~ Untitled - # 2

[•Amrita•]

* Prologue is something that will take place in the story but just not yet.. in other words its a taster of what's to come in the story, so don't get confused.. this particular scene will take place in the story but just not yet... my second post is actually the first chapter of the story


₪ ₪ Prologue ₪ ₪


I ran towards the phone booth now standing deserted along the road, as if it was gesturing for me that is was my ticket to freedom. I raced towards it now, scared as if it too would vanish like all of the people had in my life. But as I reached to pick up the phone, Salim’s hand shot down and held the phone away from me.

“Salim, what are you doing?!” I shouted. This was our chance to get out of here, why was he stalling now?

“Kiran… you can’t call.” He said simply and put the phone down and walked towards the stream.

“What do you mean I can’t call home?” I asked not understanding him.

He was the one who had shown me so many dreams, of how everyone would be waiting for us, how things would be like they use to be… so why was he going back on his word now?

“Salim!” I shouted now, “Answer me! Why can’t I call?!”

“Kiran… you know we can’t so just stop making it harder on yourself and on me,” he said calmly now washing the blood off his hands.

“Salim we have to… they’re probably so worried… I mean we haven’t called home for weeks! What if they think we’re dead?” I asked him now pleading for him to reconsider.

Salim looked at me, his own eyes wet with tears now, “I think its better they do think we’re dead Kiran, it’s easier for them to let us go than for them to know the truth…”

I opened my mouth to argue against his decision but knew deep down that he was right. There was no way anyone could help us now and no way could we ever go back. We were stuck here… and suddenly the burn marks on my skin no longer stung, instead it was another sort of pain. One of regret, one of loneliness and one of injustice.

[•Amrita•]

Chapter 1

“Come on guys, I can’t!” I said laughing as I got out of the car.

“Why not Kiran?!” It’s gonna be so much fun, it’ll be like old times… remember last year when we stayed up all night watching chick flicks and eating ice cream?” asked Nina now laughing as if she was trying to remember old times.

“Yeah … it was fun, but honestly I have to run, mom’s probably waiting for me inside and I should really get a move on with that biology paper…” I groaned now, why did teachers always have to ruin a perfectly good weekend?

I waved goodbye to Nina and Preety as they sped away in Nina’s silver Honda civic and I made my way to the front door.

“Maa! I’m home!” I shouted as I entered the house and took off my shoes.

“Kiran, ehnee der?” said Maa who was busy in the kitchen making roti before Papa came home for dinner.

“Haan Maa, you know I had class till 5pm to –” But I was cut off mid-sentence as the door suddenly opened and closed and Aman ran to the kitchen like a tornado.

“Can you not walk?” I asked now rolling my eyes at him.

“Well, I can run too!” he said smirking, “but not much I can say for you… a little extra weight there huh Kiran?” he said now laughing.

“Maa!” I said and tried to punch him on the shoulder before he got away.

“See how violent she is Maa!” said Aman, now holding his arm as if he had been badly injured.

“You’re such a weakling,” I said laughing and then continued on talking to mom.

“Maa you know there’s actually a fundraiser coming up for school in a few days, I was thinking since it is my last year, it would be nice to get involved with it…”

“Come on Kiran,” said Aman now turning his attention from the TV, you actually think any of that money really goes to those people?”

“How would you know?” I asked.

“Well fine, maybe I don’t know, but it just seems like the money anyone really sends is not doing much.”

“Well that’s because there’s so many people who live like that!” I said and I started to walk towards the fridge as if to avoid the argument.

Aman would say anything just to prove a point, even if he had absolutely no idea about what he was talking about. Was he really 20 years old or 2?

“Anyways Kiran…” said Aman now grinning. “How does it feel to be engaged in less than 3 months?”

Suddenly the plans for the engagement came to my mind, something that I had been putting off for days… well maybe even weeks! I completely forgot about all of the things I had to get done, time was flying and I didn’t even know who I was inviting yet!

“Maa did he call?” I asked now suddenly remembering the reservations for dinner tonight.

“Haan, Kiran he called twice actually, you just reminded me,” said Maa now sighing, “I have such a terrible memory nowadays…”

“It’s all right na Maa, I’ll just run and get ready and call him back now.” I reached for the cordless phone and made my way upstairs to my room quickly to change into something nice. So it was official… I would be getting engaged in less than 3 months!

Suddenly the phone rang before I could even dial and I smiled to see that it was him, I picked it up as I made my way to the closet to choose something nice.

“Yes Ajaib, I do remember it’s tonight,” I said laughing before he began to complain that I had forgotten again.


₪ ₪ ₪

[Devilz Angel]

its greatttttttttttttttttttttttttt..once again ur just awesome at writing...*waits for da next bit*...tho im confused da begining was different from da da second part...*im slow*

[•Amrita•]

“Well what do you think?” asked Sabah holding up the light pink shalwar kameez in front of my face.

It had been 2 hours now and I was completely bored out of my mind… I couldn’t help but yawn which made her even more frustrated.

“You know Salim if you didn’t wanna come you could’ve just said it earlier. It’s not like I’m doing this for myself… I mean hello it is our wedding right?” she said now looking at me for an answer.

“Yeah… listen can we just take a little break? I have a huge headache and I really wanna get some water or something,” I said trying to get out of the Indian store.

The shopkeeper had been eyeing us for over an hour now and was beginning to think we would never make a purchase. Not that I really wanted anything from here anyways… I mean Sabah was so into it and here I was just treating this like any other day… why wasn’t I as excited as her? I mean yeah I’d known her for a while now, I guess the longest that I had known any girl… so I guess it was always assumed we would get married… but then why was I always acting so unsure?

“Sir will you be purchasing anything today?” asked the Indian man now coming closer to us.

“Excuse me but we are still looking,” said Sabah and made a motion for him to step aside and let her continue what she was doing.

I tried to smile politely at him but unfortunately it seemed that he had already made his mind up about us and went back to his previous position of staring at us from the corner of the room.

I wandered around the store browsing for anything good but nothing seemed to catch my eye. I couldn’t understand how Sabah managed to pick out a new outfit in less than a minute.

“Salim?! Helloooo!” said Sabah now holding up the same shalwar kameez but in another shade of pink.

“Honestly Sabah can you just lay off the shopping for a few minutes, I really wanna get some water if you don’t mind…” I said now trying to get out of the store.

“All right fine!” she said and threw down the clothes in a hurry and rushed outside sulking near my black Toyota Solara.

I sighed and apologized to the shopkeeper and made my way outside of the store. How much more of this would I have to endure? It was obvious that this shopping spree would not end today and even though the wedding invitations and everything had already gone out and the wedding was less than 2 months away… I didn’t really know what I felt. I mean yeah I could spend the rest of my life with Sabah. I didn’t need that whole ‘love sick’ experience that everyone saw in Bollywood movies or in those dumb romance books. I mean no way in hell would there ever be a girl who could understand me completely… and I guess Sabah was as close to that as possible. Even I had to admit I never truly understood her or what she really saw in shopping for 5 hours straight but I had always thought that I would at least enjoy it… I mean weren’t you supposed to get some sorta sensation over being with your soul mate or whatever other things people had made up to make their marriages seem so perfect. I mean who the hell honestly believed love was really out there? This life was all about compromises and as I looked at Sabah pouting near my car, I sighed and got ready to compromise once more with my life.


₪ ₪ ₪

[:..*Sweety*..:]

lolz..i m so happy u started a new story sis !!
great start sis...keep it up
and yea don't kill us with the suspense..lol

[Devilz Angel]

ooo now i get it lol i thought maybe it was like those scenes when she's goin back in da past or sumthin lol ok im embarrasing myself haha

but omg sis...dramatic change eh??...dat annoying girl n salim = jodi made in hell =) loll..next bit plz

[Devilz Angel]

its oki ur a blonde so u aint embarrasing urself!! its completely acceptable lol!!!
btw sis me being ur older sis i didnt get it either amrita sis explained it to me on msn!!! hehe!!


LOL gud great minds can be stupid together i mean blonde minds haha
its "completely acceptacble"...thanks alot makes me feel way more better

[•Amrita•]

“So like you don’t wanna invite them then?” asked Ajaib now sitting down beside me after he had put his glass in the sink.

“Well… you know how they are nah? I mean remember last time, they just kept gossiping about everyone and when we both know they don’t like us… then why bother being fake about it?” I asked now thinking it over of whether or not to invite some people from school.

“Hmm… well Kiran it’s your choice, you know I don’t even go to your university anyways… plus I’m done school now thank God!” he said smiling now.

I laughed, “Very funny! But I only have a year left and then if I do decide to do my masters there as well… then I guess it’ll be another 4 years…”

“Oh God Kiran! Is the studying never gonna end with you?” he said now smiling.

Ajaib knew me perfectly well; I had always been the type of person who liked a routine or at least to be able to do something everyday. As much as I hated to admit it, tests and deadlines were in a way something that made me feel busy… made me feel almost important, as if I was doing something meaningful with my life.

“Well do you have anyone else you wanna invite?” I asked him now.

“Well, there’s a couple of friends from work but I’ve already added their names to the list… so I guess that’s about it Kiran.”

Suddenly the phone rang and I got up to get it, it was Aman asking for a ride as usual. His soccer game had finished early today and he was waiting at the Park. I told him me and Ajaib would be there in a few minutes and I hung up to see that Ajaib already had the keys in his hand and was standing up ready to leave.

I smiled at him, “how did you know Aman would ask?”

“It’s Aman Kiran!” he said now grinning, “come on, we can talk on the way there anyways.”

We got into Ajaib’s silver Acura and drove towards the park where Aman always had his soccer games, it had been a while now since I had seen him play but it was just so hard nowadays with all the work and with the addition of planning for the wedding. Everything seemed to be going by so fast…

“What are you thinking about?” asked Ajaib now noticing my silence in the car.

“Nah nothing much… just how time flies…” I said now breaking out of my thoughts.

“You’re not getting cold feet are you?” he asked now smiling.

I laughed, “If I was then you better watch out! But Ajaib… can I ask you something?” I said now wanting to bring up what had been bothering me for a really long time.

“Yeah of course, anything… what is it?” he asked now sensing the seriousness in my voice.

“Well… like… how did you know … that like you wanted to marry me? I mean how are you so sure?” I asked.

I hoped inside that Ajaib didn’t take this in the wrong way… I wasn’t looking for any compliments or an excuse to get out of the wedding… I just wanted to hear his side of it. Why was it that guys always hid their feelings so well?

Ajaib smiled now, “Kiran I’m sure you kinda knew how I felt about you since we met na?” he asked now glancing at me quickly at the traffic lights.

I smiled, “Yeah I know, but like I was just wondering… how do you like know for certain that like this is ‘the one’?” I asked now waiting for an answer.

