Too Good to Be Real

chapter 34

"Do you really have to go?" Asher asked, standing at the bathroom door with a foamy toothbrush in his mouth while he tried to negotiate with Oma who was stretched out on his bed.

"I do, really. I already promised her I was going to see her mum." She replied, kicking her legs in the air. She still hadn't brought up their religion issue. "Besides you're also going out."

"I'm only going because I don't want to be bored here alone. I was really looking forward to this weekend. After this weekend, there'll be no other free time. You know, exams." He continued, after spitting out the excess toothpaste in his mouth.

"What are you talking about? The exams are spaced out. There'll actually be more free time. Besides, it's not like you'll keep reading every single second of the day."

"I'm a law student. I have books to read." He emphasized the 'books' when he said this. "On the other hand  French is such an easy lazy course. You don't need much to excel in it."

Oma sprang up.
"That's a very mean thing to say! Easy course? It's a 'whole' freaking language. Imagine you doing your so-called law in French!" Her anger only seemed to amuse Asher. "What's so funny?"

"Relax. I was just pulling your legs. No course in this world is an easy course." He said and smirked before entering the bathroom again. Oma just stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm bored. Do you have funny videos?" She asked, catching sight of his phone. She tried to unlock it and groaned when she saw it was passworded.

"What's your password?" She asked uneasily, wondering how he'd react to her touching his phone.

"It's your name." He called from the bathroom and she breathed a sigh of relief. She typed in the word "Oma" And the words "wrong password" glowed in red.

"It's not working. I thought you said it was my name?" She asked, wondering if this was a scheme to get her to leave his phone.

"What's the English meaning of your name?" He asked. What?

"Good. Shortened form of 'Omalicha' which means 'beautiful'." she said, already typing in the word. It worked. "Never mind."

She browsed through his pictures with one finger, looking for something that'll catch her eye. Most of the pictures in there were pictures of herself and some of Nathi.

"Why did you have to use my English translation instead of how it already is?"

"It's a habit. I just like to save people's names in English. I don't even know when it started."

Already bored, she went back to the home page and was about to shut the phone just when she saw a message notification pop up on the screen.

The message read, "I can't wait to see you!". Her heart skipped a beat and she tried to calm herself down. She was just being paranoid, she thought. He'd actually said he was going out with his friends anyway. But boys never texted like that! She breathed. She just needed to see who'd sent the message.

"Is there any problem? You're not saying anything." Asher asked from the bathroom where he was now shaving the tiny stubble that'd managed to sprout that morning. It was a wonder his jaw wasn't rough from coming in contact with razors every single morning.

"No. Just bored, that's all."

"So my phone is boring?" He asked and she offered a humourless laugh.

She opened his phone again and looked at the contact that'd sent the message.
"Beside".

What the heck did that mean, she thought. She looked at the picture box but it was empty. She wondered if it was a nickname or something.
Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she clicked on the message, hoping to see Asher's previous chats with whomever the beside guy was.
Unfortunately, it asked for a different password or fingerprint and she couldn't unlock it.