Who's That

It is already 1 am but Anne still cannot sleep although her eyes are already shut. Her brain cannot stop thinking about some trivial things as it suddenly appears out of nowhere. She is usually a light sleeper and easily dozed off whenever she lays on her bed. You know when you start laying on a soft thing then after several minutes your eyes betray you and in a puff of smoke, you are dead to the world. And yes she needs that right now. "Aargh! What's wrong with you, Anne?!! Why is it so hard for you to get your head down? Stop thinking! You have class tomorrow. Pity my sleeping beauty" She whines while promptly moving to the left side of the bed. After 15 minutes of ranting with herself, she sighs being like a madwoman before falling into a deep sleep.

"Hey up... Anne"

She vaguely hears someone talking in a raspy, deep low pitch, and not-so-audible voice at the corner of her room after only just about 10 minutes. She is subconscious now. Not again. 'Maybe dad is not sleeping yet' She brushes off thinking it was her dad because he sleeps late sometimes to release stress or she thought so. She is drowsy as there is no movement as she tries to sleep back. Her room is close to her living room so she is hundred per cent sure that it was dad. She snubs off that thing or whoever or whatever movie or drama dad is watching and subsequently falls asleep.

"Please, give me a chance..."

"Grrrr"

A dark figure whispers and growls along with a light breeze whisking on her face simultaneously she is unaware. She did not notice it and the sound vanishes not long after. After almost 4 hours of sleeping, she awakens and discerns that she catch a cold. She is sure that she already closed her windows yesterday morning but shrugs it off and paces to the windows. While closing the windows, she tries to remember what dream she had last night. It made her head dizzy and heavy just like when she dreams of anything else but that. This time is much powerful. 'It felt surreal somehow. But seemed real too. I don't know' She thought. She begins stretching her body to boost energy then takes her hoodie and jean in the closet before going to shower.

After wearing the outfit, she checks for her books, stationery, phone and everything that she has to bring before going to the dining room. She eats two corn buns, a packet of chocolate biscuits and a glass of sky juice. These are her frequent breakfast since the first day she became a Technology MARA University student as a first-year in finance course. The clock shows 6.50 am thus she rushes to the sink and quickly washes the glass as well as throws the biscuit's plastic and buns. Once done, she cleans the table she used earlier and go to her parent's room after.

"Thank you mum for the breakfast!" She says and takes as well as put her mother's backhand on her forehead as it is what most Muslim people do to the elders or people who are older than them before going to leave the house for school, work or university or even going anywhere as a sign to respect them. "Okay, take care! Be a diligent student, okay?" Says her mother after sending her to the front door. "Ya Allah, I'm already 23 years old this year, mum" She whines then nods anyhow and makes her way to her Axia car.

"Oh no! I'm gonna be late if I don't pick up the girls now" She mumbles while starting the engine and putting her bag in the backseat of her car. While waiting for the car to heat, she uses the time to read her Arabic notes. She has a quiz vis-à-vis Arabic sentences that her lecturer had taught her last week. She then drives and picks up Farah and Raja as she hates being late to class. She wants to prepare herself more before the quiz started. She hastens to her class after 5 minutes of her arrival as her class is somewhat too far to her liking. But also it is good for her as it is one of the best ways to lose weight and be more productive. She wants to lose a bit of weight but is too lazy to do work out and exercise. Hence, this is going to be like her exercise routine even just for a few minutes.

Her best friend, Farah is a business economic freshwoman while Raja is a fine art fresher. All of them applied at the same university since diploma but got different branches. Raja in Melaka while Farah and Anne in Negeri Sembilan. Both Farah and Anne even got the same course for their diploma which was business studies but separated to pursue their degree in a more specific and absolutely different field. What is even better is three of them had the same branch for their degree.

She stops sprinting when she almost reaches her class. She walks and eyeballs wandering left and right to see if the lecturer or any of her classmates are advents before her. Feeling perturbed relating to the quiz, she looks at her watch then and there. "Wait... 7.10 am? It's still early. Why would the lecturer come early anyway? I still have time to prepare before the quiz started... Ustaz Azli will surely start it at 8 am. Certainly at 8 am. So... okay... what is that sentence again?" She mumbles while turning back searching for her small notebook in her bag.

"Oh!"

"Wait, not this one..."

"Argh! Where is it?!!"

"Why there are so many books here?!!"

She grumbles before she found what she looking for and accidentally bumps into one of the students who is walking opposite her direction. "Oh, sorry!" She says still not looking at whoever she bumped into just now. The quiz is crucial but then she remembers saying sorry is much essential. It shows how knowledgeable you are and the morals that you have. Respect bruh respect.