“It’s just a feeling Kiran… I mean I don’t know about girls but with myself… I just knew it, like inside my heart that I loved you and I didn’t want to lose you at any cost…”

I smiled, “That’s so sweet Ajaib…” and suddenly Ajaib’s cell phone rang and he picked it up to tell Aman we were on the way.

I looked out the window now. He did love me… but why did that suddenly make me feel so guilty inside?


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“So you want to go to Pakistan for a few weeks?” asked Maa now eyeing me suspiciously.

“Yeah…” I said, “I just wanna get away for a few days…”

“Salim… does this have anything to do with the wedding and Sabah?” asked Maa now getting concerned.

“Nahi Maa, I just felt like going back for a few days you know… I just wanna see everyone and like I dunno… I just wanna go…”

“Salim, are you sure everything is ok?” asked Maa now putting her hand on my shoulder, “You usually never want go alone…”

“Yeah I know, but like… I’ll be married and then I dunno when I’ll be able to go back… Sabah doesn’t really like going and all you know.”

“Are you two ok? Subh kuch teek hai na?” asked Maa now sitting down at the table beside me.

“Haan Maa we’re ok… it’s just like I sorta wanna just go back for a while, get some air, I feel suffocated sometimes.”

I couldn’t believe I was telling Maa that… I had felt like this for quite a while now, sometimes I still watched my words carefully around her because she was so damn sensitive, I had always thought I would marry someone like my mom… but Sabah was so different. And lately I wanted to get away from everything… even her. Was that so bad? I felt awful inside but I kept thinking that if I went things would be better when I got back…

“Well… if you do want to go then I suggest you talk to Sabah… Salim you will be married to her you know that, if there are any doubts in your mind now, clear it now…” said Maa now trying to warn me.

I knew that tone; I had seen it in her voice so many times for the past few weeks, even before the engagement… I wasn’t so sure anymore what I wanted. I mean Sabah was literally the closest of all my female friends… but like why didn’t I feel a spark?

I decided to get up now and make my way over to her place and just tell her I needed to get out for a few days… would she be pissed? Frankly a part of me didn’t really care. What was wrong with me?

“Maa… I think I’m gonna go and just tell her and maybe she’ll understand…”

Maa looked at me and smiled weakly, “Salim… it’s not too late you know… I don’t want you to regret anything…” said Maa now eyeing me.

I smiled, “Maa don’t worry I’m fine!” I said now trying to act casual.

I strolled towards the door and reached in my jacket for my keys. I knew Sabah would probably be pissed as hell when she heard and maybe she would even cancel the… - no I said to myself now, what are you thinking Salim? Wasn’t this what you wanted? I mean didn’t you eventually learn to live with the person and love them? I shook the thoughts out of my mind and turned on the radio as soon as I got inside the car. Music was one thing which could always bring you up no matter how down you were… well then again it all depended on what you listened to… no sappy love songs.

I started to drive towards Dixie Road and noticed the large Gurudwara to the right and continued to drive further. There was a huge crowd going in and out and I think that was normal right… wasn’t Sunday their religious day? Well I didn’t know much but I wondered how it looked on the inside. I stopped at the traffic lights just before the entrance towards it and noticed a girl about to make a right turn into the Sikh temple, she had a nice car but when I glanced down I noticed one of her tires was flat. I grinned, girls these days…

I pulled my window down and gestured to her, “Excuse me!” I shouted above the noise of the traffic now.

At first she shot me a weird look as if I was trying to hit on her, but then she reluctantly pulled down her window after I tried pointing but failed miserably.

“What is it?” she asked.

I groaned and then told her if she could pull over and after a few honks I managed to get myself into the right lane and put on my emergency brakes.

I got out of the car and so did she but she had no idea what I was still on about. I couldn’t help but laugh, man was she clueless!

“Why are you laughing?” she said now looking very suspicious.

“Your tires!” I said grinning now. “I wasn’t trying to pick you up if that’s what you think…” I said now quickly just to make sure she wasn’t getting the wrong idea of me.

“Oh my God! My tires!” she said now suddenly catching onto what I had been on about! “What do I do now?” she said, “Damn it Aman! I knew I never should have borrowed his car…” she said now under her breathe.

Huh? Aman? I didn’t know what she was on about now but could tell she was cussing this Aman off whoever he was. Poor guy I thought to myself and laughed.

“Why are you still laughing?” she asked now getting impatient with me.

I grinned, “Who’s Aman?” I asked.

“He’s my stupid brother… he gave the car to me so I could go to the Gurudwara… anyways what should I do now?” she asked now inspecting the tires and trying to figure out how far she could go before it was completely damaged. “I don’t think I’ll make it home,” she said now sighing.

“If you want… I can give you a ride?” I asked now, for some reason she intrigued me and I couldn’t help figuring out why.

She started to bite on her lips now as if she was figuring out what to do or whether or not to take the offer… did I look like a thug or player or something?

“Listen if you want, you don’t have to, I can like make a call from the nearby phone for you or maybe you can use the phone in the Gurudwara?”

Why wasn’t she saying anything? I wondered now. She was still lost in thought.

“No no, I wanna go home and kill Aman!” she said and grinned now. “You don’t mind do you?” she said now smiling at me.

“Nah nah, I wasn’t really doing anything important anyways...”

I told her to lock her car doors and leave the emergency brakes on and we both got into my Toyota Solara and I started to drive towards her house. I never knew how close she lived to my place, but I’d never seen her before… how weird was that?

“I’m Salim by the way…” I said now glancing at her quickly in the car.

Our eyes met for a second and she smiled shyly, “I’m Kiran… nice to meet you Salim. You’re a lifesaver!” and we both laughed.

₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“But Ajaib, you said you would be able to come along as well…” I said now sighing.

We had planned to do the shopping for the wedding in India, it had seemed like a great idea but now Ajaib had cancelled last minute.

“But Kiran, if you wanna go you can always go without me,” said Ajaib now trying to solve this.

“Yeah, I guess I could… but like it’s safe right?” I asked him now trying to remember if anything horrible had happened the last time I went. But that was about 4 years ago when I was 19… it seemed so far away now and yet I could remember only the good things.

“Kiran, I’m sure you’ll still love it, if you want, you can always take Nina along or ask Maa to go with you?”

I thought about it for a second but I was a bit reluctant… for some reason I wanted to get away for a few days… by myself.

“No Ajaib… I think I prefer traveling solo then…”

Ajaib was a bit alarmed to hear that and I could tell by his sudden attentiveness now, “What?! But like aren’t you scared?”

“Not really… I actually think it would be a good idea. Plus you know my massi ji lives there anyways… so she could just take me and she gets lonely anyways with both my cousins living in Canada.”

I was trying to give off excuses as to why I wanted to go alone but I myself didn’t know why the sudden change from being a person who loved crowds and people to one who was now feeling… suffocated. Was that the word to describe it?

Ajaib was quiet now as if deciding on what to say, but then he got up and turned his back against me. I was a bit startled and hoped he hadn’t read my mind…

“Ajaib…” I said now quietly, “Are you ok?”

“Kiran… why the sudden interest to get away? Is it me?” he asked now turning around and looking me straight in the eye.

There was so much intensity in his eyes that I looked away after just a second.

“Ajaib… I just wanna go alone to explore and maybe just because you know… I want some time for myself…” I said now trying to watch my words.

I didn’t want to say anything wrong or make Ajaib think I was having second thoughts… even that night when Ajaib had proposed I was taken a back… I remembered how I had stalled that night too… I was making the right decision… right?

Ajaib smiled now, “All right then just let me know when you plan to go and I’ll help you pack.”

I now glanced at the time and realized I had class in about an hour, it would take about 30 minutes to reach campus so I told Ajaib I was gonna run and made my way to university now.

Aman had finally taken the car to the auto shop and got that sorted out; I remembered the earful he had gotten from me when I had come home… I didn’t even manage to go to the Gurudwara that day. But luckily that guy had come along… the tire wala, I smiled now at his new nickname. If only he had heard it too…

I reached the campus and stuck the parking ticket on the dashboard and headed to the student centre where I knew I would always find someone hanging around. I still had about 20 minutes to spare and hoped that Nina or Preety were there early.

I glanced around and saw them sitting at the lounge near the black leather sofas. I walked over and Nina waved.

“Hey Kiran! I was beginning to think you would come late… as usual!” she said laughing.

I smiled now and sat down beside her, “Actually I was getting a little bored at home so I decided to come here a bit early…” I said now resting my head against the wall.

“Oh my God you are just one strange girl! You’re gonna be married in a few months! I would be like insanely happy and busy! How can you be bored?”

“Well you know how it is; it just gets to be a bit too much at times …so anyways I heard they’re building something near your place…”

I hoped she bought that and to my luck she then just laughed and started up a new conversation with everyone at the table about the new mall opening up near her house.

I told her I was gonna grab some coffee and walked towards the Tim Horton’s where the line wasn’t too long but would still be long enough to pass some time. As I walked over, I suddenly had the feeling that someone was watching me… was I going crazy? The student centre was already filled with so many students? But as I looked back now I suddenly saw him right behind me and I almost screamed.

He laughed at me now, “Are you ok?”

I grinned… “You go here?”

Now Salim had a mischievous look in his eyes, “What do you think?”

Why did I suddenly feel like my last year here was about to get a little more interesting?


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“How am I supposed to know? Why don’t you ask her yourself…” I said now feeling frustrated.

“Salim what’s your deal man? Lately you’ve been acting like such an ass for no reason. Is there like a reason or are you just like that always?” asked Hassan now getting pissed off.

“Look I told you a million times man, it’s her choice right? I mean you can’t expect the girl to give up her family for you… you guys should have thought about all that stuff before you got into the relationship…”

Hassan had been going on for the past 2 hours about problems with his girlfriend Priya who surprise surprise wasn’t Muslim… and like always this created a lot of problems for both of them. Why did people get themselves into problems like that in the first place?

“So you’re saying you could never fall for anyone outside the faith?” he asked now giving me the third degree.

“Look… just don’t get into asking me questions cause you know this ain’t my problem. You are the one who wanted to date her and now you guys gotta figure this out. If her parents wanna disown her then you gotta ask yourself… is this worth it?”

“Why do you gotta make it sound so awful for… I mean of course man I don’t want her to stop talkin’ to them but like they are being so backwards.”

“Look man simple as that, you wouldn’t want your daughter doing that would you?” I asked him now trying to make him understand that her parents did have a point. She was their baby girl after all, and even I knew myself I would never allow my daughter to do such a thing. But then again Hassan always had a counter argument to everything I said…

“So you’re saying it’s better to have your daughter marry for your happiness than for her own? What kinda parent would you be man?” he asked now questioning my parenting skills.

“So you’re telling me if your daughter wanted to marry some next dude that wasn’t Muslim… you would let her?” I asked now trying to figure out when he would let this go.

