"I'm not hungry," Zaib told Ehsan for the tenth time that morning.

Nothing seemed to make him feel better. There was heaviness weighting on his chest, making him uneasy. It felt like if he digested even a bite, his stomach would refuse and yank it all out.

"What are you doing, punishing yourself?" Ehsan's bothered voice pulled him out of the whirlwind of his thoughts.

He glanced at him reluctantly. Frown etched Ehsan's lips and a deep crease of distress had formed on his forehead.

Ehsan was Zaib's best friend since he learned the actual meaning of friendship. He never left him alone. Whenever he needed to talk out about something, Zaib would run to him as if he were his mother. And he always listened better than a diary.

"Ehsan, she's... different." Zaib tried to word out his feelings.

"When I hear her talking, I want her to keep going. Her voice–it soothes me; she says such random and smart things," He didn't know if he was making any sense.

Zaib just wanted him to get it. Somehow.

Ehsan nodded, "Zaib, there's absolutely nothing wrong with liking her. It's what you do now is what matters. If you like her so much, reach out to her."

Yeah, Zaib was pretty sure that he liked her a lot and wanted to know her better. But, he couldn't get the thought of Idrees out of his mind. Idrees was probably sitting there right in front of her–looking at her–talking to her–smiling at her while Zaib himself suffers within these 4 white office walls.

Zaib shot up from the arm chair, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to stop the disturbing shivers.

Get yourself together Zaib.

It wasn't Eshan telling him this anymore. It was his inner consciousness lecturing him.

Zaib heaved an exhausted sigh and looked back at Ehsan who now sat back completely done with him. Zaib chuckled at him and straightened up.

The best way to relieve himself off this is visiting the local masjid where Ehsan and him went to meet the lovely children. They often volunteered to pay for their expenses and provide them with all necessities.

"Let's go to the masjid." Ehsan smiled.

———

The entrance of the masjid was often spoiled with people irresponsibly littering and the gate was a rusty dark green with spills of colorlessness visible. However, the inside was a completely different world. Not exactly heaven but maybe something close to it.

As soon as any man stepped inside, they felt the coolness of the marble floor which's colors pleased the eyes, exceeded all over the Masjid; different patterns covered each corner. There were no prayer mats on the spacious ground since the elderly people believed it to be nicer to pray on the coolness of the floors. Right, opposite of the entrance, was a Wudu area.

Deeper into the masjid, there were five rooms in total: a library, a Quran educational room, a large hall for all the children to sleep, two large halls, one turned into several bathroom stalls and the other hall for public speeches and debates.

"As Salamu Alaykum," they greeted the elderly people who were in charge of the safety of the children and the masjid, standing at the entrance.

"Wa Alaykum Aslam young men. Their studying in the library inside. Go ahead."

"Jazak Allah Khair."

They shrugged their shoes off, placing them in the rack and ambled inside, straight to the library.

A while back, the library held really less lighting which made it harder for children to study in there; however, with Allah's will, Ehsan and Zaib tried their best to bring as many white bulbs to help.

As usual, the children were sprawled over the mats, reading their favorites. Zaib shushed Ehsan and began to tiptoe towards them. Before he was able to scare them, Zahid noticed him and sprang up screaming, "Zaib!"

He jumped up, threw himself at Zaib, hugging tightly. Zaib chuckled as all the others dropped their books and lapped onto him.

"Zaib, I thought you wouldn't come anymore," Waseem mumbled, his new glasses falling to the tip of his nose.

"You didn't come the entire week before." Someone else spoke up.

"I know, I'm really sorry guys. I was a bit busy. Now that I'm here, do you guys wanna go somewhere?" Zaib teasingly asked and saw everybody's eyes lit up.

"No, we prefer books, thank you very much." A voice stated bitterly. Zaib knew that voice very well. It was of course the meanest kid in the masjid, the one who hated him for unknown reasons and treated him like an idiot; it was no other than Maya, the book lover.

She never liked Zaib.

She never smiled at Zaib.

