Ola slammed the door shut as she quickly walked inside of the apartment, catching her mother's attention who was sitting in the living room peeling some potatoes.

"Oh, you're back." Mrs. Shafi frowned as she watched Ola nod her head dismissively before practically running to her own room. Mrs. Shafi had tilted her body to the side as she watched her daughter enter her room before slamming the door shut.

And just like all mothers, her intuition also rang an alarm in her head. Or maybe that was just me interfering in everything.

Oops.

Mrs. Shafi frowned before she chose to leave her daughter be for the time being. She knew that she would have her chance to talk to Ola, and currently she was actually busy with something else.

She had to prepare dinner for the family, while Ola was busy in her room blowing her head off of her body from thinking too much.

Ola's heart was still beating quickly as if it was running a marathon, as she paced in her room. She had never felt such unease and discomfort before, and neither had she ever been so frustrated.

She was sure of a lot of things as she paced around.

She was certain that she liked Freda more than she was supposed to. And she knew that she wasn't allowed to like another woman in such a way.

Ola had seen her relatives and knew how they were, from a very young age. Her extended family included most of her mother's side of the family, who were intolerable of anything that didn't straight-forwardly follow their religion.

Mr. Shafi would usually find ways to not have to interact with them during family occasions, but they would still find a way to converse with them.

For Ola, she always found herself sat amongst the women of the family, who would not leave any chance to badmouth anyone even a little bit different from them.

So, for Ola, finding out that she had intimate feelings for another woman was like a slap to the face, and a first-class ticket to hell. Also, becoming a second-class citizen in her own little family. But this wasn't all that worried Ola. She was also worried about what her parents would do when she told them about this.

Her mind unconsciously wandered off to Freda, who had gone home early after they had gone back to the office building. Freda and Ola had not continued their conversation about their feelings further and Ola had appreciated that.

Mr. Ericson had inserted himself into the main picture as Ola had gone back to the mail room, where he continued to be the focus of Ola's attention.

Ola sat down on her bed as she worried about dinnertime and how she would have to sit there at the table, across or maybe beside Freda, and pretend not to have kissed her.

She wondered how she would be able to pretend that nothing happened between them while also keep thinking about the other woman. And how she would have to control herself from staring at the other woman.

Ola was certain that the flowers behind Freda had become a little bit more attractive and colorful. It was like there was a whole meadow of beautiful flowers. Ola suddenly began to wonder how Freda would smell like, and then her mind went back to the small kiss they shared.

Well, it was a peck, and it was extremely quick. It lasted only about 3 seconds, and in those seconds, Ola only smelt the rain and disliked the poor weather some more. It was sad how the rain was able to wash away everything. Even the good things sometimes.

There, there. There will be more times if you want.

"I do." Ola whispered unconsciously before she shook her head and frowned. She was really going crazy if she hadn't gone loco already.

Getting up from her bed, Ola just went ahead to change out of her work attire since she wanted to relax a little before she'd have more worries, which she was definitely going to have.

The first one of her new worries was the fact that Freda didn't show up for dinnertime. The second out of them was how she called their house phone instead of contacting Ola privately.

Mrs. Shafi had picked up the phone as Mr. Shafi and Ola sat at the dining table with confusion clear on their faces.

"Oh, you poor child. Don't worry. Just rest up and I'll bring you dinner." Mrs. Shafi spoke into the phone before listening to the other side and then placing back the phone in its holder.

"Freda's sick." Ola wasn't surprised at all since she had seen how much the woman was soaked with rainwater. It was only inevitable that Freda was going to get sick. "I'll take her dinner after."

Ola didn't speak up even though she felt a little worried for the woman, knowing how Freda only had a salivating dog at her apartment and no one else to care for her.

Mrs. Shafi frowned as she saw her daughter remain quiet even after she had mentioned Freda's sickness. Weren't Ola and Freda becoming good friends?

"How was your day, darling?" Mr. Shafi spoke up to break the ice that had accumulated at the dinner table since Freda wasn't there. All three of them had somehow gotten used to seeing the redhead be there with them, and they had learned to even enjoy their time with her.

Ola choked on her food a little as she suddenly got reminded of the small peck she shared with a certain redhead, before she replied to her father. "It was fine."

Mr. Shafi nodded his head while his wife kept frowning. She wasn't sure what it was, but she felt like there was something that was bothering her daughter. Ola had been quieter than she had been for the past few months.