“Look man, don’t say I don’t follow the faith cause I do… but where love is concerned it’s a whole different level and you can’t just see things as black or white. And it’s better than seeing her cry, I mean what parent wants their kid to be unhappy?”

“It’s not all about love you know…” I said now trying to make him understand. “I mean why do you think half of these so called couples who have been dating since high school or college fail so miserably at their own marriages? Cause they don’t get it… you gotta compromise at times and sometimes its for the best…”

It was for the best right? I mean getting married to Sabah was hard enough I couldn’t even imagine what mountain I would have to climb if I ever did fall in love with a non- Muslim like Hassan had done. Deep down inside I hoped it did work out for them because I knew how much they loved each other… but somehow love was never enough. It just didn’t cut it…

“Are you referring that to your own relationship or mine?” asked Hassan now breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Look man, I know that you two love each other but when her daddy screams and her mom cries in front of her… then I don’t know what’s gonna happen. You can’t blame her for being caught in the middle and to be honest I don’t think I would ever do that.”

“So you’re saying you would never fall in love with a non-Muslim girl?” asked Hassan now eyeing me closely for my response.

I grinned now, “I’m already getting engaged man, what now you wanna ruin my marriage?” I asked now laughing.

“No man, honestly, if Sabah wasn’t in the picture… you still would never?”

“No man… think of me in whatever way you want… but I would never fall for a non-Muslim girl.”

Hassan smirked now and I looked up at him in surprise, “You know Salim, it always happens to people who make such high demands of themselves. It is human character for not being able to live up to the standards we set up for ourselves.”

“Look man, this isn’t some Hindi movie where what I say will come back and haunt me or something… I just don’t see a future like that for myself and hard enough as it is for you to believe… Sabah is hard enough for me to understand, can’t imagine what would happen if I did love someone else.”

And with that I said 'bye' to Hassan and headed towards my lecture hall… Hassan would one day understand that I was right all along…


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“Look just stay the hell away from here all right?” said Vijay his voice now rising in anger.

I couldn’t really see what was goin’ on from back here but since I could tell their voices were getting louder, I knew it couldn’t be good… I felt so awful for Priya, especially this new drama that had started up… I mean couldn’t Vijay take no for an answer?

“I don’t even like you!” said Priya her voice now getting angrier and louder as well.

“Look Priya, I know I did some things wrong but believe me I’m different now. I swear!” he said now trying to talk a bit calmer in front of the crowd that was already building outside the Student Centre.

“Look man, leave her alone!” said Hassan now coming up in front of Priya and sticking his face right in front of Vijay.

It was amazing how the crowd had gotten quiet all of a sudden and you could probably hear a pin drop with this much silence.

I tried to push myself forward to try and get her away from the crowd. Priya and I had been great friends since middle school, and although I had hardly seen her in the past few months, I knew she was probably very embarrassed and very uncomfortable right about now.

“Look man, back off aight?!” said Vijay now trying to get into Hassan’s space, which was clearly marked off by his firm stance in front of Priya.

“She’s my girlfriend chump, so just run along and rant somewhere else. You get me?” said Hassan now suddenly looking very pissed off.

Of all the times Priya had introduced me to him, I always saw him as a calm and friendly person, but if someone were to see him now, you would never guess he was the same guy.

Suddenly Priya spotted me and motioned me to help her out with this. I maneuvered my way through the crowd and stood beside her now. She was looking like she was about to cry and wanted to leave this place before anything happened.

“Look Hassan or whatever your name is, why don’t you just run along to your people and leave our girls alone?” said Vijay now smirking as if this was a good comeback.

“What’s that supposed to mean huh?” said Hassan now suddenly clenching his fists.

Priya stood in front of Hassan now and held his hand before he raised it to Vijay’s face.

“He’s not worth it,” she said now to Hassan looking into his eyes and pleading with him to leave this place before the university security arrived at the scene.

“No Priya! This asswipe ain’t worth it. You could’ve had any Indian guy but instead you decide to go for a Paki… you sure know how to pick em. What is it with you and always being blind to what you got right in front of you and going for a cheap set like this?”

Right at that moment Hassan lunged towards him and punched him in the face before anyone could stop him. Vijay hurled to the ground and looked up with a bleeding lip.

“You son of a bitch! You almost broke my nose you asshole!” said Vijay now getting up and clenching his fists and getting ready to take on Hassan. “The truth hurts huh asshole?” he said now laughing.

Suddenly I sensed a guy behind me come in and step in front of both Hassan and Vijay before either one of em started up again.

“What the hell is wrong with you guys!?” he said now shouting.

He looked at Vijay who had his fists raised and signaled for him to put it down if he knew what was good for him.

“Look man, dis don’t concern you aight? So just back off!”

“Look little man, I suggest you get your bleeding ass over to the other side of this campus before it gets ugly. Go run along now before campus security sees your ass and gives a call home to your mommy.” Said Salim, as if he knew this would have the effect he wanted.

Suddenly Vijay looked a bit cautious and looked around for the first time at the huge crowd that had formed around him.

“Look people, this ain’t gonna go down here… too much campus people around.” He now looked at Hassan and smirked. “You’re lucky this guy saved your ass Paki but next time you won’t be so lucky…”

Hassan smirked back and stuck out his middle finger as Vijay walked off limping.

I turned towards Salim now who was making sure Hassan was ok and then I looked at Priya who had tears in her eyes. Hassan noticed it too and hugged her and told her everything would be ok.

“How can you say that?” she said now crying uncontrollably. “He just threatened to jump you in front of everyone… and I know him… he’ll do it.”

“Priya nothings gonna happen to me, don’t worry.” said Hassan now holding her and walking inside the Student Centre towards the lounge.

Me and Salim were about to leave them alone, when they both gestured for us to follow so we started to walk a small distance behind them.

“What’s that guy’s deal anyways?” I asked Salim now, trying to make conversation.

“He’s just a loser who can’t take getting dumped in the past. Just one of em desperate dudes who needs to get out more…” said Salim now grinning.

“Well at least you handled it, I mean that sorta thing never happens here…” I said now hardly believing all of the rude things that Vijay had said just to win back Priya.

“Well that’s the thing with dating someone out of your religion… it never works.” said Salim now silently talking to me as if he didn’t want Hassan or Priya to overhear us.

“What? How can you say that? I mean Hassan is your friend, shouldn’t you be encouraging them?” I asked him now suddenly seeing a side to him that I had never seen before.

“Look Kiran… don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of fine girls that I could date who aren’t Muslim… even you for that matter,” he said now winking, “But… thing is life isn’t a movie man, there are huge differences and I’m engaged to a Muslim gal already who at times doesn’t get me at all… so how could any non – Muslim gal get me? And the fact is, Hassan is a Pakistani and wheneva he’s around Priya, he’s only eva gonna be the ‘Muslim’ boy she’s dating or the ‘Paki’ guy, so what’s the point? I mean it’s just added headache. If you can avoid these problems then why go into em in the first place. Hassan should have thought about all of that before he decided to fall in love with her…”

“But Salim, that’s just it. You don’t ‘decide’ when you wanna fall in love. It just happens…”

₪ ₪ ₪

[!*Kriti*!]

ooo i cant wait till they actually fall in love with each other....keep it upp ..gud worrkkk;)

[•Amrita•]

“Ok so that looks like everything then …” I said glancing over at Sabah as she stood by the window. “You ok?” I asked her now, trying to figure out what she could be thinking about.

“Yeah…I’m fine” she said and managed a weak smile before turning her back against me once again.

“Sabah come on! I asked you if you had wanted to go, you’re the one who said no, so now why are you doing this?” I asked now getting frustrated.

“But you could’ve stayed back… I mean what’s there that isn’t here?” she asked now looking at me for an answer.

“Why can’t I go back alone then if you don’t have the time to go?” I asked, “I got your shopping list right here…” I said now holding up the piece of crumpled paper that Sabah had written down a bunch of things for the wedding.

“Yeah but it’s not that Salim… and you know it. I mean sometimes I feel like you’re not even there when I talk to you… do you not wanna get married? I mean am I into this on my own?” she asked now looking hurt.

“Sabah… I ... come on don’t do that face, I’m sorry if I sound like that, but it’s just coming at me so fast… and you know you’re the only girl who gets me… I mean understands me the most…”

How could I answer her question … I mean deep down inside sometimes I wondered if I was making the right decision. There were so many things which felt incomplete when I was with Sabah and I didn’t know how to tell her… I mean I didn’t have the heart to break hers… but then again I didn’t even have a reason for feeling this way… Sabah had been as understanding as she could be… I just didn’t know how to open up to her and I didn’t even know half the time how to tell her what was on my mind… I was always worried about offending her. But were we always supposed to think so much with the person we loved? But love… that word seemed so scary and so hard to fess up to though… did I love Sabah? I wasn’t even sure myself.

“So anyways, when you get out of your thoughts… do you wanna tell me when your flight is?” she asked now giving me one of those looks.

I grinned, “Come on Sabah, it’s just a month… I’ll be back before you know it and plus you’ll be so busy with your friends and at home that you’ll hardly know it.”

“Yeah…” said Sabah and smiled weakly reaching for one of my bags.

“It’s ok…” I said and took it from her. “Listen Sabah, I will marry you and it’s not you honestly… sometimes I just am a bit moody and that’s why I wanna get away for a few days, I think it’ll help me realize how important you are in my life… don’t you?” I said now trying to get her to smile.

And she did! Sabah smiled now shyly and punched me lightly on the shoulder, “Ya ya Salim now get downstairs with all these bags! If you think I’m ruining my nail polish for you, you got another thing coming!”

I told her I’d be right down and managed to get all the bags and head downstairs.

I needed to get some batteries and some other things before the flight I thought to myself; at least Sabah’s mood was better now. I didn’t want to go with her being sad… she had always been such a good friend of mine since we were kids.

“Sabah!” I said calling after her and she turned around.

“Haan? You forgot something upstairs?” she asked.

“No, I needed to buy some last minute things from the store… do you wanna come or should I go alone?” I asked her looking around for my car keys.

“Well actually Salim I really gotta head home… if you don’t mind can you drop me off on the way to the store? I had promised ammi I’d be home by 7…”

“Yeah sure I don’t mind,” I said now a bit disappointed that my attempt at spending time with her had failed…

A few minutes later we were in the car and I was driving towards Sabah’s place… a few months before she wouldn’t even think of sitting in this car with me, especially if the engagement had never taken place… things had changed so quickly since then that it was as if everyone told me after what had happened and filled me in… sometimes it felt like someone else was making the decisions for me and I was just going along with it… was I? I tried to shake these thoughts out of my head but was glad that Sabah wasn’t paying attention and was playing with the radio now.

“So … will you miss me?” asked Sabah now lowering the volume on the radio.