She rolled her eyes at Zaib.

She didn't like Zaib. Period.

And as always Ehsan jumped in with a crocodile smile. "Yeah Zaib, Maya is right. The kids are reading books, gaining knowledge. Don't take it away from them."

All the others whined in disapproval.

Zaib rolled his eyes at Ehsan, and then strolled towards Maya who had a cookie in her hand while she flipped the pages of the book she was reading.

"Hello Maya. I didn't know you were such a boring little grandma." Zaib stated with a smirk.

She looked up from the page, "You're back with your kindergarten insults?"

'Ooooooooo's' circulated the room as everyone sat back with popcorn. Not literally.

Zaib stood taken aback. "Well, that's just cause you're a kid. I go easy on you."

"Hah, nice one. You don't go easy on me; you just can't come up with better." Maya's devilish smirk widened at him.

"Maya, why do you hate me so much?" Zaib asked while moaning in frustration.

"Because I like Mushu better."

Whenever Zaib asked little Maya about anything, she somehow involves this Mushu person. At first, Zaib concluded that she watched a lot of Mulan and liked Mushu the most. Later, he accumulated that Mushu wasn't from the movie Mulan; Maya was talking about a person called Mushu.

"Who is this Mushu? Why do you always talk about that person," Zaib inquire kneeling in front of the very annoyed Maya.

"Because that person actually knows the definition of fun instead of your annoying tricks like taking us for ice cream and whatnot." All the kids began to laugh.

Zaib folded his arms and narrowly eyed the queen bee in front of him. No doubt, he was going to meet this Mushu person and knock some sense into them. What does that person do, instead of taking the kids out to have a nice time with them?

Why did Maya like that Mushu being so much?

"When does your precious Mushu come here?" Zaib questioned the smug Maya.

"Mushu comes every Friday unlike you who doesn't have a fix timing and comes anytime they want." Oh the sarcasm.

Zaib chuckled in disbelief.

Maya was such a strong young woman who wasn't afraid to speak her mind. She's tough and can easily scare the guys away. Zaib was glad to see her grow so well and internally thanked the superior 'Mushu' for taking care of her.

"Alright, I'll see Mushu on Friday then. But right now, let's go to get some ice cream, shall we?" All the kids cheered him on as they climbed him like a tree and nodded vigorously.

Maya rolled her eyes, stumbling off to Ehsan and sitting in the car while Zaib trudged with all the kids after her. They all boarded the Mercedes and zoomed off to the nearest ice cream parlor.

————

"Zaib, we always come to this one. It has the cheapest ice cream and tastes like a melted milkshake. Let's not do this to the kids today," Ehsan spoke loudly as of deliberately letting the children hear.

"Excuse me!" One of the kids yelled.

"You've been giving us cheap ice cream this entire time?" Maya accused loud enough for the entire car to look at Zaib suspiciously.

"I- I... well you see, I just thought that it's near and-" Zaib stuttered, getting more pointed glares towards him.

"I knew it. You're so insincere. Just take us back to the masjid, we'll eat something there."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. Since you guys are mad at me, I'll take you to the most expensive ice cream shop." Zaib stared through the mirror at the kids.

"Will that have me forgiven?" He kept his gaze glued to their faces which uplifted at the sound of 'Baskin Robbins'.

All of them nodded feverishly except Maya who looked outside the window uninterested. Zaib chuckled and pinpointed on the navigator the nearest Baskin Robbins parlor.

A few more minutes and the children cheered aloud as their eyes met the pretty pink color board stating boldly, "".

The door opened and all the children rushed out towards the mini shop situated near the local park. Zaib's smiled widened as he saw the unbelievably cheerful faces of the minors. Him and Ehsan exited the vehicle and ran along towards the shop.

They were placing the order for them all when suddenly Maya hopped towards Zaib and pulled at his jacket with a large smile of excitement on her face.

Zaib turned towards her.

"What's wrong Maya?" Zaib asked.

"Mushu! Mushu's here. Come on, with me!"

