❝︎ every second, hot and cold
we together? no, we're not
now you see me
now you don't ❞︎

- “Push Pull” by Zara Larsson

★★★

Shahveer Ahmed parked his car in the parking area for the faculty and murmured an 'Alhumdulillah' under his breath, alleviating at the thought that he arrived in time. It was 3:15 p.m. and he still had 15 minutes till the first class.

He was never one to be late but that day he had occupied himself in a mathematics related website, where one can solve math problems and earn money. He started this when he was in university and now he was able to earn $200-$250 depending on the complexity of the problem.

As he entered, he caught the undone lace of his shoe, making him question why he decided to wear sneakers with traditional clothing, and sited himself on the nearest bench to tie it, removing his ray-bans in the process. He really wanted to reach the staff waiting room as soon as possible but to his dismay, a student came to him.

"Assalam o Alaikum sir, I've got a question to ask. May I?"

Quite reluctanctly, he replied, "Yes, go ahead."

She asked what bothered her and he sighed vexatiously.

He remembered teaching that just two days ago!

He didn't recognize the face but remembered the girlish pen with a bear head she handed him to solve the problem and realized that the same girl had asked him problems multiple times, nonetheless outside class.

'Why won't she just ask this during the lecture?' He thought. He didn't have problem teaching the same thing over and over again as that is what he oathed to do since the day he took this job. But, sometimes, such actions appeared pretty questionable to him.

Other than this, something else also irked him. Since a minute or two, the girl standing at some distance from them had been looking in their direction and he didn't want to look up and meet that gaze.

Though, the name that reached his ears instantly paused his whole system.

Fizza.

He whipped his head up and found the one he never expected to see in this place, again.

"I'll explain the rest during class." He told the student and stood up from his seat, looking at her in a daze the whole time. He knew that she noticed him too, considering how she gave her friend an awkward smile and stiffly started walking.

She used to braid her dark brown hair and now they were cladded in a casual bun, with loose strands falling on both sides of her face. He obsereved how her style had changed from cat-shaped glasses and coat-jeans to rounded spectacles and a kurti, giving her a sophisticated and mature look.

However, there was no denying that he was annoyed. She was staring at him before and now she wouldn't turn her head his way. As if his internal grumbling was a plea for her to do so, that she or He heard, she turned her head and the both just looked at each other in the same manner they used to before, causing his heart to skip in the same tune as two years ago.

He didn't know why, but he wanted this to continue. He didn't know what she was doing here, yet he wanted her to stay.

~~

There were still some minutes left till the first class so Shahveer decided to go to their staff room. But, he was uncomfortable. She was walking right in front of him because they had the same destination, making him unable to look straight ahead. He sucked in a breath as his eyes dropped to her uncovered nape and instantly looked away. Blinking rapidly, he exhaled and realized that his nerves won't be calming down anytime soon.

They reached the room and were warmly welcomed;

"Oh, the clumsy one's here." Pointed out Haroon, Shahveer's friend, after looking at Fizza and the statement made Daneen laugh, as if she remembered something and Shahveer's eyes to twitch with disturbance, for he was the only one who didn't know what was going on.

Haroon was a physics teacher and by the looks of it, he still seemed to be pretty close to Fizza, leaving a bitter feeling to build up in Shahveer's chest.

"I'm sure a simple salam would've sufficed, thank you."

Fizza advised, her initially glaring face now had an unbothered look and she moved her hands sagaciously.

He chuckled, causing her to smile along with him and asked, "How've you been, Fizza?"

"Alhumdulillah, fine. And you, sir?"

"Good as ever." He replied as his eyes darted to Shahveer standing at the door of the room with his eyes on Fizza and enquired excitedly;

"Shahveer, why are you standing there, bro? Come on in. You remember Fizza and Daneen?"

He really seemed like a bird chirping to Shahveer right now.

Before he could say anything, Fizza reasoned making Daneen nod, her eyes still on Haroon;

"Oh, I don't think so. He didn't teach us in regular classes."

Now, that caused Shahveer to raise his left brow in a questioning manner. So she had chosen to ignore what happened downstairs, along with all the moments they had shared two years ago. Okay. He accepted that. He sort of expected that. But she was forgetting one tiny aspect.

Two could play this game.

After a few solid seconds of silence, he probed with narrowed eyes;

"Yeah, she's right. I don't think I remember them."

Haroon and Daneen mused an 'oh', their eyes moving between the two of them. Contrarily, Fizza passed him a forced smile and turned her head the other way.

"But, maybe I do. You guys attended my revision sessions, right?" He vocalized after running his tongue over his teeth, putting an end to the game he started mere seconds ago. A hopeless fool.

"Yes, sir.", Daneen disclosed casually.

"All the way from 10th to 12th grade?"

"Well, yes. Except that Fizza didn't attend the 12th grade's."

Ofcourse he knew that, but he wanted to know why.

So he asked. He asked them why, to which she retaliated;

"I thought I'd revise by myself at home." She shrugged, not meeting his gaze for the reason that she had just lied. She didn't want him to know that she stopped attending his lectures because of the revelation she earned those days.

And his mind didn't even wander towards the possibility of the actual reason, exactly what she wanted.

"So your 'by myself' revision was better than mine?" He found himself emphasizing on the 'mine'.

Shahveer had always gotten attention, by virtue of both, his academics and looks. As a teen, a university student and even as a teacher, he had always been recognized and he was grateful for that. Natheless, for the first time in his life, he found himself boasting about the blessing, in view of the petite person in front of him not acknowledging him.

"No, there's nothing like that, I just-"

She couldn't complete her response as the bell rang and both their friends took them outside, for their respective jobs, not before mumbling;

"Why in the world are they quarelling from the very first day?"

~~

Unfortunately for the two, they had to cooperate right after their little squabble. Her first duty had to be marking attendance for his class.

She stood near the door calling the students' names one by one, trying her very best to divert her attention away from his stare, whilst, he leaned against the window at the oppostie end, trying to decipher the meaning behind her actions.

He could swear they were troublesome as hell.

"I'm done. You can sign it now." She notified and brought forward the attendance sheet for him to grab. Sighing subtly, he walked towards her and lifted his hand, only to yank it back as a result of the slight brushing of their fingers and then grabbed the sheet frantically, almost tearing it in the process.

His heart had went back to normal after their brief fall out, but now it had again started pounding as if it'd jump out of his rib cage.

Being engrossed in the aftermath of the trivial touch, he was completely unaware of her seething with anger, and handed the sheet back, which she snatched furiously before storming out, leaving the clueless young man to blink at her back.

★★★

Author's note

Assalam o Alaikum and Hi!

I hope everyone is fine and healthy 💟

Don't you think our girl gets angry easily😂

(Fizza rn)

Just the first day and he already thinks she is difficult to handle.

Well then, Allah Hafiz and take care.

Laters ✌🏻