I laughed, “Man I should have known you would ask me that!”

“You didn’t answer my question Salim…” she said now sighing.

“Sabah of course I’ll miss you! You’re my best friend pagal,” I said now grinning, but I guess that wasn’t what she had wanted to hear because she just shook her head and gave me a small smile.

“You just don’t get it Salim…” she said and opened the door to get out of the car.

“Sabah wait! What do you want me to say?” I asked.

What had I done that was so wrong? I mean I told her I would miss her… wasn’t that what she wanted to hear? I sighed and tried to call after her but she had already closed the front door behind her, if I ran after her now, it would just cause a scene in front of her family and I didn’t really wanna deal with all of that right now. I sighed now wondering if she would pick up her cell, I dialed the number but then stopped… I think I would leave the begging for forgiveness after I got home, I didn’t really wanna deal with this right now. I just wish she understood me a little better…

I started to drive towards the park now which was a few minutes away from the mall… I didn’t know why but I felt like getting out for a while and being by myself. That was the whole reason for going to Lahore wasn’t it? I wanted to get away from all of this… or was it that I wanted to get away from everyone here? I wasn’t sure anymore and all this thinking was driving me insane! I parked the car near the lake and wandered over to a bench where I saw a girl was already sitting… I sighed maybe she wouldn’t mind?

“Excuse me…” I started to say but then I realized it was the same tire girl! I couldn’t help but laugh now at the coincidence of running into her again but stopped laughing when I saw her face… she looked so sad for some reason.

“What’s wrong?” I asked now getting worried and sat down beside her before she could say no.

“It’s nothing …” she said managing a small smile and wiping her eyes.

I knew well enough that she had been crying… but what was so wrong? And why was I so concerned all of a sudden?

“Do you wanna talk about it?” I asked… now wondering if I should bother or if she would just turn me down.

“I can’t marry him Salim…” she said and then started to sob again.


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“All right then man, you have a safe trip to Lahore and when you get back, let me know how it went,” said Hassan as he patted me on the back and waved good-bye.

Unfortunately he wasn’t gonna be able to make it to the airport cause of work, but I never liked saying good-bye’s to anyone anyways… so this was better in a way.

I started walking from the Masjid towards my car and suddenly remembered my conversation with Kiran yesterday… I couldn’t get over how much our lives were so similar at the moment, and yet in so many ways I felt as if she was way more mature than me… at least she was being honest with her feelings and telling someone… I didn’t know why she told me, but in a way I envied her for that… I didn’t really have anyone as close to trust with all of my personal problems.

“I don’t love him though Salim… and every time he gets excited about the wedding and wants to go shopping or just hang out… I freak out because I’m scared that he’ll see it…” said Kiran now wiping her eyes and looking at me.

“Well… if you don’t wanna marry him Kiran, then don’t… the truth is, it would kill him to know much later on that you don’t love him…”

“But then I remembered that last convo we had on campus… when you said love grows over time and that sometimes life is about compromises?”

I couldn’t help but hate myself for saying that… for some reason I felt her innocence and knew deep down that she of all people didn’t deserve to make compromises in their lives… she deserved to be happy… truly happy.

“No Kiran… don’t compromise… trust me, just tell him the truth.”

“Yeah but how do I tell him… I mean half of our relatives in India know already and I’m so scared it’ll destroy our friendship… I mean I care about him but I thought about it so many times and I don’t wanna do this outta sympathy…”

“Just tell him exactly what you’re sayin’ to me… trust me I know how you feel…”

“You do?”

“Yeah… I’m engaged too and getting married in a few months… but yeah enough about me just tell him the truth Kiran, don’t regret it you know? Marriage is a big deal I know… especially for people who watch as many Shahrukh Khan movies as you do...” I said now grinning to make her laugh.

Luckily it had worked and Kiran was smiling now and thanked me for the advice. Deep down inside I was glad that she hadn’t questioned me on own my life, otherwise maybe she would have realized how much we were in the same boat…

Suddenly my cell phone rang and I glanced at the caller ID and knew it was Sabah before I even picked it up, but I was surprised to see that it was Kiran of all people… weird because she had never called me before… I couldn’t even remember when I had given her my number… but I picked it up quickly and smiled when I heard her voice.

“Hey Salim,” she said sounding much better than yesterday.

“Hey Kiran! I totally forgot I gave you my number,” I said but happy nonetheless to talk to her.

“You don’t mind that I called do you?” she asked now pausing for an answer.

“No, no, I just never get a call from you,” I said quickly, “So what’s up? You feeling better?”

“Yeah… I’m actually going to India tomorrow Salim… I changed my departure date… I kinda just wanna get away you know?”

“Hey that’s awesome! I mean… like I’m going to Lahore as well tomorrow! Would be nice to see India one day too,” I said now.

“Wow, Lahore seems nice, I actually always wanted to see Lahore as well, my mom’s family was from there… but yeah I just wanted to thank you for your advice yesterday, it meant a lot to me…” she said now as if she was trying to make this seem as casual as she could.

I wasn’t really the type of guy who gave the best advice, but it was nice that she was actually complimenting me for it, “Hey anytime Kiran… but did you manage to tell him yet?” I asked wondering if it was right of me to ask… smart move Salim I thought to myself, you’ve already said it now.

“Actually… I’m planning on telling him right now… I’m a bit nervous on how to do it… I already told my parents and brother… they weren’t too thrilled but in the end they said if my heart wasn’t in it then there’s no point…”

“Wow… that’s really nice of them to support you like that… well just tell him you know as soon as you can…”

“Yeah for sure, well I’ll get back to packing I guess… flight is tomorrow night so I really gotta get a move on!”

“Yeah… hey Kiran…”

“Yeah?”

“Are you free tonight? Like just for coffee…like just to talk? I know it’s sorta last minute but yeah…”

I didn’t hear a reply for a minute or so, and then I worried that maybe she was thinking wrong of me, I was about to say forget it, when she suddenly spoke up.

“Is 7pm ok?” she asked laughing.

I smiled now and laughed as well, “Man I thought you were gonna say no and then I would look like such a dumb ass…”

She started giggling now, “I know that’s why I stalled!”

I smiled now at her witty comment as I hung up and made my way home to finish off the last bit of my packing… I was looking forward to tonight, more so than I had looked forward to anything in the past few months that had gone by… but suddenly I felt something inside of me… was it right of me to do this? I mean sure I was engaged but … Kiran was just a friend to me… right?


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“So do you love her?” I asked, trying to figure out if my decision with Ajaib had been the right one…

“Wha – What do you mean?” asked Salim.

I wasn’t sure if it was just me, but I felt as if he was very uncomfortable around his own personal life… but why?

“Kiran… I never told you this but, I don’t know if I do or don’t… I mean she’s the only girl I’ve known for the longest part of my life… but at times… I don’t feel attracted to her, and there’s no sparks … but then again, I don’t even know if there are supposed to be sparks… I mean the whole thing just seems too filmi to me.” He said now laughing and sipping on his coffee.

“Well… call me a romantic or what but I think when you’re with the right person, you just know… you feel comfortable sharing your feelings with them and all that mushy stuff…” I said now giggling.

“So do you have anyone you can share your feelings with?”

“Well… to be honest, I don’t share very intimate feelings with anyone … I use to tell my mom everything growing up, but she lately has a lot to deal with and I don’t want her to think I’m losing my mind… I’m a very emotional person, and I guess maybe I’ve always wanted a filmi reality…”

“Hmm… God Kiran you’re just like me! I mean I use to have Hassan but you know he’s a bit busy with Priya, and I don’t blame him, I mean he’s got his life goin’ and I think that’s nice… I mean in a way I envy him because he KNOWS that’s love… but I dunno in a way I guess I’m hoping what me and Sabah have will eventually get to that level…”

“Well, why don’t you just tell her how you feel?” I asked now. Why were guys so damn secretive about their emotions? It was as if they expected us to be psychics and just know.

“It’s just because I try to open up to her… but I can’t see myself doing it… I don’t know how to explain it, but you know sometimes you know someone will understand you and at other times you know they won’t… and I guess what I’m trying to say is she doesn’t really understand me Kiran… not like you do at least…”

Hearing that made me feel so good inside… and here I was feeling the same way about him… he really was a great listener… if only I had met him earlier… But wait, what was that even supposed to mean? I told myself I was crossing my limits now and I tried to laugh off his compliment but hoped I wasn’t turning red on the outside.

“That’s really sweet Salim… but to be honest, you’re a great friend as well.... I haven’t really been able to tell anyone about all this stuff in years.”

“Thanks Kiran, that means a lot to me, but yeah you’re a great friend yourself, I think I’m gonna order some of those brownies!” he said now winking at me mischievously and I grinned back and watched as he called the waitress over and was ordering.

I couldn’t explain it but I felt like I was seeing him for him for the first time in my life. He was so different from everyone I had met, just when I thought I couldn’t find a friend who understood me, he came along… and suddenly I felt a little happier and my heart felt a little lighter.

‘What’s wrong?” he asked now holding his brownie in mid-air, “Am I eating it wrong?” he asked now smiling.

I couldn’t help but laugh and he grinned as well back at me, he had something about him which was cute…

“No, no you’re eating it fine!” I said now smiling back at him.

“Here Kiran you have to try it!” he said now breaking off a piece of his.

“No, no Salim seriously, I’m full…” I said but he had already broken off a piece and handed it to me and I tried it. “Wow this is good!” I said and he broke off another piece.

He smiled, “At least you’re eating with me, some girls act like they don’t eat food at all whenever they’re around guys… it’s so annoying.”

“No, no, I hate all that starving stuff, it’s so unhealthy…” I hadn’t been starving myself now had I? Hopefully he wasn’t referring to me because I had ordered a huge cup of coffee with him and ate a piece of that apple pie.

After a while, me and Salim had finally decided it was time to head home, outside it seemed to be pouring now and we didn’t wanna get caught up in a thunderstorm while we were driving back to our homes, so we had decided to bolt quickly outta there.

As we headed out, Salim was walking alongside me and it was pouring harder now, and we both tried to get to our own cars but Salim suddenly called my name, “Hey Kiran!” he said now shouting over the rain.

“Yes?” I asked.

“So… what did you end up telling Ajaib in the end?” he asked.

“I…” but I had suddenly stopped shouting because Salim had come closer to me and now he was looking into my eyes and waiting for an answer…

“I didn’t go through with it Salim… I agree with what you said in the coffee shop… I’m just gonna wait until it gets to that level…”

I couldn’t make out Salim’s face but did he seem disappointed in me? I couldn’t tell… but he was the one who was getting engaged to Sabah anyways… so why did he have any right to advise me against not marrying Ajaib… India would help me remember how important Ajaib was… yes it would I told myself.

