The Storm We Started

10|Scribbled words

Gulnaz hold all of her hair and tied it in a tight bun. She always does this whenever she wanted to focus on something and right now, with crumbled pages filled with scribbled words lying around the whole room she was trying to write something poetic.

Her mind was blank yet filled with so many messy thoughts. She tried to write down something but it always end up in rubbish.

With a groan, she threw the pen in frustration and crumbled the tore piece of paper. She tried to remember Shoaib's words as to how to write a poem but it wasn't working.

'Here comes the sun' by the Beatles was playing on her laptop. Gulnaz hummed to the song and closed her eyes trying to rest for few minutes before to start writing.

"Little darlin', it's been a long, cold, lonely winter.
Little darlin', it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, doo-doo-doo-doo..."

A thought came in her mind. A cheat code.

What if she just translate English poems or songs into Hindi urdu ones?

It could be easier to write and get through this month. And who would even notice if those poems are just translations?

She opened her eyes with a sigh and picked up her pen as she started writing.

"Here comes the sun...Suraj aagaya...suraj ki roshni aagyi." She mumbled

Gulnaz cringed. It sounds so bad, she thought. She repeated the words over and over in her head trying to have something in poetic. Something which rhymes.

"Little darlin' it feels like years since it's been here...aisa lagta hai kaafi saal ho gaye ho...barso ho gaye ho...jaana...janeman" she mumbled and scribbled the words in her journal.

"Fuck man, I can't do this. It sounds horrible!" She exclaimed in frustration to herself.

Frustrated with herself and with little time left, she just wrote down whatever came to her mind. She had to meet shoaib in half an hour in the town cafe.

Cleaning up the mess she made in her room before she went to dress herself for cafe. She chose a white cotton cami top with light blue cotton palazzos.

Slinging a bag on her shoulder, she left with a hurry since she was already getting a little late. The weather was hot and it felt like someone was pressing a hot iron on Gulnaz skin. She was relieved that she wore sunscreen in this high sunlight.

•••

Shoaib was clad in flannel shirt and cream colored pants. He looked like a professional. Someone who works in big corporate company. His hair was styled today unlike other days which was kinda messy.

Gulnaz was in a trance admiring his beauty. She couldn't help but notice how his brown eyes shone or how his dimples were seen when he smiled. Or the way a strand of his curly hair fell on his forehead when he laughed. Or the way his eyebrows are furrowed when he's too focused on the work. She noticed how his shirt was perfectly ironed, there was no sign of wrinkle. Even with his folded sleeves, she couldn't see the wrinkles if does not stare much longer.

Getting out of the trance before she embarrasses herself. She tied her hair up in a ponytail and tried to focus on her work.

Since they both had some work to do, they decided to do it together. Gulnaz had to submit her article for her internship and shoaib had to do some unknown work which he didn't tell Gulnaz about.