Jaan

Part 2- Lunch Box

Adalina's POV.

"Give me back my lunch box Azaan !! I am not kidding !!" I yelled at my brother.

Surprise!! My big brother is back from his business trip and he hasn't find anything better than bullying his young sister.

"You already have one! Why do you need a second one? Huh?" he teased.

I can't create more problems therefore I absolutely can't tell him about how messed up my life has become.

"I get very hungry OKAY?! look at my size! It explains a lot of things !!" I said trying to grab the lunchbox from him.

It's not true. I get filled by one lunchbox. But recently I don't have any other choice. Every lunch time, the bullies come back and take my lunch away from me. It's always the same guy with his squad that come to Ayla and I.

I'm fed up with it. I want to eat in peace with my best friend but it's literally impossible to make it this way. I don't know why they attack us. We never were problematic. In fact, we always tried our best to stay away from bad people.

Then, why is this happening to me?

Finally, he gave me back the lunch box and I walked out of the kitchen pissed off. He comes back and only annoys me.

Azaan is 23 years old and he acts like a child. He is mom and dad's favorite obviously. He works as an architect. He's always busy. He used to be much more present in my life before.

But that was before. Now, we only see him once in three months. He has his own apartment but the reason why he simply never stays home with us is because he's always travelling for work.

I miss him all the time. When we used to go to school together, he would protect me. I made a few friends because the girls had a crush on him. Even if they didn't actually wanted to be with me, at least I had company. But when he left, I felt so lonely.

No more fake friends, no more protection, no more happy days. I had to protect myself and be by myself. It was hard at first but eventually it became a habit.

He missed my birthdays, Ramadan and Eid. For the past 5 years, things have been all over the place. Maybe that's why I am not so happy when he comes back. I wonder if he comes back because he's finally free to meet his family or because he just misses us randomly.

He tries to talk to me and get to know about my personal life that I barely share but what's the point? He'll forget about it anyways.

He'll go back to work and not show up again. I'll have to forget the few memories we created while he was here. I hate that. Family is family.

Without him, there's no complete family for me.

I got to the front door of our house and was putting my shoes when he appeared again.

"Should I drive you to school?" he asked me.

"I'll be perfectly fine" I said.

"Adalina...do you...not miss me?" he asked.

I was done wearing my shoes and looked up at him.

"I should be asking you the same exact thing" I simply said before getting out of house.

I got into the bus and on my way to school.

***

It was lunch time now. But today I felt even more scared than usual because Ayla got sick and couldn't show up to school.

That means I'll be all alone against the devils.

I lost my apetite somehow and didn't go into the cafeteria. I went out of school and sat on one of the benches. I had his lunchbox with me though. In case they find me and show up to me, I'll just give him his food and then everything will hopefully be fine.