“Kiran… thanks for tonight, I had a nice time talking to you and make sure he treats you right always ok? You’re an amazing person and I’m glad I can call you my friend now…” he said smiling weakly.

He suddenly reached out his hand for a handshake and I smiled… but I suddenly felt sad… for some reason I didn’t wanna go home just yet… I wanted to …

I suddenly pulled Salim’s car keys out of his hand and ran with them towards the open park near the coffee shop.

“Kiran! Are you insane? It’s raining outside come back!” he shouted after me laughing.

“You want these?” I asked now giggling like a kid, “come and get them! Let’s see how fast Mr. Salim is!” and I laughed and ran with them and to my surprise he actually started running after me!

I was freaked and started running and laughing at the same time, the rain now was beginning to come down harder and both of our jackets were entirely soaked. But I had always loved the rain growing up but I had never had the courage to do anything like this, except now that is…

Salim suddenly caught up with me and grabbed my arm and pulled me close. We were both breathing hard from running and he put out a hand for his car keys back and I smiled.

“Aww ok fine here you go!” I said laughing now, and he smiled back.

“You honestly thought I’d let you get away that easily?” he said grinning back.

Did he mean? I wasn’t so sure anymore but when he reached out and touched me…and suddenly it was as if he felt it too and so did I… I was so certain… the moment he touched my hand it was there… sparks.

But as fast as it had happened, that was as fast as we let each other go… it wasn’t right anyways… how could I have felt anything … I only knew him for a few weeks now… it was impossible. And as we both walked away, I suddenly realized something that was as clear as day… I was falling for Salim… I had never been so sure in my life about anything, and now as I stood there waving back at him as he got into his car, I knew that I was crossing my limits…


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“So like is that it then?” asked Sabah now eyeing me from across the room.

“Yeah that’s all of it,” I said now dragging the suitcase down to the foot of the stairs, luckily Rizwan ran up the stairs to help me take it down and I was a bit disappointed that Sabah was still standing there… why was she so mad all the time anyways? I thought to myself. I mean I had told her about Kiran and the whole coffee thing… I mean ok maybe I left out the part about the rain but I knew what type of person she was… and she would always doubt me and somehow… I felt like maybe she should? I mean what had I been doing… a guy who was out with a girl who was practically gonna be married off in a matter of months… and here I was lying to a girl who I was also gonna be marrying too in a matter of months… why did this suddenly seem so wrong… was I being dishonest with Kiran? With myself? Or with Sabah? Had I given that advice to Kiran because that was how I felt inside… was I trying to help her not make a bad decision because I felt like I was the one who had done the same?

“Salim?” asked Rizwan now, who had practically walked up to me and was now holding onto the suitcase and waiting for me to let go.

“Oh… yeah sorry man…” I said now but as I made my way back to my room to get the other handbag, I started to get a bit irritated at Sabah who was now practically glaring at me from the window.

She was now staring outside; looking at something apparently far away… or maybe this was her attempt to show me that she didn’t want to start any conversation… was this how my life would be if I did go through with it? I sighed and knew I would have to be the one to start …

“So Sabah… was there anything else you wanted to add to the list?” I asked now trying to put on a cheerful face.

She still hadn’t turned around and remained glued to the window, now playing with the curtains.

“Sabah?” I asked now coming a bit closer to her.

She abruptly turned around as if avoiding any physical contact with me, and I suddenly put my hand down, which I had raised to tap her on the shoulder. Her eyes seemed to be watery…had she been crying? I suddenly felt a pang of guilt and felt like the most selfish guy in the world… how could I do this to her? To our friendship… to our families?

“Sabah! What’s wrong?” I asked now coming closer to her and looking into her eyes for just about a second before I turned away from them to look somewhere else… her shoulder, her hair… anywhere but her eyes.

“That’s whats wrong!” she said now raising her voice, but trying hard not to sob uncontrollably.

“What do you mean?” I asked, half expecting her to say what I had been thinking all this time… I had always known I wasn’t a very good actor since birth… my emotions and expressions had always given me away.

“It’s you Salim! It’s you!” she shouted and I quickly looked behind me to make sure Rizwan wasn’t watching us, but luckily he was nowhere near my room and I assumed he was waiting downstairs.

“Sabah what? What’s me?” I asked now suddenly feeling awful at seeing her cry in front of me.

I tried to come closer to her, I wanted to comfort her, but my feet weren’t allowing me to… I didn’t want to get close to her… but why?

“For all these months… these past few weeks… I… I blamed myself … thought that maybe it was me…. Something about me that you didn’t like, maybe didn’t feel attracted to, but the truth is, you just aren’t in this at all Salim! And all this time I’ve been wondering why… and when I talk to your mom, she has the same face… it’s like she knows too that you’re not into me, but she won’t say it! And it kills me inside Salim! And I hate you for it! I hate when you make me feel this way! I just once wanted you to ask me Salim! I wanted you to say ‘Sabah come with me to Lahore’ but did you?! Do you ever try to include me? I mean all you can think about is your stupid feelings… what about mine Salim? I mean all this time I feel like I’ve been the fool here, taken for a ride! All you want is some stupid girl who just shuts up and stays at home, waiting for you to tell her what’s really wrong. Well I’m sick of it! I’m sick of your stupid mood changes! And I’m sick of trying to guess what’s really bothering you! If you really loved me Salim you would tell me!”

“Tell you what!” I said now suddenly feeling angry. “All you can think about is your God damn self! Is that what you wanna hear? You want me to understand your feelings, well how about mine huh? When was the last time, you ever wanted to do something I wanted Sabah? When was the last time you ever stopped and thought about what I liked or disliked? The whole world doesn’t revolve around you and who your friends are, and what they wanna eat at the wedding and what God damn outfits you wanna wear! And why the hell would I even ask you to come with me to Lahore? You think I’m outta my damn mind!? If I wanna hear how hot it is in Lahore, or how it smells or how much pollution there is, I might as well bang my head against a brick wall!”

“So that’s what you think of me?” she asked now suddenly more angry than upset. “Some little spoiled girl who just likes to complain? When was the last time you even made some attempt to act like a couple Salim? Everyone else at least has some intimacy in their relationships, have you ever once even touched me Salim! Have you!?” she said now shouting louder.

“I don’t believe in sex before marriage Sabah, and if you mean other forms of intimacy, well I think you should at least get me on the basis of who I am before I can consider kissing you or hugging you! And I don’t like showing off in front of people who are only gonna talk trash behind our backs anyways.”

“Even when I try to hold your hand when we’re together, you wince away Salim! You act like I have some sort of disease… I mean you practically spoke more to me when we were just friends than we do now, and I thought this new relationship would make us closer but instead it’s done the opposite.” She said now sitting on my bed and looking down at the floor.

“Look Sabah… to be honest with you… I’m just scared… I sometimes think that everything is just goin’ so damn fast… these past few months have been so fast and that’s sorta why I wanted to go to Lahore in the first place. I know I’m being selfish but… I just wanna get away for a few days… I’m sorry if I ever hurt you but sometimes I feel like no one gets me… the real me… I use to be able to talk to you about anything but now with this new relationship… I feel like if I don’t watch my words, you’ll take me the wrong way. You’ve always been my best friend… like my best childhood friend who’s a girl… I know we’re kinda different in how we see things and I don’t say it as much but I do care about you… I’m just not so good at expressing it or ‘showing’ it… I’m sorry but I guess that’s just how I am…”

“Salim… I think I want some time apart…” said Sabah now getting up from the bed. “I can’t deal with your mood swings anymore… and frankly I’m a bit tired of it.”

“What? What do you mean?” I asked now suddenly feeling a bit shocked at her cold tone of voice.

“You heard me… I think we should just go take some time apart… go to Lahore as a free man, not tied down… who knows you might meet someone there?” she said half smiling.

“Sabah quit joking around here,” I said now getting a bit frustrated and angry at her unwillingness to fix this, “How can you say that when the nikah is just a few weeks away?”

“Nikah?” she said now laughing, “Who knows if there will be one now? Just please Salim do us both a favour… figure out what YOU really want… you know how I feel about you… but I still don’t know what you feel… so please just take this time to think it over.”

I watched as Sabah walked past me towards the door and I watched as the front door opened and closed behind her, and I watched myself stare out the window only to see her car vanish away from sight slowly… and all I did was stand there… and it suddenly hit me that she was right… I didn’t want to be with her… I didn’t want to marry her. I had always wanted to be her friend… just her friend. That day her dad had asked me to marry her… I had panicked… I said yes only because I knew it was what everyone had wanted… but not what I had wanted.

Rizwan came upstairs and was silent for a while. There was no doubt in my mind that he hadn’t heard my touching argument with Sabah… I knew he wouldn’t push me for details which was one thing I always liked about his personality. Rizwan just sat beside me in silence and I knew he was waiting for me to say something first.

“Listen man… I’m sorry you had to hear all that…” I said trying to say something to him at last.

“Salim… I’m not gonna add salt to the wound here but it’s obvious you don’t love her… I think whatever happened today was for the best…”

“I know… you’re right. Listen Rizwan I’m sorry for all the trouble, you came here to help me with my stuff and now I’m not much fun to be around… you think I could just meet up with you at the airport tonight?”

“All right Salim man, you take care ok? I’ll meet up with you there then…”

I was about to see Rizwan off to the door downstairs when my cell started to ring, I doubted Sabah would be calling me after today… but I checked the caller ID and my heart pounded suddenly when I saw Kiran’s name on the display. A smile crept on my lips and quickly I waved bye to Rizwan who I knew was probably curious now as to who was calling me.

“Hello?” I said now delighted to be talking to Kiran after yesterday night’s coffee.

“Hey Salim, it’s me Kiran,” she said now pausing as if I didn’t recognize her voice already.

“Hey! I know it’s you pagal, how you been? Busy packing for India?”

“Well… I’m not going yet… my flight kinda got rescheduled…” she said now sounding a bit down. “How about you? What time is your flight?” She asked now trying to change the subject.

“What? Why did it get rescheduled?” I asked her. “Is everything ok at home?”

“Yeah everything is fine here; it’s just some last minute things I have to take care of for the wedding before I head to Punjab… so I guess I’m here for a few more weeks… how about you? Yours is tonight as well isn’t it?” she asked now trying to sound excited for me.

“Actually… my flight got postponed as well!” I said suddenly. What the hell was I doing?

“It did?!” said Kiran now sounding a bit concerned, “is everything ok?”

“Oh yeah of course! I just wanted to wait a month you know… go when the weather would be just perfect… my aunt was saying it’s been raining lately there… so I just told her I’ll come after a few weeks then…” I hoped Kiran wasn’t familiar with Lahore’s weather because she paused for a second and then laughed.

“Wow, what a coincidence huh?” she said now giggling. “You’re crazy Salim! Cancelling due to weather conditions, a little rain never hurt anyone!”

