Melati was stunned. She was seeing a very familiar sight. Her already-big pair of eyes, became even wider as she tried to interpret the light stimulus landing on her retina. Eventually, she came up with a conclusive build up of image: ‘Zahra’. Immediately she recalled her long-lost and missed best buddy, staring back at her from the front row. Zahra had a smile on her face, so warm it could melt any chocolate bar in an instant. In Melati’s eyes, Zahra looked strangely so different, yet so unchanged. “Ooo Emmm Gee! Zahraaaaa!” “Mel.” A familiar angelic voice responded. The owner of the voice grinned, wider and wider every second. Immediately, Melati made her way down the Lecture Theatre, skipping few flights of stairs along the way and finally jumped in front of the seat next to her friend. She threw her arms around her, drowning Zahra in her overwhelmingly-tight-and-long hug. Only after a reasonable moment did Melati finally let go of her hug. “Oh god! What are you doing here?” Melati asked, each word at the speed of light. “Same thing you’re here for. Look at our tags. Isn’t it obvious?” “I hadn’t a clue! It’s been sooo long.” Melati gazed at her friend, flooded with emotions. “Ah! I wanna hug you some more!” And so Melati gave Zahra another tight hug, slightly shorter one. “Gosh, I missed you!” “I know. I missed you too.” Zahra said softly as she tried to keep her cool. Tiny bits of tears pooled. She knew that people were staring at them, awed by the peculiar sight and she really did not wish to make a scene. Just then, the speaker for the ‘Productive Muslim’ first talk came in and everyone started rushing back to their seats. “Ah! The talk’s starting. I wanna sit here. Ah there's someone here! Never mind, I’ll come back to you during the break, alright! We need to talk! There’s a hell lot I wanna tell you!” Melati blurted out quickly and immediately made her way back to her seat, giving a gentle squish at Zahra’s hand before she walked away. The first talk went by. Melati and Zahra waited impatiently for the break. When it finally came, Melati swiftly made her way back to Zahra. Fortunately for her, the person next to Zahra was leaving and she sat next to her throughout the next talk. They couldn’t wait till the end of the lecture and started ‘chatting’ mid-way through by means of writing down notes. They giggled secretly and pinched each other many times during the talk. They were just so happy to see each other again. **************** Melati and Zahra were best buddies since they were literally in diapers. They were in the same school since kindergarten till high school and only became separated when Melati had to move to Singapore following her father’s promotion. They tried to keep in contact, but distance played some wicked tricks and slowly, they began to get used of not having each other around, slowly and slowly. Every now and then, they would poke each other on Facebook and leave posts and comments on each other’s walls. But life demands took a toll on their relationship. Both became occupied with own affairs and they no longer were sharing stories of their lives as much as they used to. ***************** “So, when are you going back to Singapore?” Zahra asked as they walked out of the lecture theatre. “Hurm, I was planning to go back tomorrow, but now, maybe I shouldn't go back!” Melati squeezed her arm in between Zahra's. Laughters. “You missed me that much huh?” Zahra started teasing. “No, I don’t!” Melati answered promptly, rolling her eyes. “If you miss me that much, stay over at my place tonight. Deal?” “Fine, if you insist that much, I can’t possibly resist, can I? It’s a deal!” And they broke into laughter again. ***************** That evening, Zahra drove Melati to her house. At the sight of Melati, her parents were delighted and they spent the rest of the evening talking about everything. Melati’s and Zahra’s parents have known each other for long, and so there were lots of updating needed done. By midnight, Zahra and Melati were both exhausted. After lying down in bed, both became silent for a while. “So.. what’s up with Mr Heart-stealer?” Melati broke the silence with a cheeky smile. “Who?” “You-know-who. What? Now you have a different Mr Heart-stealer huh?” Melati immediately became excited and rolled onto her side facing Zahra. “Er, you do know that I’m not into lovey-dovey things anymore, right? I’d prefer not to have a boyfriend for now, I have my study and my family as my priorities. It just felt more natural. It is dangerous to be in a relationship before marriage, you know that right?” “I know that, just wanted to find something to talk about.” Melati returns to her position, facing the ceiling, upset by her friend’s lack of interest. “Well, we can talk about other stuffs.” Zahra smiled and pinched Melati reassuringly. “Okay.” Silence. Teet.. Teet.. Zahra’s phone bleeped signalling a message received. Zahra picked up the phone, read a message and quickly typed in a reply and sent it off. She then returned the phone to where it was. “Who is it?” “Azni. Remember her?” “Azni?” Pause. “Oh! she’s Suraya’s friend, right? Suraya the thief! Gosh, don’t tell me you’re in-contact with her?” “Melati! That’s not very nice! It’s not for us to judge people and call people names. We never know the truth, so, don’t go around judging people as you like.” Zahra’s