Thank You, Corona

18. Chase

'Hasnain?!'

'Yeah,' I replied, buttering my toast.

'Hasnain Zahid?' repeated Dad.

'D.K,' I said shortly.

'Huh?' Dad asked, looking confused over his cup of tea.

'It means 'don't know',' said Christina. I wink at her.

'I don't know his last name,' I said.

'Does he have a younger sister? Named Abha or something?'

'Yeah, he does!' I said looking up from my phone. Dad opened his mouth excitedly.

'Then they're Dr. Yasmine's kids,' he said.

'Let me guess, she was in the Agency too? Like that's almost our whole neighborhood!' I said, bored. Dad deflated.

'What Agency?' Christina piped up. Shooting me a glare, Dad said,

'Some government establishment related to the enforcement of parliament- '

'Never mind, I don't wanna know,' said Christina, shuddering,' ah, big words. Scary.'

Dad winked at me.

'Parenting trick no. 1- Use extremely long and boring words in any random order if you want to avoid a question,' he whispered. I giggled. Lol, Dad.

My phone dinged. I checked it.

'Ooo, my first class starts in 15 minutes!' I informed Dad.

'Sure you don't want a ride?' he asked, wiping Suzy's face clean of chocolate milk.

'Yup,' I told him, and slung my book bag over my shoulder.

'Bye!' I waved. Suzy and Christina waved back.

'toodles, Jass,' said Dad. I sighed.

'No one says that anymore, Dad,' I said, grinning. He rolled his eyes.

***

'Assalamualaikum, Jasmine, come in!' Mrs. Zahid said, as she opened the door. She was a simply dressed woman, who resembled her son. She was wearing a colorful gown with a matching scarf.

'Wakemussam,' I stuttered, trying to remember what Abeyha had taught me.

She smiled.

'You're close, dear. It's Wa- alay- kum-assa-laam,' she corrected me.

'Waleykum- '

'AYYAYAYYAYA JASMINE'S HERE PLAYER YOUR STUDENT IS HERE HI GIRL SUP!' Abeyha came running down the stairs. I got a shock.

She wasn't wearing her usual robe or scarf. Instead she had her hair, which was jet black and curly like anything, falling below her shoulders, and was wearing a stylish long, white shirt with blue jeans underneath and a floral scarf around her neck. I made a mental note to ask her about it later. Her mother glared at her.

'I mean, Assalamualaikum, kaifa haaluk- I mean, how are you?'

'Walekumassalam, I'm great, how're you?'

'Awesome, of course,' she said, flipping her hair and then added,' Alhamdulillah!'

'Is she here?' a voice called out, which I recognized to be Hasnain's.

'Yeah, I am,' I muttered.

'Abeyha, why don't you lead Jasmine to the drawing room?'

'Oki, ummee,' she said, and linking her arm through mine, she led me away.