2. Vengeful Spirit

Aisyah bid her farewell after she sent them back to their residential building at 3 p.m.

"Stay safe, and both of you, please don't attempt to do anything that screamed dangerous to you. Understand? Don't indulge in your curiosity too much. And you little brother, look after Izzat. The last time I entrusted you to look after him, you left him at an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, alone! You do that again, and I will castrate you."

"Not fair! That's Izzat's fault! He knows I hated scary things, yet, he forced me to follow him to that place."

"Whatever. You are the one that mentioned such a place to Izzat first. So, you also shared the blame. Serve you right. Ah, that's enough. I need to go. Good luck, kids, in your study. Goodbye."

Fakhrul could only stare at his sister's car's back view with a bundle of unsatisfied feelings in his heart. Her brother is him, though, not Izzat. She always took Izzat's side if trouble arose.

"Stop pouting. Your sister is kidding." Izzat sighed.

"I know. That's why I cannot stay angry at you. I think I am not my sister's blood-related sibling. Maybe, I am adopted."

"If you think so." Izzat didn't want to bother with Fakhrul anymore.

"Iz, you're supposed to coax me back!"

"I don't want to work myself for unnecessary things. I had other better things to do than coaxing a childish adult."

Fakhrul rolled his eyes. Ah, I forgot that Izzat is the type that didn't want to bother himself with an unimportant thing. If he suddenly treated you a little better than usual, he must be mad at you, or Izzat wants to prank you.

Izzat will be Izzat, no matter how many years had passed. During his childhood with Izzat, he got it worse. Izzat treated him like an invisible wall most of the time. He also gave him stink eyes every time he tried to talk with him. This kind of behavior continued until they were eight years old. After that, Izzat got scolded by his brother for treating his only friend like that. Due to the scolding, Izzat changed his personality for a bit. Fakhrul got treated a little better after that. Rather than being mistaken as an invisible wall, his status upgraded to a visible one. And Izzat will reply to his questions, occasionally, when they had a decent conversation.

"Iz..."

"What?"

"Are you still angry at me? Because I ran away during our tour to the abandoned hospital the last few weeks? Is this why you gave me cold shoulders?"

"I am not a petty person."

"Then, if you're not angry, why did you looked uncomfortable? You seemed pissed off at something. Even during our ride back from our lunch, you acted differently than usual. What's wrong?"

Izzat took out his towel and clean clothes from his drawer.

"You said that you're sleepy. Just go to sleep. I wanted to take a bath."

"You are hiding something from me! What is it? Oh..." Fakhrul suddenly had a realization over something. "No way, right? Is there something in this room?"

Izzat looked at him with a disdainful expression.

"Don't you know, curiosity killed the cat? It's better for you if you didn't ask me anything. Although, since you asked the question anyway, I should tell you the truth. Actually..."

"Ahhhhh...I heard nothing! I saw nothing! And I didn't felt anything at all!" Fakhrul immediately dived onto his bed, warped his body with his blanket like a sort of cocoon, and shut his eyes tightly. "I wanted to sleep. Don't disturb me!"

"You're the one who's being a busybody, and when I decided to share my worry with you, you left me hanging, unable to voice out the issue?"

Fakhrul ignored him. He will get his evening nap and forget this embarrassing moment.

Izzat chuckled. Since his friend seemed tired and sleepy, he will let him off for today.

"Yeah, please go to sleep, blockhead. You should do that sooner."

On his way to the bathroom, he comes across his new housemate in the living room.

"Hello, I am Lee Hoon. A first-year student in Engineering. I'm from Penang. It's nice to meet you." The new guy introduced himself first.

"Izzat Haikal. I'm in Business Management. From Shah Alam. Nice to meet you too, Lee Hoon."

Both of them shook their hands as a greeting.

"Just called me Lee. Anyway, are you alone?"

"Nope, my friend from the same course is here. He's taking a nap right now. His name is Fakhrul."

"Well, it's nice to meet him too. Our other housemates are coming back a week later. So, for tonight and the rest of the week, it will be only the three of us. Let's hope that we could cohabit comfortably in this house. If you need anything, come find me at the first room." Lee informed.

Izzat nodded his head in understanding. Lee patted his shoulder and went into his room. He also wanted to take some rest.

Izzat went into the bathroom and taking his shower. While in there, he suddenly heard the door to the toilet is open and closed harshly. The slamming of the door is making Izzat jolted in surprise.

Izzat almost cursed because of the shock.

Who was it? Fakhrul or Lee? Are you unable to hold yourself that much? That you almost broke the toilet's door apart? Seriously? Don't they know that he almost slipped and fall onto the bathroom's wet floor because of the surprise?

Luckily, he able to avoid such tragedy from happening!

After calming down, Izzat continued his shower in a peaceful and leisure manner. Within fifteen minutes, he finished showering and went outside. He glanced at the nearby stall. The door is closed, and he even heard water trickling down from inside.

When he arrived at his room, Izzat is flabbergasted.

"Iz, you're already shower?" Fakhrul rubbed his eyes, still half asleep.

"Hmm. It's almost Asar, wake up, please?"

Fakhrul grumbling under his breath. He felt sluggish. Exhaustion is evident in his eyes.

"Did you...went to the toilet, just now...?" Izzat suddenly asked him.

"When?"

"Around...five minutes ago?" Izzat's feeling is complicated. He heard it. Someone was indeed using the toilet when he went out. However, if he is not mistaken, the toilet's light is switched off. He didn't found it weird at that time. But, how can you do your trivial business in there while groping around in the dark?

Fakhrul shook his head.

"I just woke up. Why? Maybe our housemates are using the toilet. You guys just missed each other when you went out or something?"

Izzat pondered about the matter in silence.

"What's wrong?" Fakhrul snapped his finger in front of his friend.

"You see, currently, there's only Lee and the two of us in the house. The others will be back in a week. And, I saw Lee just come out from the toilet when we stumbled upon each other. And, I heard the sound of water running when I left the bathroom. Isn't it weird?"

Fakhrul nervously chuckled.

"Why did you keep torturing me with such creepy information? Iz, I woke up with the hope to omit our last conversation from my brain. Why did you bring them up again? I want to enjoy a relaxing shower. Please don't make me scared! For once in my life, I am grateful that I cannot 'see' what you can see, Iz."

"You are? If you want, I can tell you where..."

"Noooooo!!!" Fakhrul ran out of the room with his towel in his arm. He put his palms over his ears, clearly refusing to hear anything unpleasant that will come out from his mouth.

Izzat is grinning evilly at his friend's childish behavior. And, the matter about the toilet gets forgotten.

Or, maybe not.

"Iz..." Fakhrul peeked into the room with blushing cheeks. "Can you...waited for me until I finished my shower?"

Izzat's smile disappeared from his face. He coldly rejected Fakhrul's wish with one word.

"No."