unknowingly raised her voice slightly. “Hey relax, I was just joking. Why all the high voice? But, it is the truth, isn’t it? She did steal your calculator back in Form 5.” Melati tried to defend herself. She was annoyed at how her friend would defend someone else but not herself. “We don’t know about that. It was just a speculation. Thinking back about it, I do regret having let people accused her when we had no proof what-so-ever.” “Ah look who’s talking now!” Melati snorted, annoyed at how her friend's change in character. “Melati, I’m sorry, but I’m tired. Let’s just go to sleep. Good night.” Zahra tried to stop the conversation, feeling hurt. There was no reply. “I love you. Sweet dreams Mel.” Zahra tried again fishing for a response, realizing how she may have over-reacted. Still silence. Melati simply kept quite. As the night drifted past, Zahra cried in her sleep, trying her best not to let Melati hear her sobs. She was hurt at how her best-friend reminded her so much of her old self. Memories of her teenage days came rushing vividly through her mind like a slide-show. Deep inside, she was ashamed of whom she was back then. She hoped helplessly, that she could go back in time. ****************** As a growing teenager, Zahra was a very bright and adorable girl. She was kind-hearted and soft-spoken to the extent that even her teachers were very fond of her. She was the head-prefect of her school and had held many high positions in school clubs and societies. People trusted her and adored her ability to lead and influence other students. One day in her final year of high school, she fell in love. She fell in love with her new young Physics teacher, Mr. Arman who was just transferred to her school. She tried all means to get his attention but to very little success. To her disappointment, she found out that the new teacher was very fond of her classmate, Suraya. She became very green-eyed and envied the attention Suraya was receiving. Zahra had grown up, never the kind of person who talked bad about other people. She was naturally hateful of gossips as her parents had always emphasized to her the danger of back-biting. Nonetheless, since she found out Mr. Arman’s affection towards Suraya, she let her envious self grew and finally took control as she became blinded by her jealousy and hatred. During school breaks or any free time she had, she often grouped around with her ‘gossip-gang’. Eventhough the gossips were mainly about everyone in school, Zahra’s particular interest was on Suraya. “Hey! I saw her with that guy, Luqman the other day at One Utama. They held hands and were literally hugging each other. How disgusting!” said Eliza, one of Zahra’s gossip-mate one day. She was referring to a female student in their batch. “I know, right! Like she doesn’t know it’s haram to hold a man’s hand. Embarassing!” Melati added on, licking her ice-cream away, unaware that she herself was doing a sinful act; gossiping. Zahra most of the time felt good when she was with the group as she could let go of her discontent, but often as well, she regretted what she did as she knows best what the consequence is for those who gossip about others. One day, on the school’s Sports Day, Zahra was in the headmistress’s room handing in some reports she had been assigned to complete. When she was about to leave the room, her classmate, Sharifah came hurriedly into the office. After a brief knock on the door, Sharifah was summoned in. “Assalamu’alaikum Mrs. Zubaidah, I’m sorry to come rushing in like this. I have a complaint to make. Can I speak to you now?” Mrs. Zubaidah nodded and agreed to have a word with her. Zahra was sent away. Zahra was puzzled as she had never seen Sharifah in that state before, so uneasy and panicky, not as calm and cool as she usually was in class. Not long afterwards, she herself was summoned to the headmistress office again. When she arrived at the office, Sharifah was already gone. “Zahra, I know you as a very trustworthy person and excellent in character. I need your help on a matter and I really would hope that you’d be honest and sincere. Is that okay?” The headmistress said calmly, as Zahra was seated in the seat in front of her. “Yeah, sure I will. What is it madam? “I understand that Suraya is your classmate. Do you know her well?” “Yes, quite well. We’ve been classmates for 3 years now” “I assume that you know her character very well then. I’m sorry to involve you in this, but our friend here has lost her phone and she claimed to have seen the same phone in the hand of Suraya. Sharifah thinks it is her phone and Suraya has stolen it. What do you think about this?” Zahra was quiet for a while. When she finally spoke, her words were of lies. ***************** “So our conclusion for today is: say good things, or else, keep quite.” Sis Salihah concluded their Quranic circle for the day. They were discussing about Hadith 15 of Imam Nawawi’s collection of 40 Hadiths. A drop fell down, and another. And many more quickly followed. Soon, her face became wet from tears. Zahra was already sobbing when Sis Salihah approached her. Everyone else who were busy chatting away, some were even stretching after a long sitting-down, immediately became quiet, stunned at the sight of Zahra crying. “Hey, what’s wrong dear?” Sis Salihah’s sweet voice tried to calm Zahra down. But