Dying old flame.

I walked into the hall completely shocked an in awe of the sheer amount of food there was, and how tantalizingly delicious they all looked. It was Eiduladha, and I obviously chose glorious free food over lectures. It was actually more of a rebellious act, I hesitated to skip the lectures and I didn't expect the food to be anywhere near the level of amazing that it was. I was merely sick of the fact that nobody effing cares that it's our Eid. I mean, what if THEY lived in a place where nobody gave a toss about Christmas, or Thanksgiving?

Smiling from ear to ear (at the food, not at the people), I naturally took two plates and started to fill them up with nasi himpit, kuah kacang, murtabak, satay, daging kurma, kuah lodeh...all the while struggling to balance them in my hands. My eyes were locked on an empty seat and I walked over to it with utmost focus, determined to eat as much food as I can.

There were so many people that I've never seen before in that hall that day, so I didn't take much notice of them, apart from saying hi and 'OH MY GOD THE FOOD' to my friends, who themselves are busy savouring the good food. It was a glorious day for us all, no kidding. The way to the Cork students' hearts are through their tummies. Freaking seriously, man.

As I sat there minding my own business, I heard a male voice calling my name. I looked up, and saw The Old Flame (TOF) staring at me. I frowned my eyebrows and he said,

'Mak, tu Atiqah kat belakang.'

The woman sitting in front of me turned around and I immediately recognized her, and almost as immediately registered the pretty young lady sitting beside her as TOF's younger sister.

'Makcik, hai!' I smiled, thankful that I'd put my other plate full of food on the chair beside me, instead of on my lap. His sister turned to me and said,

'Atiq kan?'

...which confused me a little bit because I've never met her and recognized her simply due to my meticulous facebook stalking skillz. She registered my confused face and explained that TOF told her about me.

This naturally sent my crazy brain into a trainwreck of questions,

'What did he say?'
'When did he told her about me? We haven't talked in ages'
'What did he say?!?!?'

As these questions burned a permanent imprint into my cerebrum, I attempted to make a conversation with his sister. The mother was chatting away with another lady, but she turned to me out of a sudden and said, in a clear voice for everyone to hear,

'Atiqah ni pernah datang rumah, dua kali, kan?'

I nearly died, you guys.

I froze and half-smiled and chortled out a half-hearted awkward laugh and wished I was a ninja so I could blend into the floor, or something.

In reality though, the room was really hectic and noisy, and I'm pretty sure nobody heard what she said. Heck, it doesn't even matter if someone did. This is just me being ridiculous and neurotic, as per usual.

His parents and sister were all really nice, actually. I (somehow!?) ended up joining them for an unplanned day trip to Cobh, and returning to the hall again later that day to eat more food.

TOF claimed his mother and sister are trying to convince him to win me over, but we both fully realize that hell actually have to freeze over for that to happen. Didn't work, couldn't work, and never will.


xoxo
Atiqah