Existence in Emptiness Chapter: 04

Everyone except me started planning for it. But I was thinking, my father had given me so much money at the beginning of the month, even borrowing from my uncle. Now, how would I ask for money for the festival? Besides, I had never been interested in participating in various programs.

And if I don't go will the freshman welcome ceremony stop?

And I was thinking I would spend the whole day sleeping.

On the day of the event, I jumped up from bed when I heard a commotion in the room. I saw that everyone in the room had woken up early. Three of them had already finished bathing, and Nujahat was standing with a bucket in her hand, about to take a bath. Seeing me wake up, she said,

"Why are you still sleeping, Lia? Get up and get ready. Today is a big event for us at college!"

I rubbed my eyes and got up, but I didn't say anything. After freshening up, I went to the dining hall alone to eat. I asked them about their food, but they said they were going to eat outside. They asked me to join them, but I made an excuse saying I couldn't eat outside food, and went back to the room after eating at the dining hall.

When I came to the room, I saw everyone dressed like fairies. I was particularly impressed by Nujahat's beauty. She was truly beautiful!

Then, seeing me sitting at the study table in a messy state, Nujahat put her hands on her hips and said angrily,

"The brilliant student is studying again. You're always studying. Why don't you put those books aside and wear a sari today?" (Sari is a traditional clothing from my country)

I looked back and smiled, saying,

"I don't like wearing saris or dressing up. And I'm not going to the event. You all go. I have a lot of studying to do."

Nujahat snatched the book from my hand and scolded me, saying,

"Get up and get ready right now. Don't wear a sari, just wear a normal dress then."

"What will I do there? You'll be roaming around, taking pictures, and I'll just sit there feeling miserable. I'd rather study in my room."

But Nujahat didn't listen to me. She dragged me up and said,

"If you think you have nothing to do, we'll give you something to do. You'll take our pictures. Hehe!"

Everyone started laughing. She had said this jokingly to tease me.

I don't know why, but I couldn't refuse. I took out a brown three-piece dress from my bag. My mother said that I looked very beautiful in this dress. She had bought it for me herself.

As I was about to wear a hijab, Nujahat untied my hair, which was tied in a bun, and my heavy hair spread down to my knees.

Shuba said,

"If we had such beautiful hair, we would have left it open every day to show it off. People would fall in love with our hair at first sight."

I tried to tie my hair back while saying no no, but the four of them scolded me.

I pretended to cry and said,

"Mom doesn't allow me to go anywhere with my hair open. I've never gone anywhere with my hair open. You can see that I always wear a hijab."

But they were all stubborn. I had to go with them. I put on a scarf and tried to cover my hair, but the scarf wasn't wide enough to cover my long hair.

As we walked to the campus, I became more and more embarrassed. Everyone was dressed up, while I looked out of place. All the girls were wearing saris, and all the boys were wearing Punjabi suits. (traditional dress)

A few boys were wearing different clothes, but they were all very expensive.

I looked at everyone and didn't dare to look at myself.

I was walking timidly.

Nujahat held out her expensive phone to me and said,

"Take a picture of the three of us."

I nodded and started taking pictures. After taking a few pictures, someone suddenly touched my hair from behind. I turned around in surprise and heard someone say,

"Is this real hair? Or is it a wig? Wow, a girl's hair can be so beautiful!"

When I looked up, my eyes met a pair of eyes. Dark, thick eyebrows framed two eyes, and there was a rare smile on his lips. His fair cheeks were slightly sunburned. His gaze was fixed on me, just like mine. Nujahat came and hugged the boy next to him and said,

"Saad, you're here?"

I lowered my eyes and looked at Nujahat. This was the first time I had seen a boy and girl so close to each other. Although I was disturbed by him touching my hair without permission, I didn't have the courage to say anything.

Nujahat looked at me and said,

"Saad is my life. We love each other very much. And this is Saad's closest friend, Tiyas, the crush of many girls in our class!"

I turned my face away. I understood why so many girls had a crush on him.

Just then, Tiyas said,

"Hi, I know your name. Now tell me your name."

I smiled shyly and said,

"I'm Preelya Hasan."

Tiyas smiled at Nujahat. And the I noticed Nujahat leaving. Then I noticed All my roommates disappeared. Even though there were a lot of people around standing in front of Tiyas like this my heart started to pound. Just as I was about to leave Tiyas said,

"Your father must have wanted to name you Pritilata. He must have mistakenly called you Preeli. Can they call you that name?"

I was stunned and replied, "No, everyone calls me Lia."

Tiyas nodded and said, "Hmm, I understand. But I'm different from everyone else. I do things differently. I'll call you Preeli. Is there anyone named Dahlia in your house?"

I was surprised and said, "Yes, how did you know? My mother's name is Dahlia."

Tiyas laughed and said, "Tiyas's guesswork never misses. I knew just by hearing the name that there must be another name connected to it. Otherwise, why would someone choose such a difficult name? So, do they call her Lia too?"

I laughed loudly and said, "No, everyone calls my mother Dali."

Tiyas also started laughing with me. In the middle of the laughter, he suddenly said, "Preeli, let's take a picture together."

I hesitated and said, "No, no, I'm not good at taking pictures of myself, let alone with someone else."

"Trust me, Preelya madam. Look, Araf is taking pictures."

I looked and saw a boy standing with a camera. Reluctantly, I took a few pictures with him.

Little did I know that these pictures would become my downfall.