“Well not you apparently, could tell by the way you ran in the rain last night… you would’ve got soaked if I hadn’t caught up with you…” I said and then suddenly stopped myself before it got uncomfortable.

Kiran paused for a second and laughed, “Yeah… I had a lot of fun last night… anyways Salim since you’re here for a few weeks as well I guess I’ll see you around! I’ll call yah later ok I gotta run to pick up a few things for mom now.”

I hung up the phone with a huge smile on my face and then suddenly ran downstairs for the travel agent’s number. I dialed it quickly and waited until I spoke to the same guy in charge of my flight information.

“Hello?”

“Yes Sir, what can I do for you today?”

“I would like to reschedule my flight please… I need something for next month…”


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“So she basically told me to go to Lahore as a free man…” said Salim now taking a sip of his coke.

I was trying to find words, but nothing was coming out right… I didn’t really know what to say to him… I mean was it rude of me if I said Sabah was right in her own way? Or would that only make him feel more upset?

“Salim… I think…”

But luckily Salim had read my mind and knew exactly what I was trying to say.

“I know Kiran… I get it… I shouldn’t have played around like that… I should have told her the truth… but you know from the beginning I’ve always… well I’ve always tried to make everyone else happy around me… and I dunno… I kinda don’t believe in all this love stuff no more… I mean I honestly tried to understand Sabah, and I tried so hard to explain myself to her but she just never understood me… and I guess I never got her… you get me?”

Again I was lost for words but I did know where he was coming from… it was the same way I had felt millions of times… it was always the little things… if they understood you then it made you feel more assured, that you weren’t changing when you were around them… and for some reason I was always asking myself whether I was the same Kiran with Ajaib, or if I was also changing myself as Salim had done with Sabah…

“Well Salim, I think it’s just our fault you know… I mean maybe we try so hard not to let the relationships work that we end up destroying it ourselves by our pessimism… I mean I’m always trying to find out ways in which the situation looks worse… but I guess I’m just afraid… that maybe if I start being truly happy things will change in my life… and I’ll be left being sad in the end…”

“You mean like karma or something?” asked Salim now trying to figure out what I was on about.

I smiled, I knew he wouldn’t be able to get me, not a lot of people did… “Well like sometimes when something really good happens to me… I’m happy for a while but then I think ok now what bad thing is gonna happen? It’s sorta like… I always have something in me that says you’re not supposed to be happy Kiran…”

“Oh come on Kiran… that’s not true. I mean what about all those real awful people who have got it made… I mean the way I always look at it, bad things in life only make us stronger... right?” said Salim now patting my hand gently.

I looked into his eyes and smiled… his smile was so warm, I suddenly felt tons better, but then we broke eye contact and he quickly slid his hand off mine. Again I had felt it… that intensity… that same current run through me… and I tried to shake it out of my thoughts.

“Kiran … listen…”

“Yeah Salim?” I said now waiting for him to say something…by the tone of his voice I was afraid it was something very serious.

“Kiran… I don’t know how to say this but like… I don’t know exactly where we stand…”

“What… What do you mean?” I asked when I knew fully well what he meant anyways.

He now looked up to meet my eyes and we both knew what was on each other’s minds… he smiled sheepishly and then raised an eyebrow as if trying to gesture rather than say it right out and I smiled at his childishness.

“Salim… I thought that… we were just…friends.” There I had said it and now I waited for his reaction to this. But why was I so afraid of what he would say? I mean we were just friends here.

“Yeah… that’s what I meant… plus I know if you were single… you would probably be head over heels in love with me by now,” he said now winking.

We both started to laugh and I said jokingly, “Of course Salim! You’re every girl’s dream!”

“Thanks Kiran…” he said now suddenly and I was a bit taken aback.

“For what?”

“Well you know… being a good friend… if you were Muslim Kiran… Ajaib would have some competition from me… and that’s not a joke.”

“Salim…” I never felt so flattered in my life… but it was these compliments, these words that would make me weak and cross my limits if Salim kept it up… and I knew how I was inside… rebellious against any boundary, always trying to put up a fight for anything that I wanted… but no… I couldn’t want Salim. This was wrong.

I suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable and I guess Salim had sensed it because he asked the waitress for the bill and then I quickly changed the subject to his trip to Lahore after the woman had left placing the separate bills on the table in front of us.

“Well… I haven’t really gotten a date fixed yet…” said Salim now fishing through his wallet for change, “how about you?”

“Well, mine is all set for the 23rd of December… I know it’s like 2 days before Christmas and mom was a bit upset… but it’s not like we go all out so I’m sure they will understand… what date are you looking to go around?” I asked now trying to avoid the subject of my personal life and my decision to skip Christmas break in Toronto this year.

“Well, actually… you’re not gonna believe this but I was actually planning to leave around December 23rd as well!” said Salim now finally putting down the change plus a tip for the waitress.

I smiled, something told me his recent Lahore cancellation and rescheduling was very sudden and he wasn’t even sure himself but I let it go and started to dig through my own purse to pay the bill.

“No, no Kiran I got this one!” said Salim now noticing what I was doing.

I laughed, “No no Salim! Not in a friendship, we’ll each pay our share, it’s only fair!” I said smiling, “but thanks for the offer.”

“Anytime…” he said and grinned.

After we had both set down the money for each of our bills we headed out of the small café and into the dark parking lot where it had gotten quite chilly but beautiful nonetheless with the bright sky overhead lit with a million stars and brief interruptions from airplanes flying overhead in the distance.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” I said to Salim looking up and watching my breathe come out as a puff of smoke.

“Yeah… very.” He said silently and I looked back down to see him looking at me and smiling.

I grinned, “Well thanks for the great conversation and I hope you have a great trip to Lahore Salim… let me know all about it when you get back ok?”

“Hey… Kiran… what do you mean?” asked Salim now suddenly sounding shocked by what I had just said.

“What do you mean?” I asked him… but I wished he hadn’t caught on… I had been trying so hard to keep a distance… I knew inside this wasn’t right… my sudden closeness with Salim… after all… we were perfect strangers and now slowly had become such good friends… but I was afraid… I didn’t need any more complications in my life… not now… not with my own wedding approaching so fast.

“You’re doing it again…” he said quietly.

“Doing what?” I asked him.

“You’re pushing me away…”

“Look Salim…” I said now suddenly frustrated at why he wouldn’t understand me. “I just need some time away… I mean of course I’ll see you around school and I mean we’ll meet up but this isn’t right…”

“What do you mean? What’s not right?” he asked me as if challenging me to say it out loud.

“You know what I mean Salim! Stop making this so difficult for me!” I said now angry at his unwillingness to let it go.

He was acting like a child who was acting clueless despite knowing everything.

“Look Salim, you might not be getting married now, but I am! And the first time you said to me, different religions don’t work… I understood what kinda girl you were looking for, and clearly it wasn’t gonna be me, so then why are you pushing me to meet you? Stick to your beliefs; don’t change them because I’m in the picture… I mean I know you don’t think of me in that way… but I just don’t want us to change our friendship and ruin it over that… I mean I’m not saying we will but like… I just get attached real fast and I don’t want to misinterpret this friendship…”

Wait… what had I just said?! Now he was gonna think that I liked him… that I had actually thought about us being together… as a couple… more than friends… but wasn’t that the truth? Wasn’t that why I had been so disappointed in him in the first place? Because I had thought he was narrow minded about Hassan and Priya’s relationship? But why did I even care? I was with Ajaib… I was getting married soon.

“Kiran… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it like that… I just… I just liked talking to you that’s all… but if this is what you want I’ll back off…” said Salim now suddenly growing quiet and uncomfortable at my sudden outburst.

“Salim… I… just don’t wanna complicate things between us… I mean you’re going through a tough time with Sabah and I’m getting – ”

But Salim had already cut me off, “Do you love him though?” he asked me now looking into my eyes for an answer.

“What?” I asked him taken completely by surprise.

“Do you love Ajaib?” he asked again now looking in my eyes.

I turned away… “Of course I do… why would I be marrying him if I didn’t?” I said now and then suddenly got out my car keys. “It’s getting kind of cold… I think we both should head home huh?” I asked now desperately trying to change the subject.

“Yeah… sure.” Said Salim and smiled sadly in my direction and I felt a sudden pang of guilt.

But why? I mean he was just my friend, why did he have to know every detail of my personal life? I tried so many times to tell myself that but it wasn’t working… I felt like he deserved to know the truth but Salim had suddenly brought me out of my thoughts once more.

“Look Kiran… I think you’re right… we should stop doing this stupid thing… I mean sooner or later one of us or maybe even one of our friends or something is gonna think otherwise about our friendship… but look I stick by what I said to you the first time we met… I’m sorry if I disappointed you but if you look inside your heart, you’ll know I’m right… it never works out.”

Salim was about to get into his car and drive away when I said from behind him, “It’s because those kinda people let their loved ones get away without a fight… they don’t even deserve to say they know that love is…”

Salim didn’t turn around and had his back against me. But I had heard him say quietly, “Enjoy your trip to India Kiran. Drive safe.”

And with that he sat inside his car, as did I, and we both vanished into the night knowing fully well that we would never intentionally ‘bump into’ one another again…

₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“The time really flew huh?” said Ajaib now quietly cutting the silence.

“Yeah…” I said now trying to sound convinced it had, but the truth was it hadn’t really… I had been counting down the days literally and finally tomorrow night I would be going to India… and I really wanted to go. And I had done the right thing… I was sure of it, because now I didn’t feel guilt.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Ajaib now looking at me curiously from across the table.

“Nah… I’m just wondering if it’ll be as exciting as I’ve made it out to be… I mean I hope it’ll be fun…” I said now feeling a bit awkward after what we both had said to each other…

Ajaib now smiled as if he knew what I was thinking about, “Listen Kiran… to be honest, you don’t have to feel weird around me, I think it’s cool you told me the truth, I mean if you wanna be friends and all, then hey why am I gonna force you?”

“I just feel so bad… I mean… you were so excited…”

“Oh come on, it’s not like I would’ve loved it if I made you go through with it, and you weren’t even having fun at your own wedding…”

I smiled weakly, I suddenly felt so much respect for him, I was sure he would make someone very happy in the future…

I remembered last night when I had told everyone that I didn’t wanna go through with it. I expected Aman to take it a bit more lightly but he was also surprised and a bit annoyed with me…

“Kiran have you lost your mind man!? This ain’t the time to freak out!” said Aman now putting down his spoon to glare at me from the kitchen table.

Ajaib had come over to help me tell maa and papa, they apparently had known from the beginning but Aman was acting as if he was the one whose wedding had been called off.

“I bought that damn suit for $200 Kiran!” he said now pouting.

Maa shot him a look and he finally shut up and knew it was time for him to leave the room…

Ajaib suddenly brought me out of my thoughts and waved his hand in front of me.

