Two Hearts Apart

Chapter 24: Catching Up

Later that night, after Zahraa had settled down, she saw that a message from Zaheer was waiting in her inbox. Zaheer had simply written:

"I'm still waiting for you to send me a message Zahraa

You promised, remember?"

Whether due to the events of the day, or the brief encounter that she had shared with him, Zahraa desperately felt that she needed to chat with him at that very moment. Though the day had been a joyous one, and though she was truly happy, she felt an immense loneliness suddenly creep up on her. So she sent him a message back:

"Sorry, would've sent it earlier but I just had a really crazy day. It was really great seeing you yesterday. You look good too, like you're happy and doing well. Next time you've got a free moment, let me know so that we can chat ok? In the meantime take care."

She didn't expect him to reply right away, assuming that he, like her would only see her message the next day after logging into facebook. She hadn't anticipated, however, that he had facebook mobile, that instantly alerted him via sms whenever he had a new message. So it was that after 5 minutes of her sending her message, Zaheer replied:

"Crazy day, hmm... did it involve a boy? I'm free now. We can chat live on facebook, or better yet, give me your cell number so we can chat?  I'll send you an invite now."

Now as much as Zahraa had questioned herself before, as much as she had doubted her impending relationship with Zaheer, she couldn't resist the urge to chat with him. So she convinced herself that it was all just innocent- 2 friends just catching up; and she then proceeded to accept his invite. A few minutes later her phone beeped with an incoming message from Zaheer:

"So what's up with this crazy day of yours? What happened?"

Zahraa smiled as she remembered Zaheer's last encounter with Hafsah. With a slight giggle she replied:

"Hafsah had a little baby girl today (wow, Hafsah had a baby- I can't believe it!). Haven't yet seen the baby, but Hafsah will be ok. Insha Allah. Anyway, quite crazy running around and stuff. But good crazy- not bad."

A short while later her phone beeped again: "You're still friends with Hafsah?"

"Well why wouldn't I be?" replied Zahraa

As a way of explanation Zaheer said: "You weren't that close in high school, were you?

"Well no", replied Zahraa. "But we've gotten closer over the years and we've all really grown up. Speaking of girls though, what's the deal with you? Why didn't you marry that girl you were telling me about yesterday? What's the story there?"

"No story really" replied Zaheer. "It just didn't work out."

"Come on.", begged Zahraa. "I want details here. Why didn't it work out? I'm curious to know what went wrong."

"She wasn't who I thought she was." Said Zaheer

Aag! Zahraa thought to herself. Guys really don't know how to communicate properly. Why do they always find it appropriate to answer questions with just a few words? How is anyone supposed to know anything from such a short answer.

"Why not" asked Zahraa. "Maybe your expectations are too high or something. Or maybe you just lost interest in her after a while."

Zaheer replied with another equally frustrating short answer.

"No, just turned out to be not my type."

Zahraa, assuming that Zaheer wasn't really in the mood to talk, and remembering that she was the one who initiated the chat, decided to cut the chat short. So she thanked him for the chat and prepared to end it.

"Why you're going soon?" was Zaheer's instant reply. "Am I boring you or something? Well, I guess you should go if you really need to..."

Zahraa smiled as she wrote: "No, I assumed that I'm boring and bothering you. We can chat for a while longer. Its fun to catch up like this."

Zahraa and Zaheer's chat ended up lasting far longer than any of them had anticipated. In fact, it only ended a few hours later. In all that time they chatted about the past few years and all that they had gotten up to. From jobs and studies, to friends and families they chatted about their lives now and all that they had missed. In the time that they were chatting Zahraa had to ensure that her phone was on the charger (since her battery was beginning to die), had gone off to spend some time with her parents before they went to sleep, had arranged all her things for work the next day, and had gotten into bed. By the time they ended the chat she was already in bed and under the covers.

After a while of chatting Zaheer suddenly said:

"By the way, I see you cover your head now. Since when did that happen?

It took a while for Zahraa to realize that he was talking about her hijaab.

"Oh yeah, the last time you saw me I wasn't yet wearing hijaab full time. I forgot about that. It started a couple of years ago and well, I guess it never ended. Why, do I look really weird?"

"No you don't look weird". Replied Zaheer. "Actually, you look really nice."

Zahraa, who sometimes still felt self conscious over it, couldn't help smiling.

"Ok, I guess we really have to end this now since its really late already." Said Zaheer.

"I know" replied Zahraa." If we continue for much longer we might have no other option but to stay awake for Fajr. So we should really end now so we can actually get some sleep."

"Im already beginning to fall asleep" said Zaheer. "we'll continue chatting some other time. I really enjoyed it. I forgot how good it feels just to talk to you."

"You too Zaheer" replied Zahraa.

Then they said their final salaams and eventually, after wearing out their phones, logged off. In no time Zahraa was fast asleep.