💎 Z A Y N 💎

03

'Stereo Hearts' X 'Zaalima' - Adam Levine & Raees

Unedited

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"Right." he answered, promptly gathering his possessions and moving them to his side of the table. 
She walked around and placed herself on the chair, yet again filling his nostrils with her lavender scent. He tensed up, and she seemed to realise this so she shuffled along to the opposite end of the table, placing her bag between them on the floor, resulting in him letting out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding in. After setting up her belongings, she paused with her hands folded in front of her and turned to look at him with a neutral expression. He thought he noticed her falter, but in a blink any trace of hesitation disappeared.

"Well, I'm not sure if you read the paper but you have to get to know your desk partner. You know, we'll be representing our country because there will be a, um, a competition at the end of this month." she announced slowly.

Zayn inwardly smirked. She was nervous. Why should she be nervous? Probably because you are a guy, and she's a girl in this current world idiot. That brought his ego back to Earth swiftly. She fiddled with her pens and looked at him expectantly, one eyebrow slightly raised with a questioning tilt to her head.

"I didn't read everything, got caught up but Old'Malley earlier. But now that you've told me I don't gotta read it innit." he countered.

She nodded and asked, "I'm Syra. Syra Hayat Siddiqi. Born 5th of July 05. You?"

Syra. Meaning fate, perfection, princess. Fate. That stood out to him. And then hayat. Meaning life. Interesting, he pondered. Siddiqi. Truthful, righteous. That's what he saw. But some of his snotty relatives only saw her last name symbolising her caste. It was considered a 'high' one, like his, but he would never understand nor accept how you can think of someone lowly because of the social status of ones ancestors.

She was sixteen. She's definitely in her first year, like him. She was probably turning seventeen soon. He wasn't much older than her.

He processed that all in a few seconds while nodding. He cleared his throat.

"Zayn Malik Ahmed. 15th of November 2004. From Northwest London. I was born in Harrow but raised in Wembley."

"Ahh. We live in Harrow currently, on rent, while our house in Wimbledon is being renovated. I wasn't born here however, but in Sydney, Australia. We lived there for a couple years before we moved here due to my dads business. We go every year during the Christmas holidays - as it's warm over there at the time - because we have family there." she spoke softly, her eyes portraying how much she missed her birthplace.

"So why don't you go during the Summer holidays? You can stay there for longer," he couldn't help asking.

"We save the summer for back home, Pakistan. Most of my mother's family is there. Being surrounded by so much family there, the food and exploring our crazy city Karachi, it needs more time. In contrast to over here, where we only have my dads sister and her family - but I'm sure sitting in a snake tank is much more enjoyable," she explained, rolling her eyes.

Zayn lowly chuckled at this. Phoppos, (paternal aunts) often had a tendency to be one of the disliked aunts due to their snakiness and intrusiveness. Despite the voice in his head, he couldn't look away from her. Her hand gestures while she spoke showing her enthusiasm, her facial expressions ranging from her adorable nose scrunches to raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes-
Focus. Snap out of it. Weren't you supposed to be mad? Look at you, acting so soft. Man tf up, spat that voice in his mind.