Zahra was just uncontrollable. She kept on sobbing. ****************** “I am contemplating whether to tell you this or not. But I have seen her done it before. Many of my friends as well. I lost my own calculator and the next minute I saw it in her hand. I knew it was mine because I had sort of carved my initials on it. When I tried to confront her, she just wouldn’t admit.” Zahra spoke after a while. She herself was shocked at how words just slipped from her lips, one after another, in perfect lines, as if rehearsed. She had lied. She did lose her calculator but never found it again. Suraya had not taken hers and no confrontation had taken place at all. A cold feeling surged into her heart. She knew she was very wrong. She should have just kept quiet rather than making up stories. She knew Suraya very well, and she knew no matter how desperate she was, Suraya was never a thief. Immediately, she pushed the feeling away, and soon, started feeling good about what she did. ‘Suraya deserves this. She shouldn’t have hurt me!’, and so she thought. **************** The next day, Suraya was summoned into the headmistress’s office. She was interrogated and put under surveillance. A couple of weeks later, one of the teachers found a laptop in her bag. It was reportedly stolen. In Zahra’s heart, she knew Suraya was innocent and that she was framed because people were simply jealous of her. Even so, Zahra kept silent about it. She let people believe that Suraya was guilty and at times, she even joined in when people started gossiping about her. Since Zahra has a very influential place among her fellow school-mates and teachers, her joining in the talking about Suraya reinforced people’s belief that Suraya’s theft accusation was true. Suraya’s misery peaked 3 months before their final exam. She was from a poor family and therefore understood very well that education is essential to change her family’s state of life. Unfortunately for her, she was time and again the victim of people’s jealousy. Some people became very envious of her academic achievements and set her up. It was her last chance and upon conviction, she was discontinued from schooling. It was a heart-breaking moment for her and her family. Zahra received news that Suraya’s mother died a month later due to heart problems. Her mother was a single-mother and therefore was the sole bread-winner for the family. As the first child, Suraya dutifully took over the charge of the family, started working, and never started schooling again. In Zahra’s heart, she was never contented with what happened to Suraya. She always wondered what would have happened had she kept quiet the first time she was asked by the headmistress. Deep inside, she knew things would have been different. ****************** She was all alone. Everywhere she went stunk like dead animals. She heard people’s voices everywhere, loud and scary, but she couldn’t make up what they were saying. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice. She followed the voice, trying to find its source. Finally she reached a door. She was convinced then, that the voice came from behind the door. She reached for the knob but immediately pulled her hand away when she touched it. It was extremely hot. Suddenly, the door flung open. She contemplated on taking a step in. But curiosity overwhelmed her. She took a step in. The minute she had a look at the room interior, she felt like puking. She saw her friends. They were talking. But they were also eating. Their hands, their mouths, were covered in blood. On the table, was something like a human body. She braved herself to take a step further and take a closer look. Something struck her. It was Suraya on the table. And at the other end of the table was herself, digging vigorously from her body. Zahra woke up, all sweaty and panting for breaths. Soon, she started crying. All night long, she wept and in the end, she sobbed herself to sleep. ***************** “I was evil. My action caused someone her life. Her education was everything to her. I knew it, and yet I was heartless.” Each word was as hard for Zahra to say, as a golf ball is impossible to swallow. She hugged Sis Salihah tightly as she tried to find back her strength. “No. No dear. Don’t say that. Be grateful with the fact that He’s letting you know now, He’s letting you realize your mistakes and is giving you the chance to make it right again and learn from it. Be grateful dear. Insha’Allah, trust in Him the Most Merciful, He will not forsake those who return to Him and ask forgiveness from Him.” “But what I have done is unforgiveable Sis!” “But He is the Most Forgivable, my dear.” “Come, tell me what happened and we’ll try to sort things out for you, alright?” Zahra slowly nodded, still in tears. She braved herself to smile for her sister’s sake. The two left the other members of the Quranic circle to have their dinner and chat around, while they went up to a room. Zahra opened up to Sis Salihah that night and cried her heart out. She told her about the dream she had and how she had tried to get in touch with Suraya again but failed. Zahra eventually stopped crying and got hold of herself. Sis Salihah promised that she would help her find Suraya so Zahra could ask forgiveness from her. After almost 2 years having been living in guilt and regret, that was the first time