chapter 5

Chapter 5MishalI rushed back into my room, sliding the doors of my balcony shut and throwing the book on my bed. Brownie made sure to follow me inside on time. I gasped for more air as I stood against the balcony door, my heart beating loudly against my chest. I raised my hand to touch my brow; it was dripping with sweat. I could not believe what had just happened. I had just seen him right across the terrace, and I was certain it was not any dream. Sana was right; he had really changed a lot in the last few years. Grown much taller and became more handsome. A jolt of electricity passed through my body as I recalled the last few minutes again in my head—he catching me stare at him and then our eyes becoming locked for several seconds. I shuddered as I remembered that scene. He was not the same teen boy I’d fallen head over heels for. He’d certainly changed. It wasn’t only about his looks but about his habits as well. He’d started smoking which was a big deal-breaker for me. I loathed men who smoked. I wondered how many more bad habits he must have developed while living abroad without the supervision of his mother. ***The next day, I went on with my day-to-day tasks as usual—receiving the orders, writing them down, preparing them, packing them, and finally dispatching them to the customers. My routine was pretty much the same every day. Since the night I briefly locked eyes with Daniyal on the terrace, I consciously decided not to go to the terrace again. It had been three days since I had not gone there. Even though sitting on my favorite swing chair in the middle of the night with a cup of coffee in one hand and a book in another had become an essential part of my every day routine and something I could not go without, I still resisted myself from doing that. So when Amma asked me to deliver a few food items to Nigar aunty that she’d specifically prepared for her, I knew I was trapped. ‘Amma, why don’t you send Rayaan to deliver the food? I have got some tutorials to edit,’ I said. It was not like I was lying to her. I did have some pending work to do. I just did not want to go into that house and come across him. ‘Rayaan is finishing his homework, and I don’t want to interrupt him. You know how careless he can be with his studies.’‘But Amma…’She stood with arms akimbo, frowning at me. ‘What’s wrong with you, huh? Why can’t you go? It’s hardly going to take you a few minutes.’I knew I could not argue with Amma at the moment and upset her for my foolish reasons. I hated arguing with people, let alone with Amma. I stood on my feet. ‘Fine. I’ll go.’‘Good girl.’ With a swift movement, Amma walked back into the kitchen and started to pack the food items into the food containers. I rolled my eyes because I couldn’t do anything but curse my life right at that moment. ***It was late afternoon, and the weather was scorching hot when I walked past my gate and towards Nigar aunty’s house. I did not find anyone around the house. There were no signs of Hammad, Fariya, or even Khalid Uncle. I would have handed over the shopper to them if I’d seen them anywhere. Since there was no one in sight, I figured I had to complete this task on my own. After ringing the doorbell, I stood a few feet away from the gate and looked around the neighborhood. I waited for a few more seconds, but nobody came to the door. Waiting outside Nigar aunty’s gate, I took a long breath but still felt suffocated because of the mask I was wearing on my face. ‘Damn this heat and this corona!’ I mumbled to myself irritably. Just then, someone came to the gate, unlocked it, and yanked it open. To my regret, it was none other than Daniyal at the gate. A look of confusion crossed his handsome face as he looked into my eyes. I looked back at him unconsciously, not being able to avert my gaze off him. Since he was not wearing a mask, I got the chance to observe him up and close. I noticed he had long light brown hair that fell over his face. And what do I say about his eyes? He had the perfect brown, slightly droopy eyes and a flawlessly chiseled jawline. He was so fair and tall that he had started to look more like a foreigner and nothing close to an average brown man. ‘G’day, do I know ya?’ he asked casually, but I did not miss the Australian accent. The accent made him sound so… sexy? I blinked several times before coming