Fariya Shafiq's life seems to have become a series of unfortunate events after a life riveting accident that took everything from her, leaving her painted with scars, quite literally.
She struggles to find herself everyday, to find even a trace of h...
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"Wait!" She called out behind him.
He smiled as he stopped on the second step back up inside the house and turned his head to look at her. Her gaze was desperately attached to the rose in her hands, the stem that she was squeezing rather tightly. But their eyes clashed when she looked up from her lap and found him looking at her.
"So, are you ready to talk or should I go back?" He asked but made no move to move from his place— not coming closer to her but not walking away from the door either.
"I—I'll talk." She paused, waiting for him to come and sit next to her again. Once he did, she wrung her hands in her lap. "But you must promise that no one else will hear of it or our..."
"Tête-à-tête?" He completed for her, smirking and leaning back as he did so.
Fariya's face instantly reddened and her eyes widened at the term he'd used. Neither were they lovers nor was this an intimate conversation happening between them. They were on a bench, not a damn bed!
Astaghfirullah!
"It is not that!" He raised his hands in surrender when she genuinely looked like she would hit him. But his eyes fell onto her hands that trembled on top of her legs. His face immediately softened and he lowered his hands as he looked at her, wanting to do something for her.
Fariya was quick to notice the way he was looking at her, and she averted her gaze and turned away to toy with the rose once again. But it only slipped from her hands.
She hadn't held it tight enough, but she couldn't when her hands shook like fallen leaves in a windstorm.
Shehryar instantly bent down to catch the falling rose in his hands just before its white petals hit the grass. He held it for a few seconds, silently admiring its beauty and the petals that were soft to the touch.
It reminded him of the girl sitting beside him.
"Here." He held out the rose for her and she all but snatched it from him, too flustered to keep her movements clean. "Tell me about the accident, Fariya."
She let out a breath and closed her eyes, imagining herself back in the passenger seat of her father's silver sedan as she laughed with her father.
"We'd been driving back from my university. There's this road that comes in our way, lined with thick trees that rise up so tall that they make the road appear dark and gloomy. We'd been there, and my father had been talking to me as he passed the alley that stretched out on the right. He hadn't noticed the truck coming our way, but the truck hadn't stopped either. Or maybe it just... didn't stop in time.
I remember screaming when the car was first pushed off to the left. Baba's side of the car pushed inwards and he fell forward, his head hitting the wheel then... then the top of his door came crashing on him, causing his neck to... It all took mere seconds, Shehryar, but it felt like a whole movie had been played out in front of me. I hadn't felt any pain myself, besides the one I felt when I looked at him. I couldn't even move enough to turn away. His eyes... they hadn't closed when he died. I had to stare into them for however long it took for help to reach us." She choked on the word 'died' and her head fell in her hands as she let out silent whimpers. Narrating the whole incident to him felt like reliving that dreadful moment again. She was forced to feel just as helpless as she had at that moment when she watched life leave her father.
