I was a river of chaos and disruption, too engrossed in life to ever stop and take a pause, she was the warm magical sunshine falling on the fast flowing river, making it shine brightly. Without the sunshine the river was just a noisy sight, she bou...
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"baby you're the best thing, that ever happened to me."
Babar was now inside Nawal's house sitting on the couch in the lounge while she was in the kitchen fetching him a glass of water. "What even prompted you to come inside, idiot, she must be feeling so weird and uncomfortable?" He thought to himself, not knowing how much his presence comforted her.
But then he saw Nawal standing in the kitchen, her back visible to him, through the view of the open kitchen, her brown hair coming down to just a little above her waist. He couldn't explain what he felt when he looked at her, it just did something to him. He felt better than he had ever been.
"Here, please have some water" she stood in front of him with a glass of water in the hands.
He took it and had a sip of water. "You have such a nice and warm house, it's beautiful" he said. "Thank you so much" she answered.
"Umm, where's your family?" he asked gently.
"I live alone" she replied softly smiling.
"I hope you don't mind me asking why?" he said again. "Because my parents passed away a couple of years ago" she replied with a sad smile. He almost choked on his water. He never thought she would be an orphan, she was so lively and smiling, who could ever say she didn't have her parents?! "I...I'm so s...sorry" he spoke.
"Please don't be" she smiled "I'm originally from Abbotabad, I was the only child to my parents. I grew up there in their utmost love and affection. They treated me like I was a glass doll, with so much care and love" she spoke smiling. He was listening with all his attention.
"When I grew up, I wanted to be a doctor like baba, he was the hero of our locality, the son of a rich businessman who went out of his way to pursue medicine and help the people of his area. So I applied to medical schools and I got selected in my dream college KEMU here in Lahore. My parents were really excited and happy about it.
My baba being the most supportive and caring, came to Lahore with me, he brought this house so I didn't have to live in a hostel and settled me in here. Everything was perfect until when baba was driving back home after settling me in here and met with a car accident, he couldn't survive it" she spoke almost breaking down.
"Then after that devastating period, we managed to gather ourselves, I wanted to go back to mama, but she didn't want me to leave my and baba's dream, so I came back here but shortly after my 2nd year, mama fell sick unexpectedly back at home and couldn't make it either" she said wiping a tear from her cheek. "I still believe they were so much in love that they couldn't stay apart for too long without each other you know" she said smiling, looking at him.
Babar was shell-shocked to say anything at all. He just managed to say, "You're the strongest person I know, Nawal."
"Thank you" she replied smiling with teary eyes. "Can I ask you a question though?" he said. "Yes" "Why didn't you go back after completing your degree? I mean you must have an extended family there, right?" he asked.
"Babar, not everyone has a nice extended family you know, at least I don't" she chuckled. "After baba's death my uncles and cousins did all in their power to take away baba's property from me and mama, they would come each and everyday to fight with us, they even harassed us and tried forcing mama into marrying me off to my elder cousin so they could annex my share of the property" she said. Babar clenched his fist at the thought of someone hurting her.
"Although mama was smart enough to get it transferred to my name before her death somehow, I still didn't want to live alone amongst those demons there, plus this house that baba had bought for me with so much love made a better home. And he had already left more than enough for me to live as long as I wanted anywhere in the world, so I decided to continue my career here" she said.
He looked at her and felt absolute respect for her, it increased tenfolds for her after listening to what she had just told him.
"You're an incredible woman Nawal, trust me when I say this, your parents would've been so proud of you" he said. "Thanks a lot" she replied smiling. "Please have some water" he offered her the glass. She took a sip, for some reason she felt lighter than ever, she hadn't opened up to anyone ever like this earlier expect for her closest friends. Maybe this was all she needed, for someone to sit and listen to her till she was done speaking.
"Is that smell coming from the kitchen? It is amazing" Babar said and she remembered that she had left the pasta on the stove. "Oops just give me a minute" she excused herself and went to the kitchen to check on the food. She turned around and asked him, "I've made some pasta for lunch, would you like to try it?" she asked with the brightest smile ever, like she wasn't crying just two minutes ago.
And how could Babar be such a fool to let down the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, so he answered, "I would love to."
She served it in two plates and set them on the dining table, asking him to take a seat. He dug into it right away, and as he took the first bite, she was looking at him a little anxiously. He closed his eyes and moaned at the taste, "How is it?" she asked nervously, "Better than the best I've ever had" he replied smiling. They continued to eat making small talk occasionally.
When they were done, Babar said, "This was the best pasta I've ever tasted, thank you so much for this." "I'm glad you liked it" she replied and took away the dishes to the sink.