back from my thoughts. I hoped my stupid thoughts weren’t so apparent on my face. Thanks to the mask, he could not exactly see the silly expression on my face. ‘I’m sorry my mask is inside, and I don’t think we have ordered anythin’, so how can I help ya?’ he asked, raising a brow in anticipation. Wait. What? Did he think I was some food delivery driver? ‘Um, no, no. I’m not from any delivery service company,’ I began, my voice raspy. Leaning his arm on the gate, he continued to look at me with amusement. Why was he enjoying it so much? What was there to enjoy? Did he find me funny? His inquisitive yet seductive stare was making me nervous now. So, ignoring his goddam good looks, I continued. ‘I live next door to Nigar aunty’s place.’ I pointed at my house, and he seemed to follow my gaze. ‘My Mom, Rubina, is really good friends with her.’He furrowed. ‘Aren’t you the same girl I saw last night on the balcony?’ Ignoring his question, I said. ‘So, um, my Mom sent this food for your Mom.’ I handed over the shopping bag to him and waited for him to take it from my hands. ‘Oh, right, that’s amazin’.’ As he took the bag from my hands, our hands briefly touched. I drew back my hand almost immediately, my pulse rate rising. ‘I’d tell my Mum that your Mum, uh, what was her name again?’ he pondered. ‘Rubina,’ I told him.‘Yeah, right, that. I’d tell Mum about her.’ He nodded amusingly.  ‘Thank you.’‘G’day, mate.’‘You too.’ I turned around to walk away and heard him close the gate behind me. Damn, what was that? I swear to God I could have fainted had I stayed there for another minute. DanielAfter closing the gate, I pursed my lips as I walked back inside, carrying the shopping bag. As far as I remembered, the girl I had encountered a few seconds ago was the same one I had seen on the terrace the other night. Neither she confirmed nor denied, but I knew it was her. Strangely, I had not seen her since then. Perhaps she became conscious of my absence and did not want to appear because of me. Or perhaps she did not like me. Whatever the reason was, I could not care any less. I went into the kitchen, set the bag on the countertop, and began taking the lunch boxes out of it. Just then, someone tiptoed into the kitchen. ‘What are you doing here?’ I heard a female voice, and I knew it was Fariha. I gave her a sidelong glance and smirked. ‘I guess I’m unpacking these food items.’ I told her, gesturing towards the lunch boxes. ‘Oh.’ She stood there in the doorway. ‘I see.’Over the years, Fariha’s physical appearance had changed a lot. I could not say anything about her nature, but I noticed a stark difference in her physical features and body. Gone were the days when she was skinny and had olive skin. Now, she wasn’t scrawny anymore like she used to be, and her skin tone had become a bit fairer. I could only tell about the things I remembered about her. ‘Did the neighbors send this for Mom?’ she asked with a raised brow. ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ As I opened the boxes, I found chicken broth in one container, boiled rice in another, and chicken in the other one. ‘This is a lot of food. Wow.’‘No need to be surprised, baby,’ Fariha commented as she observed her freshly manicured nails. My brows furrowed. ‘What do you mean?’‘Our neighbors have this stupid little home-based food business, and they keep sending free food meals everywhere in the neighborhood just to have a good word-of-mouth.’ She continued. I bit my lower lip as I listened to her silently, disgusted by what she said about other people.‘God.’ She sighed. ‘Things people do to seek validation. Such attention seekers.’‘You know what?’ I turned around to face her. ‘Some people never change.’She leaned against the door and looked back at me, crossing her arms. ‘Especially mean people.’ I added. She glared at me now.‘Like you!’ I pointed my finger at her.Her face flushed red with anger, and she yelled, ‘Don’t you dare point the finger at me!’ ‘And don’t ya dare cross your fuckin’ limits!’ I yelled back at her, my nostrils flaring. She turned silent when she saw my reaction, but the expression on her face did not change. ‘What people do should not be your bloody concern, all right?’ ‘Why the fuck are you so much concerned about the neighbors, anyway?’ she continued. ‘I’m not concerned about the neighbors. Just askin’ you to mind your own fuckin’ business,’ I glowered at her. ‘Hmph,’ she sighed crossly. ‘It was only me you took advantage of. Nobody would ever take your bullshit. Do ya get that?’‘Whatever.’ She knocked hard on the kitchen door and then left in a fury. Holding the edges of the countertop with both my hands, I closed my eyes, bowed down, and sighed. I wasn’t an aggressive sort of a person, but there were few things, or I’d rather say, few people in my life that really annoyed the hell out of me. Fariha was one of them. It wasn’t like I wanted to hold it against her all my life. But, considering how she talked about people a few minutes ago, it was becoming hard for me to forgive her for what she did. ***Setting the food on the tray, I took it to my Mum’s room. She was reading a book when I came inside. Looking up at me through her spectacles, she passed me a warm smile and then gestured for me to stop. She grabbed the mask from her nightstand, put it over her face, and then asked me to come inside. ‘Six-foot distance, please,’ she warned me conspiratorially. ‘I know, ma’am.’ I never came into her room without the mask. I was careful about that. Setting the food tray on the foldable bed table kept in front of her, I moved back a few feet away and looked at her. ‘What?’ she asked when she noticed how I was staring at her.I shrugged. ‘Nothing.’‘Why are you staring at me?’‘Just like that, Mum.’‘Rubina must have sent this,’ she said, looking at the food items placed on the bed table.‘I guess so.’‘Did Mishal come to deliver?’I crossed my brows in confusion. ‘Who’s that?’‘Mishal, Rubina’s youngest daughter. Don’t you remember her?’I tried hard to think and then recollected some memories. ‘Yeah, maybe.’‘She’s a lovely girl. I should send her and Rubina a thank you message.’ She began typing a message on her phone.‘Mum,’ I interrupted her, and she looked up at me. ‘Why don’t you have your food first?’‘I will, son, but I can’t forget my manners.’ From her eyes, I could see she said that with a smile. ‘All right. How are you feeling now?’‘Much better now.’ She typed the message with her swift fingers and kept the phone aside. ‘Now that you’re here, I can’t feel sick anymore.’‘Get well soon so we can go around and explore the city.’‘We will, baby.’I winked at her. ‘Finish your food now. I’ll be outside.’‘Okay.’***I rarely interacted with any member of the house. Only Hammad came to check on me once or twice a day, and nobody else bothered. To be honest, I did not want anyone to interact with me either. I came here only for my mother, and I was only concerned about her and no one else. So I did not care if anyone talked to me or not. I was happy being in my own space. Coming back to my bedroom, I sat on my bed and started to check the notifications on my phone. A few unread emails and WhatsApp messages appeared in the notifications, but I only replied to those that seemed urgent. Out of habit, I opened Bumble, the dating app that was already installed on my phone. I wanted to see how a dating app worked here and how people approached such apps in Pakistan. There were only a few profiles on the app that seemed genuine, so I happened to swipe right almost all of them. Just then, I matched with a girl named Ana on the app. Raising a brow in interest, I tapped on her profile and browsed it. From her photos, I realized she was a beauty. Perhaps, hot stuff. Luckily, she was also from Lahore, which intrigued me even more. As Bumble was such a dating app that allowed women to initiate the conversation first, I waited for her to send me a message and put my phone on the nightstand. Meanwhile, I decided to do some stretching in the open air. It had been a while since I had worked out. So I stepped out onto the terrace to stretch my body. As I started stretching out my arms, I looked to the left side just to see if the bespectacled girl was there. But she wasn’t. I recalled her name. Mishal. Mum’s best friend’s younger daughter. Why couldn’t I recognize the first time I laid my eyes on her? I just remembered that she used to wear glasses even a few years back. I should have recognized her in an instant, but I did not. My memory was definitely deteriorating with time. With hopes of seeing her again on the terrace, I stretched out my arms and limbs and waited there for the next couple of minutes. And, she never came.