“Kiran you ok?” he asked now, looking a bit concerned.

“Yeah… I’m fine… Hey do you wanna get some coffee or something?” I asked now trying to break the silence.

He smiled, “Yeah of course!” We got up and walked towards the Second Cup place and as I was about to order I spotted someone who seemed to be familiar from the corner of my eye… I didn’t wanna stare so I just forgot about it and looked at the names of all the different hot drinks now.

Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see none other than Salim! He was standing behind me with a weak smile and said “Hi” politely as if we were just meeting for the first time.

I didn’t really know how to react… it had been weeks since we’d last spoken or even saw each other, but I knew I had thought about calling him or at least trying to ‘bump into’ him, but I guess maybe he had been avoiding me? I wasn’t really sure…

“So is this your fiancé?” asked Salim now smiling at Ajaib and reached out a hand.

“Actually, no, we’re just friends…” said Ajaib smiling and shook Salim’s hand, “I’m Ajaib… and you’re name?”

“Oh, my bad! I’m Salim,” he said now smiling a little bit more now…

Was it just me imagining that? Or did he really seem happier knowing that things between me and Ajaib hadn’t led to marriage just yet? I shook those thoughts out of my mind, and ordered my coffee and noticed that Ajaib had excused himself to go to the washroom. Salim now sat beside me at a table, and I tried to occupy myself but he was just silent and looking at me.

“Kiran… listen… I’m sorry about what I said that day… I’ve been trying to work out the courage to apologize for days, but each time I saw you around, you just vanished… I didn’t know if you were still mad at me or what… I just feel like such an ass…” he said now looking at me for any sign of approval or emotion.

“Salim… It’s ok…” I finally said now a bit happier to see he actually wanted to be friends again.

“So what happened with you and Ajaib?” he asked. I knew fully well he couldn’t help his curiousity and it made me smile inside.

“Well… I guess I always knew inside I didn’t really wanna marry him… and I feel so much better just being his friend. I feel more honest with him and with myself…”

“Ohh…” he said now getting all quiet.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, had I said something wrong?

“Nah , nothing… I just always thought that you know… you changed your mind because of me…”

“What?” I asked, now trying to figure out if he was joking or seriously speaking.

Suddenly Salim laughed and I punched him lightly on the shoulder, “Don’t do that!” I said now laughing myself.

“I really got you!” he said grinning now.

“Ya ya whatever!” I said now smiling.

“Kiran… I think…” said Salim now getting serious, I noticed from the corner of my eye that Ajaib was making his way back to our table, and I knew Salim had noticed it too.

“What? You think what?” I asked now equally anxious to know what he wanted to tell me.

“I think I’m falling for you… I can’t stop thinking about you… and I’m happier with you…” he said now looking into my eyes.

I was the same intensity from the first day we met and talked at that café, and I had to look away, for some reason I didn’t want him to get up and go, but as Ajaib made his way back, Salim suddenly smiled and said “Hey finally man! Was getting bored here!” and Ajaib laughed.

“Very funny! I’m not boring ok!” I said now pouting.

Salim then got up and was ready to head out, “You guys have fun now, I actually gotta go…”

“Why don’t you stay for a bit?” asked Ajaib now looking disappointed.

“Nah man, I can’t today, but for sure next time…” he waved at both of us and looked at me for a second longer and then left.

For a few minutes me and Ajaib just sipped our coffees in silence and then finally Ajaib spoke, “So you like him?”


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

“So you all packed Salim?” asked Sabah now looking over at me from the car.

We made eye contact for a second and then she looked down …

“Sabah… I don’t want to leave like this…”

“What do you mean?” she asked now looking up curiously. “Did you forget something?”

“Yeah… I did…” I said now moving closer to her.

She started to look at me strangely as if I had lost my mind or something and it made me laugh… she would always think I was a psycho huh?

“I’m sorry Sabah…” I said looking straight into her eyes before they searched the floor for nothing once again.
But surprisingly Sabah didn’t look down this time and gave me a weak smile.

“I’ll miss you Salim…” she said now all teary.

“I’ll miss you too, but I want you to be happy… I’m sorry I hurt you…”

“No… I mean I wanted you to be honest… and if you want to be friends it’s all right… I know … It’ll be hard to get use to but… I don’t wanna lose you… not as a friend…” she said now, her eyes all teary.

She tried to laugh away the tears but silently in my heart I said a little prayer to Allah that she find the guy that would make her truly happy… she deserved it.

“Are you all right?” I asked gently, and she smiled now.

“Much better!” And she quickly made her way to my suitcases and attempted to hoist it downstairs and then sat down on the bed again laughing.

I grinned, “Leave it to a man,” and winked.

She rolled her eyes and waited for me to act like a macho man but I struggled with it and it made her laugh even more.

“Ahan… and that’s how a ‘man’ handles things?” she said now grinning back.

Inside my heart I was glad she was laughing again… even if I never got who I wanted… maybe she would move on now, at least we were talking again? Since the past few days I had been trying so hard to move on myself… Kiran was happy without me… and I couldn’t be that selfish… I couldn’t ruin her life… not when a guy like Ajaib really cared for her… I had to let go. Maybe this trip would really help me… who knew, maybe I would meet someone there?

I heard Ammi now calling me from the foot of the stairs and Sabah quickly helped me with the suitcase and we made our way downstairs. I knew it was time for me to go to the airport. Sabah had work to get to and couldn’t get it off, so she had come early to say bye to me, and I knew in my heart I didn’t like goodbyes… not even if they weren’t forever. Sabah ended up saying bye very formally because Ammi was waiting for me by the car but I told her it was just for a month… I would be back soon… she nodded and then got into her car and drove off.

Ammi was looking at us from the corner of her eye and I could tell she was going to cry at the airport… I dreaded it. I had only seen her cry once before, but I shook that day from my mind and made a move towards the door.

“Is anyone else coming?” she asked me now.

“Nehi… Hassan and Priya said they would come to the airport and everyone else I met up with yesterday in school.”

“Salim… are you sure you’ll be okay there?” asked Ammi now.

“Maa… what’s wrong? You don’t want me to go?”

“Nehi I do but… it’s been so long… do you even remember the last time you went… you were so small… your Papa would carry you everywhere and show you to everyone in the neighbourhood,” she said now smiling weakly.

“Maa… I’ll be back real soon.” I said now looking at her and wiping away her tears. “I’m not Papa…I’ll be back, I won’t leave you… Inshallah.”

“Inshallah.” She said now changing the topic now and I knew it was for the best. I hated how she lived in the past filled with Papa’s memories at times. It hurt me so much because there was nothing I could do to bring him back…

The ride to the airport felt so quick and now I wondered if Ammi would be all right while I was away… I knew my aunties would be over with her so I was hoping she wouldn’t miss me too much.

Hassan and Priya were already there waiting for me by the departure gates as I walked inside the airport with Ammi. I smiled at them and was glad that they had come and that they were still together. Somehow deep down I wanted them to make it through … maybe true love really did exist… suddenly that didn’t sound so lame to me.

Priya and Ammi started to talk as me and Hassan walked over to check-in my luggage. Luckily the line wasn’t too long. Hassan nudged me in the rib and I looked at him now to ask what was wrong.

“Hey… isn’t that Priya’s friend?” he asked now smiling.

I started to glance around quickly and sure enough a few people behind was Kiran holding onto a black suitcase looking stressed out. I couldn’t help but smile and Hassan laughed at me now.

“Shut up man!” I said now at him, trying to play it cool.

“Your face is like an open book… why don’t you just let these people cut you in line and talk to her Romeo?”

“I’m not gonna do that!” I said, and now half swearing in my mind that he knew me so well…

Hassan now started to get out of the line and I called after him, “Hey where are you going?” I asked him.

“I’m gonna wait outside the line for you… you got your chance now…” he said and walked off towards Priya and Maa.

I smiled at his friendship… he was such an idiot at times… and I now started to let the people behind me go ahead of me… and sure enough as we got closer… Kiran noticed I was there… or maybe she had noticed before? You could never tell with girls, they always played it so cool.

“Hey Kiran! What a surprise!” I said now trying to sound casual.

Kiran laughed at me now, and said, “I saw you letting everyone go ahead of you… very smooth.”

My face turned red now and I started to stammer and look around for Hassan.

“Yeah well… so your flight is soon too huh?” I said now trying to change the subject.

“Yep… my parents and brother are over there waiting for me,” she said gesturing towards them a few feet away.

“Oh… I see… so Ajaib didn’t come?” I asked.

“He had work… but he said bye before… anyways I’ll be back soon.”

“Yeah that’s true…” I was trying to figure out what else to say but it was already my turn to check-in and slowly we started to get separated. Kiran was taking Air India to Amritsar, while I was taking Pakistan International Airlines to Lahore… I suddenly realized how much I would miss her… I wouldn’t even be able to secretly steal a glance in class… or find ways to bump into her around campus… what if when we both came back… things weren’t the same anymore? What if she forgot about me? Or what if this was just some fling? What was I doing?

“Hello? Sir? How many bags are you checking in today?”

The woman’s voice suddenly brought me out of my thoughts and I tried to pay attention.

Everything after that went by in a flash… I had already gotten past the security checks and could see Kiran up ahead of me. I had said goodbye to everyone and now suddenly I wanted to talk to her before I got on that plane.

As everyone made their way to their appropriate gates, I tried to walk faster to get to Kiran before she got separated from me once again.

“Kiran!” she turned around now.

“MashAllah…”

“What happened?” she said now smiling knowingly. “Are you following me Mr. Raza?”

“Of course not… okay… what if I was?” I said now letting my wit get the best of me.

She grinned now, “Pagal shouldn’t you be heading off towards your gate?”

“I still have a few minutes …” I whispered.

People were now leaving for their gates to wait for the plane to start boarding and me and Kiran were standing alone near the magazine racks.

“Salim… we can’t do this…” said Kiran in a hushed voice. “It won’t work out…”

“Don’t be so negative… tell me you don’t feel anything for me Kiran and I won’t bother you… I never do this… but you’ve got a hold on me…”

I didn’t know what had come over me, or where this was coming from. I felt like I wasn’t in control of myself or what I was saying…and I suddenly reached out for Kiran’s hand and she was a bit startled but at the same time, she never stopped me…

“Salim… we can’t…” she whispered now.

I leaned closer to her now, our noses almost touching and she closed her eyes.

“Tell me you don’t feel it too Kiran.” I said and I suddenly realized I was crossing my limits... What are you doing Salim? I asked myself.

We both opened our eyes at the same time and Kiran looked at me with sadness and curiousity… so many mixed emotions. I felt my heart pain and I knew clear as day I wanted to be with her… and she wanted me too, I had felt it. We started to walk back a few steps beside our bags and I sighed now trying to figure out how to make her understand how I felt.