The dinnertime didn't continue for long since Ola quickly ate her rice and curry before getting up from the dinner table. Mr. Shafi was frowning now as well, as he watched his daughter speak up. "I'm going to sleep early tonight."

That was surely odd for the woman since she rarely did that.

But before her parents could say anything to her or ask her questions, she was speed-walking out of the lounge and going over to her bedroom. She even closed her room door behind her as she locked the door for better privacy since she knew how her mother always barged in anyway.

Mrs. Shafi turned to her husband. "I think something happened."

"Yeah, Freda's ill so it's making our poor child sad." Mrs. Shafi shook her head at her husband's answer even though that was also part of the reason why Ola was acting weird.

"No, I meant, something happened between Ola and Freda."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Shafi was confused since he didn't feel anything like that. He thought everything was fine except for Ola being odd, but then again, she was a bit strange originally anyway.

"I don't know." Mrs. Shafi frowned since she had a feeling, but she had no reason for it. Mr. Shafi smiled at his wife before he shook his head. "You're reading too much into this. I'm sure there's nothing wrong."

As much as the older woman wanted to believe her husband, her intuition wasn't ready to just let this matter go.

Oh boy, they haven't even started anything, and we've got the mother suspicious.

............................................

Ola was right to worry for Freda since she had been sneezing on everything because of her sickness. Her slobbering dog did nothing to ease her of her discomfort. She was just a sick mess while also being a love-sick mess. Her thoughts circled around a certain brunette even though she should've focused more on herself.

Mrs. Shafi had stopped by to give her dinner and make sure that she had taken some kind of medicine for her situation.

But there was no medicine in the world for lovesickness.

Her dog watched her with interest as she trudged around in her apartment, going from place to place with a blanket wrapped around her body. Her nose was as red as her head full of hair, and her cheeks colored a slight pink from time to time.

That was all because of her mind wandering off to the slight kiss she shared with a certain brunette under an umbrella.

Freda was sure that she had witnessed no one as romantic as Ola in all of the years that she had been dating. Ola was anything but a cliché. She didn't do anything by the books, which was also a problem that Ola's imaginary friend had to deal with.

But that wasn't all that Freda was thinking about as she paced around in her living room while her dog watched her from the sofa. Freda's facial expressions changed from time to time, going from a smile to a frown and then back again in mere seconds.

And while Freda was there enjoying her physical sickness and mental fantasies, Ola was a whole different story in the apartment right next door.

In a room filled with darkness, Ola sat in her bed confused and still awake. Her eyes glanced over at the clock by her bedside table before she sighed loudly. It was almost midnight and here she was, still without answers.

Well, she had answers, but they were confusing her more, so she was trying to exchange them for better ones.

I don't have an exchange policy.

Ola frowned as soon as she heard the voice in her ear or head, she wasn't so sure anymore. But that was less of a concern for her at the moment. The more concerning matter was the fact that she had feelings for a woman, and she didn't know what to do with them.

This was no fairytale where she was sure to have something with the other woman and have a happily ever after. This wasn't a place where she would just start a relationship with the redhead, and everyone would rejoice that two people having mutual feelings for one another finally got together.

Ola didn't know how to tell her parents, what to tell her parents even. She didn't know what their relationship would even be, if Freda would want to marry her, or if her parents would even accept such a relationship.

Ola's head had begun to ache with all the questions and thoughts that kept piling over one another. She was trying to find some clarity, but she was coming up with the exact opposite.

Her mind then wandered off to the redhead and how she had looked as soon as they had ended their short kiss. Her soaked hair, her blushing cheeks, her smiling eyes. Ola smiled unconsciously as she laid down with the thought of Freda and how her lips stretched out into a smile as they stood in the pouring rain, of course with an umbrella over their heads.

Oh yeah, she did look pretty then.

"She always looks pretty." Ola muttered as her eyes closed unconsciously. Her heart had calmed down a little as her head began to clear up except for the thoughts of a certain redhead.

If this wasn't the answer she needed, I don't know what was.

Ola let out a snore as she cuddled up with her blanket and moved to lay on the righthand side.

And just like that, the woman had fallen asleep while Freda was still there in her apartment, being a mess of thoughts and snot while her dog slobbered up the carpet.

They definitely were made for one another.