SUCH IS LIFE

NAZ TO THE RESCUE

During this second bout with Syifa, Izz was sterner than before. He warned her that he didn't want anything stupid to happen. He reminded her not to act with her emotions, but to use rationale and logic. This was again, something Izz should hear himself.

As time passed by, Izz's friends got more and more suspicious especially since the things he had been posting on social media had become gradually more suspicious. After the breakup with Farhah, he would spread his sadness via quotes, songs and anything grief related every single day without fail. At a certain point, it got annoying as his friends were getting sick of this endless mourning. After an entire semester break's worth of healing from friends and family, all these gloomy posts thankfully went away.

After that, the posts returned jolly. But after Izz got with Syifa for the second time, the posts now looked a little happier than usual. This should be something positive in normal circumstances, but they were leaning more on the suspicious side since they were indicative of a man in a happy relationship. 

The final straw was when he publicly posted a picture of him studying with Syifa via video call. When confronted by his friends, he admitted that he had been hiding this relationship for quite some time now and that now, he was happy.

"Bro..." Wafi said.

"Happy? You were with her just a few months ago! You weren't happy then..." Aniq added.

"I have doubts on whether this happiness is genuine or not. Sounds like desperation to me," Aleesya said.

"Izz, please don't do this to yourself," Mimi pleaded.

To prove all of their points, one evening, Izz wanted Syifa to post something on social media so that the whole world would know, they were together. Izz was a very protective person and didn't want anyone getting near his girl. His confidence at this point was sky high, even more than he was with Farhah. Thus far, no guy had popped up, so he was going all in.

But Syifa hesitated.

Izz was confused and a little mad that she was having such a hard time following this advice. Syifa was a beautiful girl and had many admirers, so Izz wanted to establish her as his. In fact, when they first got together, Syifa had just broke up with her boyfriend who had cheated on her.

After much argument, Syifa finally agreed and posted the picture of them together. However, Izz still wasn't satisfied. His heart was telling him that something was wrong. The next day, he asked Syifa to give a screenshot of the picture she posted.

Syifa was reluctant but had no choice than to reveal the truth. There was only one view and it was Izz. She hid the picture from everyone but Izz. Izz was infuriated and started to assume the worst. Did she have another man? Why was she trying to conceal this relationship? Why did she lie to him?

The finals were approaching, and Izz was busy with assignments. He also didn't want to end his magnificent streak of productivity and self-improvement, so he wasn't going to let a girl stop him. Thus, the relationship was cut off once more. Izz was a fool for sure, but he wasn't going to give Syifa a third chance.

To Izz and his friends' surprise, he took the breakup very well. There was no crying, no self-loathing. Just, simple reason. She was difficult, and Izz didn't want difficult.

"You have some ways to go, but you're in the right direction," Haziq encouraged. The others also gave their own words of encouragement, much to Izz's happiness.

As the semester came to an end, Izz reflected on what he had achieved these past months. He looked at himself in the mirro, and decided that he needed to work out. He longed for his old body. Of course, what he pictured in his mind was a slight exaggeration of what he actually looked like but nevertheless, he didn't like what he looked like right now.