RUNNING

Chapter Seven (Unedited)

“A man should not swallow poison because he is afraid to spit and offend others” - Anonymous

“Hello Afnan!” a lady called out smiling at Afnan not long after she took her seat in the class.

“Hi.” She answered calmly and smiles back at the lady, her name is Kayin and she is well known for her excessive friendliness towards Maraya who usually turned her down whenever she made an approach which made Afnan wondered why she’s ignoring her friend coming to her.

“Can I seat beside you?” Kayin asked pointing towards a chair close to her.

“Of course.” She answered politely. It was the first class in their fourth year but right from the time she entered the class she noticed that most of her classmates are being too friendly and many that doesn’t usually spare her a glance are trying to make conversation with her which made her feel strange for some unknown reason.

“You know I have always admired you since the time you came into our class.” Kayin hardly takes her seat when she starts the conversation. “You know it’s nice to have someone who is beautiful, kind, generous, simple and at the same time being extraordinarily brilliant. Such people are rare gems, don’t you think?

“Hmm.” Afnan nods at her giving a kind smile so as not to appear rude. She lives keeping herself busy with her note or recitation from her phone whenever they are waiting for the lecturer and Kayin sudden interest has started to irritates her, for one reason she is taking her time and for another reason she is trying to engage her in a worthless conversation that involves someone else to which she is sincerely not interested because backbiting is known to be forbidden in Islamic teaching. She wished she can just find a kind word to shut Kayin off or better yet that their lecturer will make a glorious entrance and save her from unexpected friend.

“You know many people easily get carried away by their value and they see others to be below them?”

“I don’t know.” Afnan answered absentmindedly.

“Oh! So you don’t know?” Kayin said as if it is a sin not to know and she keeps a don’t tell me you’re so blind to something obvious look glancing round the class as if Afnan is trying to understand her thoughts, she unconsciously follow Kayin glance until her eyes lands on Maraya who was sitting close to them and seems to be listening intently to their conversation as their glances locked.

Afnan quickly turn her face away from Maraya and looks over to Kayin who is grinning profusely at her. “Look, I am not interested in anybody being rude or whatever, I have a business to do and my business for now is to study my papers. Can you please not talk about this?” She said in a voice that is kind enough to hide her irritation about Kayin. She agreed that Maraya is rude but it is out of her character to discuss other people’s shortcomings, she believed everybody have their fault and perhaps her own might be worst than Maraya so she would rather spend much of her time dwelling on how to improve her own weak point than wasting it pointing out others fault.

“Alright, but you definitely know about the other lady that is kind?” Kayin said ignoring Afnan’s plea.

“No.” she replied in a not-so-kind voice.

“O my God! You are so unbelievable Afnan.” She laugh out loud and lightly hit Afnan in her forearm. Afnan tries to control her irritation and dropped her phone in her bag looking at Kayin who seem to be enjoying their one-way conversation.

“This is what I love about you.” Kayin said smiling genuinely at Afnan.

“Says the girl who has on several occasions insulted me for my dressing or seclusion from crowd and free mixing with opposite sex” Afnan thought to herself. Not for once did she have memory of beautiful moment with Kayin since her stay in the university for almost a year. In fact, she is one of the few girls that are less busy enough to insult her about her way of life. Though, she had never been close to Maraya but one thing she appreciate about her is the way she always respect others peoples’ privacy and stay away from gossiping with other ladies, not for once has she ever interferes with others issues and she always remain focus on her life, even though it is not what you will call perfect life for a practicing Muslimah.