi would get a handshake from Dad and a lolly from Mom if he scored straight As. He didn't mind though, he loved lollies.

"When I was told the news of the accident, it was a real blow to me. I remembered a few people paid me visits, Headmaster was there, the counsellor, one guy from Malaysian embassy, some from Malaysian Community of Old Trafford. I felt absolutely gutted after that because I just lost my support group, my everything.

"My grandad moved in here temporarily to look after me before he returned to KL. I worked with Yosef after my Sixth Form until my grandad rope me in to take jobs in Malaysia. I moved to KL and took up a subtitling job at a media company, but it didn't last long because I struggled to cope with Malaysia's ridiculous cost of living, toxic working culture and a bitch for a boss. So, I returned to Manchester, continued my shifts with Yosef and here I am."

"You had a strong, supportive, well connected people in your family," he finally commended. "Were affections the only foundation?"

"I guess," I replied. "But we hold on to our principles guided by belief which makes us appreciate little things and prosper at everything around us."

"Who do you pray to, if I may ask?"

"You can't tell I'm a Muslim from my name?" I asked, puzzled.

"It's an Arabic name, not a Muslim name," Nick pointed out. "You can't assume every Zahida is a Muslim. Rami Said Malek is not a Muslim. So which sect do you belong to? Shia or Sunni? Or Ahmadi?"

"Sunni," I answered briefly. "Abs told me you're a Shia."

"My parent's a Shia," he answered frankly. "Abs' a Shia too. I'm an atheist."

"You were born an atheist?"

"Nope, I denounced when my mother died," he replied.

"Oh," I mouthed. I saw the strain on his face when he mentioned his mom, the same sorrow I felt thinking of mine.

"So, what's with you and Abs? What were you trying to prove?" Nick randomly popped up the question.

"Seriously, I don't know," I laughed, shook my head. "Abs and I have been platonic since Sixth form. I wanted to be more than that. So, I did everything to prove him that I'm worthy, even going beyond my means. But the more I did it, the more he made me feel less of a person."

Nick chuckled. "Yeah, that's the Abs I know. But what you did, especially to go against me for his sake makes him less of a man and more of a pussy, you know?"

"Yeah," I conceded to his statement. "I thought he would be worth of a pursuit."

"So, it's the crush that made you do it?"

"Deranged person does unthinkable things out of crush I supposed," I shrugged.

"Friendly advice from a wise python to a deranged rodent like you."

I laughed at his cynical remark especially when he couldn't move on with me calling him a 'python'.

"Okay, shoot!" I permitted.

"In a context of endearment, if the going gets tough, you need to reassess your options," he advised. "Go for the one most cost effective with more returns, even if it means divesting the relationship."

"Agree but in a context of endearment, decisions are mostly driven by emotions," I argued.

He groaned to my statement. "It is easy to determine an idiot; the characteristics are blaring. If that person decided to go through hurdles leading to nowhere, then that person is an idiot. If that person went on a mission, knowing that nothing good would come out from it, that person is an idiot. If that person doesn't learn from past mistakes, that person is an idiot. If that person–"

"I get it, an idiot," I giggled. "Am I really like that?"

"Well, if the shoe fits, why not?"