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future" - Paul Boese

'Better sorry than being remorseful since an overthinker like me cannot forget over some things easily' She thought and finally looks up turning her head instantly to his or her direction. She gasps at their propinquity therefore her eyes widen because of how tall and good-looking he is. 'Captivating. Subhanallah... never thought this kind of person exists in this world. Just... wow...' Meanwhile, he calls her and got no response. She trances not moving an inch until she recalls her purpose of going to the class today. 'Woo woo... that's not how you greet people Anne! Remember, you have a quiz later' She shakes her head and still did not hear him calling again.

"You?"

"Hi?"

'Wait... since when I'm friendly? I don't greet strangers or anonymous, remember? I will just smile to him an-' He cuts her off before she could carry on with her thoughts again. "Hello? Girl? Hey! Um... are you okay? I called you earlier but you seem like... I don't know. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" He says while looking at her like she is sort of sick and raises his left eyebrow as she did not respond to any of his questions yet. "I... um... I'm good. Just... um, never mind" She replies with a modest smile on her face. People always thought she is an icy and cocky Chinese little bit*h because she has sharp squinty eyes and a cold expression.

"Sorry again... for bumping into you," She says while making an apologetic face before stepping away a bit before other students notice their closeness and make it viral. She will indisputably hate it very much. "It's okay. My fault too... and..." He utters while looking at his watch slightly smirking. What's with the sudden smirk? He then intently look into her eyes. She sees it and gulps at his out of the blue daggers at her. 'Is he alright? What's wrong with my mug? Oh my-' He cuts off her thoughts once again. "By the way, I have to go now. See you again..." He smiles and waves his hands begin walking leisurely. She nearly waves back yet he stops in his track next to her and slowly whispers some numbers in an audible voice in seconds.

"1 6154 176"

"Huh?"

'Aiyoo... what does he wants? I don't have much time, please' She swiftly snaps at him and tilts her head slightly with a questionable front. "Oh, nothing," He answers while glancing at his surroundings but her. She frowns. She is taken aback at what he says after and obstructs what she feels inside showing no emotions in case he wants to tease her if they meet again later or in the future. Deep in her heart, she felt distressed and anguished by the way he said it like sardonic her for whatever reason he had.

"Anne... the coward and vulnerable kid"

"Wha- what?" She flinches with her mouth agape a little. She is unfortified and nearly crying but at the same time forcing herself to control it before he looks at her one more time. It does work someway for some people albeit she is almost unable to control her sentimental. He steps back and begins walking away. Feeling relief as she tried so hard not to cry. That sobriquet man recalled her forgotten past and she remains dumbstruck cannot process what just happened.

"How come..."

"He..."

"Who..."

The shaken and quivers are apparent after he left. Her brain cannot hold it anymore and the tears ultimately roll. She wipes the tears, stifles and takes a deep breath before getting into the class. She keeps up memorizing what she had read earlier and pretended as if nothing happened. Four hours pass and thank Allah, her mind still functioning. She settles into a cafeteria's dining table and read some notes to kill the time as well as tries her best to understand the flow of business and finance while waiting for Farah and Raja. 'Oh... I get it now' She thought.

After 9 minutes of waiting, Raja and Farah yoo-hooing at her. Being a studious girl as she is, she did not even realise her best friends already standing beside her. "Woi!" Both of them yell in unison then look at each other's faces as well as giggle like it is funny. She heard them calling and slows down putting the notes in her bag. She then stares at them with a bored expression. "Huh? What's so funny?" She rolls her eyes in exasperation and still does not move from her spot. The other two stop giggling and looked at each other mug as she acts volatile. They feel apprehensive about it. She immediately changes her expression before they discern that there is something wrong with her. Or are they? 'I'm not supposed to show it. D*mmit!' She shows a fake smile instead and stands in between telling them to put their bag to buy lunch yet they start attacking her with queries nonetheless.

"You good?"

"What's wrong, Anne?"

"Who made you this furious?

"Weh, wanna tell us?"

'It's not important... for now' She thinks while trying to change the topic. "Nah! It's just... I'm stressed about the Arabic quiz. I don't know if I could get full marks. You know I love Arabic" She lies and assures them that nothing happened. Just academic things and stressed out. Good liar as always. She then slowly walks forward and calls them. "Raja! Anne! Let's go!" They seem to contemplate but ignore it later. She shows furrowed brows while heading to the food compartment as the short and second tallest is still not moving.