Zaib's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Mushu? Mushu... oh! It's that person who Maya loves a lot. Zaib chuckled at Maya's excitement as she dragged him along with her at the other side of the road toward the parking lot.

Let's meet this Mushu

"Zaib, this is Mushu! Mushu, this is the guy I told you about." Zaib looked ahead at the person.

His eyes widened in acknowledgment and surprise as he stared at the big crystal gaze before him. He was left thoughtless–speechless. His mouth opened to speak but nothing came out. His heart was thumbing against his chest, making it hard to breathe.

He wanted to take a picture of her beauty, instead he captured it in his mind. There was something unexplainable about her face; it had a guiding light enlightening her features.

"As salamu Alaykum," her voice reached him and yanked him out to his right senses.

"Wa Alaykum aslam, Mushu." Great, his voice didn't shiver. Oh wait, what did he just say? Mushu? Did he just call her Mushu?

Oh my god.

Ya Allah, I don't want to live.

He looked back at her filled with embarrassment. "Um, well I do have a name. It's Zoya, in case you didn't know what to call me," she mumbled awkwardly, shrugging in the process.

Why are you like this Zaib?

"Right! Zoya, I'm Zaib. Uh, I wanted to meet 'Mushu' because Maya always went on and on about how Mushu's the best and better than I'll ever be, so I just-" Zaib awkwardly chuckled.

"Yeah, she told me about an annoying man. I guess she was talking about you. I'm sorry for the way she treats you though." Zaib wanted to laugh at his own fate. The girl he likes now probably thinks of him as a fool as well.

Great going Zaib.

"No, it's fine. I just- I wanted to thank you. For taking care of her so well and giving her all she needs."

Finally, Zaib. You've said a smart thing.

"You don't need to thank me. I love these children a lot." A soft smile covered her lips as her gaze swept to the smiley children, excitedly licking their ice cream.

And her small smile made Zaib forget the massive world.

"Zaib, come get your ice cream!" Ehsan yelled.

Now out of his dream bubble, he death glared at Ehsan in disappointment as he walked back to the ice cream shop, however, unnoticeably, his eyes on her all the way back.

Ehsan handed him the ice cream and poked his sides. "Isn't that Zoya!" He whisper shouted.

Zaib ignored him as he stared at Maya and Zoya now chatting together.

Suddenly, Zaib felt an urge to do something for her. Even if it's a minor thing, he wanted to just do something. An idea flicked him and he smiled at her.

He narrowed his eyes at Maya and signaled her to come to him quietly. Maya understood his sneaky signs and excused herself from Zoya, coming at where Zaib and Ehsan were standing.

"Why'd you call me?" Maya asked irritably.

Zaib kneeled down and faced Maya. "Maya, what's Mushu's favorite ice cream flavor?"

Maya silently thought for a while and then spoke up. "She likes both cotton candy and chocolate chip."

Zaib cheered inwardly and turned toward the old man selling the ice creams.

"2 chocolate chips please," he murmured.

The old man scooped them up and discard them into the plastic ice cream cups.

Upon paying him, Zaib handed one of the Chocolate chip to Maya.

"Maya listen carefully. Go to Mushu and tell her that this is an extra ice cream and if she doesn't eat it, it'll go to waste? So can she please eat it?" Zaib politely asked Maya.

Maya giggled at Zaib and took the cup from him. "Of course. Thank you by the way!" Maya shouted and ran off toward Zoya who was now sitting on her scooter planning on to leave.

Zaib stared at Zoya's brightened smile as she received the ice cream kissing Maya's cheek. Zaib's insides twisted and something in his chest melted. His heart was filled with affection for her. And when she smiled, the world stopped, his heart stopped as well.

Only then did Zaib notice what she was wearing from afar. She was dressed in a pretty velvet dress which ran down her knees, and a soft colored hijab was tied around her head.

Zaib saw her lick the spoon as she started up her scooter and proceeded ahead to god knows where.

Eshan's chuckle pulled him out of his magical trance. "You've fallen way harder than I could imagine, man."

💕