“Salim…” but that’s all she said and ran to me again and hugged me tightly. I held her in my arms until the speaker overhead announced that PIA was now boarding.

We broke apart, and I smiled at her. Kiran now was all teary eyed and I stroked her cheek and picked up my handbag.

“Take care of yourself for me…I’ll miss you Kiran…” I whispered in her ear.

I glanced back and saw her still standing there smiling at me. I had never been happier in my life… and I knew inside my heart I couldn’t lose her… was this how love felt?

Even as I sat in my seat now in the airplane… the last few minutes with Kiran flashed back in my mind… over and over again. I wanted to see her so badly… Maybe I could try to contact her when I landed in Lahore? But I didn’t even know where exactly in Amritsar she would be… Punjab was huge after all too…

After what felt like an eternity… well 10 hours or so… I fell asleep listening to music and was awoken by a wild uproar in the plane. I woke up alarmed when someone nudged me and noticed it was the flight attendants trying to keep everyone quiet.

I looked around fearing the worst, but there were just passengers crying in their seats silently and I tapped the flight attendant.

“Excuse me! Wait!” I shouted now as she tried to calm down an elderly woman who was apparently hysterical.

“What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

“There’s been a bombing in Lahore… close to the border,” said a man now from beside me.

“What? But how? I mean why?” I said now suddenly panicking… I turned around to face him.

“They won’t say anything… but apparently they are landing the planes far away from there for the time being… until it’s safe enough.”

“But my family is expecting me… is it just this plane?” I asked now freaking out silently.

“Well there was another plane which went down… so they are trying to find out who’s behind it.”

“Bloody terrorists!” screamed another woman now in panic. “Why won’t they just let us live in peace!”

“Please Ma’am” said the flight attendant now, trying to calm her down and maintain order.

But the airplane had now turned into a very uneasy place with worry plastered on everyone’s faces.

“Wait… is it just our plane? Or any others that are in threat?” I asked now trying to find out more.

“Nehi… not just ours… some Indian planes too… probably the ones close to Lahore I guess…” said the man now again while others were now praying silently for safety.

Amritsar… Punjab bordered Pakistan… it was only a few miles from Lahore… Kiran… what if she was in danger too? Suddenly worry consumed me and I started to join the others in prayer.


₪ ₪ ₪

[**Tina**]

the story is getting really good...keep up the good work Amrita!

[•Amrita•]

oki.. i know i am incredibly slow, but i have the week off, so im gonna
stop slackin and put it up!

here it is guys, after a hell of a long time.
dont kill me! lol

[•Amrita•]

“Why are we landing here? It is nowhere near Punjab… please I need to talk to the pilot! Please for God’s sake!” cried an elderly woman as soon as the flight attendant had announced a change in the plane’s destination.

“Is it terrorists again? God get me off this plane!” cried another man.

I suddenly felt like the world had stopped and that my heart was about to jump right out of my chest… would I even make it off this plane? I didn’t even care where the hell I would land; I just wanted to feel the ground… the earth under my feet.

“Please Sir, calm down, we are in no danger we are just taking precautions to assure everyone’s safety,” said the flight attendant, trying to calm down the man who was now searching for his carry-on bag.

The plane started to jerk and there were screams coming from all over the place, people scrambled for their children and clasped their seats, now preparing for the worst.

“Stop moving!” cried the flight attendants, now running to calm down everyone, but with looks of worry consumed over their own faces.

Everywhere I looked people were praying… somewhere I heard a “Krishna”, others “Bismillah”, others “Waheguru please…” I too started to join them with the prayers I knew by heart and started reciting along with everyone else.

Suddenly the pilot’s voice came over and echoed everywhere, “we will be landing a few miles away from Amritsar, this is for everyone’s safety. Please do not be alarmed at the change of plans, and follow the intructions given to you by the flight crew. We will be landing in 10 minutes. Please fasten your seat belts and bring your seats to the upright position. Thank you”

The pilot then translated his message in Hindi and everyone began gripping their seats and some were close to tears. I hoped everything was all right when we landed. Suddenly I had the feeling that I should never have come… something wasn’t right and I suddenly felt afraid for Salim… and for everyone else on the other planes… what if something happened to me? What would happen to Maa? Papa? Aman? Would they manage without me? Stop it! I tried to tell myself, this was no time to think about stupid things like these. I had to get off this plane. They would get us to Amritsar… I’m sure they would… they had to…

The plane suddenly began to lower itself and I closed my eyes and started to pray once again. Please God just get me off this plane safely… please.

There was a screeching of tires and once the plane had landed, the pilot’s voice came on again. “We have landed north of Amritsar. Please do not be alarmed. There will be another plane arranged to take you all to Amritsar in about 2 hours time. Please leave the plane in an ordered fashion and follow the flight crew to exit safely. Thank you.”

People started to get up now and cheered that everything was going to be all right. I sighed now and reached for my handbag that was hiding under my seat. I double checked that I had everything and made my way towards the exit doors, which now had a long line of passengers, waiting to face the sunlight of India…

But the sunlight of India was filled with smoke, and screams… endless screams. Suddenly another bomb blast went off. Someone was screaming… and suddenly I realized it was none other than me. I thought we had landed somewhere safe. There were massive amounts of people now pushing and shoving to get off the plane… get anywhere far from all this chaos.

I too lunged towards the exit, I felt suffocated and afraid… what if the plane was their next target? Who was doing this? What could they possibly get by doing this? I saw a small girl on the floor, crying, where was her mother? I picked her up and tried to make a move for the exits. There was no use, people were pushing as if it was Christmas Eve at the mall. But this time, we were all hysterical.

“Sunita?! Sunita! Kahan ho?!” shouted a man, desperately searching for his wife.

“Maa!” shouted a small boy, clutching his teddy bear now in tears.

Everything was chaotic, what the hell was going on. I held onto the little girl but then felt someone poking me.

“Meri bheti! Thank you so much, God thank you!” she said with tears running down her cheeks and holding her arms out for her daughter, who was now safe to be in her mother’s arms.

“Please everyone, form a line!” shouted the flight attendants, trying to regain order. But it was no use now. There was another blast, which sounded to be only a few metres away, and it sent a torrent of terror throughout the plane. People were now just pushing and shoving to get out alive.

I was trying to drag my handbag out but knew it was no use… I had to leave it behind. I had to get out. I had never wanted to see the sun more badly than now.


₪ ₪ ₪

[•Amrita•]

I coughed for air… nothing… I was suffocating… I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and suddenly I felt as if I was going to die… right here, like this… ammi… Kiran… what would happen to them? No Salim… you have to survive, get up! Get up and run… run God damn it!

I pushed the rubble aside now; mustering up all of my strength, but nothing… it was useless. I laid there and watched as the smoke engulfed me all around… it was creeping into my nostrils now, I could feel it entrapping me, and suddenly there was light… and a voice… and then more…

“Oye! Idher aooo! Ye zinda hai!”

Yes… I was alive… they had found me after all. I would be saved!

“Hey you are American yes?” said the man now, smelling of cigarettes.

He leaned down to get a better look at me, and squinted as if he was deep in thought.

“No…” I choked... “I’m Canadian…”

“So you would be having some passport or money with you?” asked the man now eyeing me cautiously.

I sighed; of all the people to be saved from… it had to be a thief.

I groaned and got up on my elbow and again tried to heave the pile of rubble off my legs. The man just stood there, now scratching his behind and stared blankly at me, as if I was about to put on some show. I rolled my eyes and tried to show my attitude… but he didn’t seem to get my sarcasm at all… figures, I thought to myself.

I managed to get one leg free and kicked the rubble off the remaining part of my body. Now … I surveyed my surroundings and felt for my wallet and passport, which were still safely in my back pocket. Thank God.

What I saw next made me want to puke all over myself… there was this stench of blood and smoke coming from everywhere… and there were bodies… so many bodies… or parts of bodies just lying on the floor as if they were just pieces of discarded garbage, waiting for someone to claim them… I had to fight the urge not to vomit now, as the bile rose up into my throat. But suddenly my heart went into a panic, as I saw a piece of the plane that I had pushed away from myself… it set my heart in overdrive… it was part of a larger aircraft… white and red… Air India.

Now I couldn’t hold it in any longer and puked on the side of the pieces of the plane.

And just as luck would have it, that same man was now laughing at me, as if I was just some weak guy from a foreign land… here to reclaim a part of my roots… Great I thought to myself. The man just surveyed his surroundings as if they weren’t bodies that surrounded him but just some sand and rubble that didn’t need anyone’s attention.

“You will be wanting taxi?” asked the man now holding out a hand of his to help me up.

I didn’t know whether to trust that this ‘taxi’ was in fact really a taxi… or just some lure to get my money and vanish forever. Wasn’t there any police officer or someone around here to help me? I reluctantly took his hand and heaved myself up and managed to regain my balance after stumbling a few times. Luckily I hadn’t broken anything… but there was blood on my legs. I tried to tell myself that I had been luckier than a lot of the other poor souls and now tried to get enough courage to ask the man one more thing.

“Where are the rest of the survivors?” I asked, trying to muster up the best Hindi I could.

“Kya? Apko Hindi atee hai?” asked the man now, this left me a bit irritated, of course I knew Hindi! Half the damn population of brown people knew it thanks to Bollywood, and here this guy was acting as if I spoke some alien language.

“Yes, I know Hindi, now can you please tell me, where are the rest of the survivors?” I asked again, this time a bit more forcefully.

“They are in camp… for them there will be separate plane arriving… but big problem everywhere… many die… terrorists… government unwilling to talk to them. They say we will not talk to the terrorists, they do not care… people die.”

I made out what I could from his broken attempts at English, followed by detailed accounts in Hindi, and knew that if Kiran was anywhere now, I would find her there…

I asked him in which direction I would find this camp, but then looked far ahead toward the East and saw that tents had been set up under the blazing sun.

I made my way there, but the man stopped me by my shoulder and told me not to go any further.

“Why? I have to get back home… I’m not from here” I said in an attempt to get rid of him once and for all.

But now it seemed that he was the one with ulterior motives, because his smile suddenly changed into an evil grin as him and his companions surrounded me.

Oh God… I thought to myself, as they pointed a knife in my direction and pushed me to the ground. I prayed in my heart that I would not breathe my last breath here. Please God not here… not like this.

₪ ₪ ₪

[N o o R]

Nice.... Amrita....

[jackson86]

Hii Amrita...its so emotional and heart touching story.and best part of that is at last Ajaib said that he loved kiran and dont want to lose..i dont think that she suld feel guilty...

[•Amrita•]

thank you guys for the replies xxx
I'm thinking of posting the original story up on here again so others can enjoy it.
let me know if you would like that.
I know this story is unfinished, I'm going to try my best to add to it.