Zahra has felt really at peace, knowing that she still has a chance to correct her mistake. She was looking forward to meet Suraya again and begged for her forgiveness. **************** With the help from Sis Salihah, Zahra managed to get hold of Azni, Suraya’s bestfriend from the school’s administration. Few days later, Zahra received information that Suraya was working in a factory in another state. She became extremely nervous and contemplated cancelling her plans. But with encouragement from Azni and Sis Salihah, she braved herself to meet the person she had wronged in so many ways. **************** “You’re saying you have forgiven me? That easily?” “Yes, why not?” “But, but, you lost school, you lost your mother, you lost everything.” “Who told you I lost everything? I still have Him, up there. And I know He never forsakes me. Never. As long as I have Him in my heart, I have everything.” Suraya said calmly, pointing her index finger upwards, her every word clinging on to Zahra. At the very instant, Zahra felt warm water trickling down her cheeks, fast. Suraya smiled knowingly, and bring Zahra into her arms, hugging her with unexpected warmth. ***************** Two weeks later, Zahra and Azni were waiting at a restaurant for a friend. They were giggling off a joke when a soft voice interrupted, “Assalamu’alaikum. Have you been waiting long dearies?” “Suraya, you’re late again! No excuse, you’ve got to treat us ‘Teh Tarik’ this time!” Azni replied and made a face, trying to trick Suraya into buying them drinks. Zahra laughed. She was happy. Suraya, Azni and herself were then, simply best of friends. **************** ”Good morning dear. Have you had a good sleep? Come, let’s pray Subuh together?” “Ah..! Is it already Subuh time? 5 minutes, just 5 minutes more.” That morning, Zahra and Melati had their prayers together. When they hugged each other after prayers, Zahra apologized to Melati for what happened the night before. She also took some time to explain what happened between her and Suraya, how she searched for her, every details. “Haaa! That’s the thing with you Zahra. So secretive. How would I have known all this, if you never told me? And you call me your best friend! Huh. If I am as emotional as you are, I would have pulled a face right now!” Melati said and pinched Zahra softly on her arm. “Ouch!” Melati grinned. Later on, they were just as happy preparing their breakfast as ever. **************** At the kitchen, Melati was trying to find out more about her long-lost friends at school since she had been away in Singapore for some time. “So, how’s Nab now? Is she still crazy over Faiz like before? I really think she’s stupid, you know. That man has no interest in her anymore. If it was me, I would have gone for someone else as soon as he dumped me!” Silence. Only the sounds of nuggets, frying. “Hey, are you listening to me?” “Sorry Mel. Can we talk about something else? I’m not very comfortable talking about others.” “What’s up with you? Fine then. Oh by the way, have you heard about Hamid? I heard that he was already married last January, and just last month he got a divorce. Uih, I wonder what happened? He’d always been a bit sissy at school, hadn’t he?” Silence again. “I don’t know Mel. You know what, I’d really rather not talk about people. It is not good. Gossiping about people is the same like eating our own sister’s or brother’s flesh. I wouldn’t like that, would you?” Zahra tried to explain the reasons she wouldn’t talk. “Err.. I know that, but it’s not really the same, right? I mean, we’re only talking, we’re not even hurting anyone at all. Why would that be the same like eating someone’s flesh? That’s just ridiculous.” “Don’t say that. We are in no place to judge. Our knowledge is just way too limited. If Allah and His prophet said so, so it is. Remember the dream I told you about this morning?” “Fine, fine. I won’t gossip anymore. Can we shut the case now?” Zahra just smiled. She knew Melati is a nice person, she was just trying to initiate a conversation. They both were silent for a while. Zahra busy frying bull-eye eggs, while Melati simply sat at the table, staring down, trying to figure out the patterns on the table cloth. After a while, Melati was bored. “Zahra! Will you be quick? This is getting boring. Shall I turn on the telly?” “Yup, be there in a minute. The remote’s on the couch.” After a while, Zahra finished preparing breakfast and they both got back to the dining table to get on with their toasts and eggs. It was quiet again as both busily ate their breakfast. “You’re not talking. It’s boring.” “Maybe we’ve talked too much yesterday.” Zahra smiled. “When we have nothing to do, that’s when we gossip, you know.” Melati teased. Zahra opened her eyes wide, bewildered at her friend's amusement at the topic. “Fine, fine. I won’t.” Zahra let out a giggle. “Have you ever heard the saying, Melati?” “What saying? You haven’t said it, how would i know?” A pause. Zahra looked down on her plate. "True friendship is sitting together in silence and feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had." As Zahra finished up her sentence, she looked up with a smile so warm Melati thought could have made her fall in love if she was a man. Melati smiled back. And they both ate their breakfast in silence for the next 15 minutes. ***************** The End.
