CHAPTER 19 - Campus Crush
1163 Words
CHAPTER 19
Campus Crush
By the middle of semester, Hana accidentally became known around campus.
Not intentionally.
It just… happened.
Maybe because engineering faculty barely had girls.
Maybe because she argued with Danish openly without fear.
Maybe because she somehow stayed cheerful despite engineering slowly destroying everyone mentally.
Whatever the reason—
people started recognizing her.
“Hana!”
She looked up while exiting the faculty building after Zuhur prayer.
A group of juniors waved excitedly from nearby benches.
“Your presentation last week was really good!”
Hana blinked in surprise.
“Oh. Thank you.”
“You explained easier than our lecturer.”
“That sounds illegal.”
They laughed immediately.
Nearby, Mira watched with satisfaction.
“You’re becoming campus famous.”
“No I’m not.”
“You literally have engineering juniors following your academic journey.”
“That sounds horrifying.”
Like the beginning of a documentary titled The Girl Who Answered Too Many Questions.
At first it was harmless.
Students greeted her around campus.
People smiled at her in the cafeteria.
Some juniors became suspiciously enthusiastic whenever she appeared near faculty corridors.
Then Mira noticed something alarming.
“Hana.”
“Hm?”
“You have campus crush followers.”
Hana nearly dropped her iced tea.
“I have what?”
Mira pointed subtly across cafeteria.
Three engineering boys immediately looked away.
“One of them has been pretending to study upside down notes for twenty minutes.”
Hana squinted.
The paper actually was upside down.
“Oh no.”
Mira looked delighted.
“Oh yes.”
Things escalated during faculty events.
At one campus programme, a business faculty girl approached Mira quietly.
“Excuse me… that’s Hana right?”
“…Yes?”
“She’s really pretty in real life.”
Standing beside them, Hana nearly malfunctioned.
“Please don’t say things like that while I’m here.”
The girl laughed awkwardly before escaping.
Mira stared at her with amusement.
“You’ve become a campus crush.”
“I reject this title spiritually.”
One afternoon after lab session, a nervous junior approached her near the faculty lobby.
“Senior Hana?”
“Hm?”
“Can I ask something?”
“Depends. If it’s thermodynamics, no.”
He laughed.
“No lah… not that.”
Oh.
She already knew where this was going.
“I just thought maybe… if Kak Hana free sometime… maybe we can go eat together?”
Before she could answer—
“She’s not interested.”
The atmosphere froze.
Danish stood nearby holding his laptop bag, expression unreadable.
The junior blinked.
“Oh— sorry, abang, I was asking her.”
“And I answered.”
Ya Allah.
Why was he doing this?
Hana forced a polite smile.
“Sorry. Ignore him.”
Danish’s jaw tightened slightly.
She turned back to the junior.
“Thank you for asking nicely, but I’m not looking for anything right now.”
The boy nodded quickly before escaping almost immediately.
Smart boy.
The moment he disappeared—
Hana faced Danish.
“What was that?”
“You were uncomfortable.”
“I was handling it.”
“He kept staring at you during lab earlier.”
That caught her off guard for half a second.
So he noticed that?
Then annoyance returned twice as fast.
“That still doesn’t mean you answer for me.”
“And you made it worse.”
Nearby students were already pretending not to listen.
Wonderful.
“You embarrassed him for no reason.”
“He’ll survive.”
Sometimes talking to Danish felt like arguing with a brick wall that somehow had opinions.
“You don’t get to decide things for me just because you think you’re helping.”
For once, he hesitated.
“I didn’t like the way he was looking at you.”
The honesty made her pause briefly.
But not enough.
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know.”
“Then act like it.”
Silence stretched between them.
Danish exhaled quietly.
“…Fine.”
Still not an apology.
Typical.
Over the next few weeks, more students asked for her notes, invited her into programmes, and somehow knew her name.
And somehow—
it all happened naturally.
Because she never acted arrogant.
She still wore oversized hoodies, complained dramatically about assignments, helped juniors understand tutorials, sat on faculty floors during discussions, and laughed loudly with everyone.
Comfortable.
Easy to approach.
And very different from the intimidating engineering culture around campus.
“Your social battery is terrifying.”
Hana looked up from the cafeteria table.
Danish sat across from her with his usual tired expression.
“What now?”
“You know too many people.”
“That’s called friendship.”
“That’s called exhausting.”
Spoken like a man who treated eye contact as a personal attack.
“You’re just antisocial.”
“I’m selective.”
“You ignored a junior who greeted you yesterday.”
“He interrupted my calculation.”
“That poor boy looked traumatised.”
Danish calmly continued eating.
Apparently emotional damage was acceptable collateral.
Across the cafeteria, several girls from another faculty walked past slowly.
“Eh that’s her right?”
“The engineering girl?”
“Pretty lah.”
Hana almost choked on her drink.
“Astaghfirullah.”
Mira immediately grinned.
“Oho.”
“No oho.”
“You’re becoming popular.”
“I literally look homeless during lectures.”
“That’s the worst part. You don’t even try.”
Unfortunately—
it became worse during faculty exhibition week.
Hana volunteered with several engineering students for booth preparations.
Which apparently attracted half the university population somehow.
By afternoon, people kept calling for her from every direction.
“Hana, can you help us carry this?”
“Hana, where’s registration file?”
“Hana, you joining dinner later?”
Every few minutes, another person appeared beside her.
Another laugh.
Another conversation.
Another guy lingering too long.
At first Danish only watched silently from across the hall.
Then he started answering people before Hana could.
“She’s busy.”
“No, she’s not joining.”
“Give it to me. I’ll handle it.”
His voice stayed calm.
Too calm.
The kind that made nearby students immediately move faster.
By evening, even Mira noticed.
“…Okay,” she whispered carefully to Hana, “why does he look like he wants to fight the entire university?”
Hana turned instinctively.
Danish stood near the registration booth holding a stack of files.
Expression blank.
Eyes locked on a business faculty senior smiling at Hana from across the hall.
The senior said something that made Hana laugh.
And something in Danish’s face changed.
Not dramatic.
Worse.
Subtle.
His grip tightened hard enough to bend the files slightly.
Then—
the senior reached out and casually touched Hana’s arm.
The sound of papers crushing echoed sharply through the booth.
Several students turned immediately.
Danish didn’t seem to notice.
He was already walking toward them.
- Writer
