Between Circuits and Us

CHAPTER 21 - Maybe Engineering Isn’t That Bad

Finals season turned the engineering faculty into a building full of exhausted zombies.

Nobody looked alive anymore.

Students slept in discussion rooms.

Coffee became a survival requirement.

Even Mira stopped gossiping for two days straight.

Truly terrifying.

Meanwhile, Hana sat cross-legged on the faculty floor surrounded by notes and highlighted papers, staring blankly at thermodynamics equations.

“Why is heat transfer personally attacking me?”

“Because you still confuse basic concepts.”

Hana immediately looked up.

Danish stood beside her holding several reference books with his usual emotionally exhausted expression.

Still irritating.

But lately—

less unbearable.

Which honestly felt concerning.

“I understand concepts,” Hana defended herself.

“You memorise instead of understanding.”

“That sounds academically offensive.”

“It’s true.”

Danish sat across from her and pulled one of the papers closer.

“Look.”

For the next twenty minutes, he explained the calculations again with frustrating patience.

Not soft.

Not sweet.

Just…

steady.

Like he genuinely wanted her to understand instead of memorising answers.

And somehow—

it worked.

Something finally clicked inside her brain.

“Oh.”

Danish glanced up briefly.

“You understand now?”

“…Maybe.”

“That’s the problem. Why maybe?”

“Because engineering students ask questions like police interrogations.”

A tiny smile appeared briefly on his face before disappearing again.

A dangerous expression.

Later that evening, Hana sat with Mira and several juniors outside the faculty building after Asar prayer, helping them revise tutorials.

“Okay wait,” one junior interrupted dramatically. “Why does this equation suddenly become negative?”

“Because engineering enjoys emotional damage,” Hana replied sincerely.

Everyone laughed.

Then she explained the concept again slowly until they finally understood.

And strangely—

Hana realised something.

She actually enjoyed this.

Not the suffering part.

Obviously not.

But:

* explaining concepts

* solving problems

* discussing calculations

* understanding things she once thought impossible

Somewhere between endless assignments and emotional breakdowns, the course had started to feel familiar.

Comfortable, even.

Another dangerous realization.

“You’re good at teaching.”

Hana looked up.

Danish stood nearby holding two drinks while watching the discussion quietly.

One of the juniors immediately looked terrified.

“Sorry abang, we were noisy.”

“You were studying,” Danish replied calmly.

The junior looked emotionally shocked after surviving a polite interaction with Danish Rayyan.

Reasonable reaction.

Hana accepted the drink suspiciously.

“What’s this?”

“You’ve been talking for two hours.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“It’s tea.”

“You’re becoming strangely functional lately.”

“You’re becoming less terrible at engineering lately.”

Hana narrowed her eyes.

“That almost sounded like a compliment.”

“It almost was.”

Rude.

But somehow—

she laughed anyway.

The juniors exchanged curious looks.

Dangerous audience.

One of them suddenly asked carefully—

“Senior Hana… were you always this good at engineering?”

Hana blinked slightly.

Then looked down at the notes in her lap.

“No.”

The answer came honestly.

“I actually hated engineering at first.”

Danish looked toward her quietly.

The juniors seemed surprised too.

“But now?” one of them asked.

Hana paused for a moment.

Then unexpectedly smiled.

“I still hate assignments.”

Everyone laughed again.

“But…” she continued softer, “I think maybe I like the course now.”

The words surprised even herself.

Because they were true.

Somewhere along the way—

between stress, labs, tutorials, and endless nights at faculty—

engineering stopped feeling like a mistake.

And for the first time since entering university—

Hana finally felt proud of herself again.

Across from her, Danish stayed unusually quiet afterward.

Not irritated.

Not sarcastic.

Just watching her carefully for one brief second too long.

Then he looked away first.

But this time—

Hana noticed.