"I'm hungry while waiting for you guys okay. Get your bum here NOW" She emphasizes the last word as she is getting pretty hungry and a little impatient not turning back. They swiftly put down their bag on the table not forgetting to bring valuable things with them. They start walking to her while eyeballs roam around trying to choose various dishes to eat. Yet in the end, chicken rice is what they choose for lunch.

They have another one hour and a half before prayer time and another class that they need to attend. One thing Anne did not like because of a class that she hates the most, English Oral Presentations. What most introverts like her do not like, talking and being in front of a crowd that they barely know. The feelings when abruptly nothing comes out from her mouth and almost near to breakdown or even worst collapse which utterly nightmare for her if it is really happening. Farah indicates yesterday conversation all of a sudden while getting up to get ready to go to the mosque after cleaning up the table and tidying up the bag. Anne quietly follows her while Raja is waiting. They start walking and chit-chat along the footpath.

"Before I forgot, you said you wanna talk about your crush, Ja? So... tell us more about him" Farah says and turns on her right. "Oh... um... ya, I forgot. To begin with, I start liking him... last year since the day... that I unlooked-for found him on Twitter" Raja contemplates then exhales deeply. "Wow, that long??? Did you confess already??? Or... I guess not?" She is surprised by how long Raja keeps it from her and Anne. 'She must be hurt. A lot. Argh! I feel so bad for judging her before listening to her whole story' Anne thought while looking at Raja. She just stays silent as if not going to intercept them. "Yeah, of course, not. I rather keep it to myself than make a confession" Raja shakes her head.

"I tell you what, you can always try" And that grabs both attention as they thought she was worn out earlier and sounds a tad like a crashing bore but actually care. "I mean... you know if you don't wanna do it then let one of us do i-" Raja keenly gaze into her eyeballs but being a stubborn best friend she is, she continues talking albeit she forgot what to say next. "But still, we can you know... without telling it's you and boom!" Raja instantaneously cranes to her.

'Ah, sh*t! Did I say something bad?!! Oh yeah, who cares' She thought.

"I WON'T LET YOU GUYS" Raja emphasizes the whole word and carries on. "ESPECIALLY YOU, ANNE!" Her eyes enlarge and hastily lift both hands as she surrenders for the nonce. Raja is such an obstinate girl. They arrive in front of the mosque not long after. "Don't worry we'll pray for you and who knows you might stumble across him when we go to Japan next week" Farah smiles and steps inside after placing her shoes on the rack and followed by the others. They pray and go straight to their class separately later.

___________________________________________________________

Anne drives them home after the class and bids them goodbye. She did not talk much since the morning and they felt it slightly strange to boot. Fatigue and sleepy get the best of her as the final exam is around the corner yet she still could focus while driving. Once she reaches home, she let out a heavy sigh when she opens the front door and walk directly to her room upstairs. 'Finally... oh Allah...' She grouses.

'No, you have to move now. You still have 1 report and 2 assignments to complete today. At least finish one of them" She grabs her green pyjama while ambling lazily to the bathroom. She also prays maghrib then quickly sits on her downy chair and finishes her works in 6 hours. Not all. Only completed one report and one and a quarter of the assignments albeit she felt sleepy nonetheless ate some snacks and prayed isya' for the last time in the day as well as drank some water. Plus, drank a cup of hot Neslo and walked back and forth to the loo numerous time.

The clock on the walls shows 2 o'clock in the morning and it is about time for her to sleep. She treads to the bed, laying comfortably and pulling the duvet covering the upper body. A loud thud could be heard outside all at once but she decided to disregard it since it is already 2.02 a.m. "It's nothing. Yeah, nothing... better I sleep now. I can't take it anymore" She whispers and hugs her bolster. She then goes out like a light.

However, after several minutes, a long shadow appears at the edge of the bed. It is not moving and watching over her like she is a target. She did not notice its presence as she was in deep slumber. It attentively watches her and makes a gentle breeze with an eerie sound from its mouth. "Haa....." She feels chilly. It starts moving slowly and becomes darker as it comes closer. Closer and closer and stops in its position thereafter. It whispers and this time she feels something peculiar and unconsciously moving in her sleep. She half awakes but her peepers could not open. "I'll make you suffer... Anne" She senses something is moving and an abrupt long cold temperature made her unbearable and nearly conscious. It sits on her thighs made her slightly sluggish and licks her lower part of the face.

"I know who you are..."Her heartbeat becomes faster than usual. She did not know why. She feels like this is a dream too and now could open her peepers.

"Kiddo... Anne"