Growing with you

ChApTeR tHiRtEeN

Laila's days filled itself with books and lectures. There was no time for anything else... Except for Qadir. She had been helping him improve tremendously. His hands stopped shaking often and he was able to breathe in fresh air. He felt like his old self but that's what scared him the most. As the days passed, he kept his distance from Laila, though she tried her best to make everything smoother between them, but to him, trust was like an eraser- with every mistake, it keeps getting smaller.

Laila used the little time she had after Qadir's therapy session to talk to him, but he immediately left afterwards. There wasn't so much as greetings between them. It was two strangers next to each other. It hurt Laila a lot but what she didn't know was that it hurt Qadir much more to see Laila like that. Hameed too become a distant memory in Laila's mind. Her heart still flustered every time they met in the hallways; her stomach filled with butterflies doing backflips, but a sense of guilt and a hurt image of Qadir appeared before her. It was enough to send the butterflies back to the cage, and in her situation, enough to keep them locked away forever.

Exams were nearing and that only meant one thing- she had to give her mother an answer very soon. Soon enough, her university life would be over and she knew that marriage was inevitable. Even if she thought of a good excuse to delay it, it was going to happen at one point in her life and it was up to her at that point to be ready. But all the thought about marriage made her certain about one thing- you don't marry when you feel you are ready. To be honest, no one will ever be ready for marriage, but it is a lifelong process where we are bound to make mistakes, realise and learn.

Laila liked Hameed but she knew it wasn't enough to want to marry him. She barely knew him, but she too knows that if she starts getting to know him, it will turn into haram habits. If something can be stopped early, then it is better it is stopped early. Sighing, she closed her book a little louder than she had intended to. The library was quiet and the sound echoed through the walls. The smell of wood and old books surrounded the atmosphere. As Laila though about it, she found it funny how trees were chopped down to either make these books or the shelves which hold them and there was an entire section dedicated to just saving these trees.

Packing her belongings, she exited the library. It was little late than she had expected. The sun was about to set and the slight cold breeze gave her goose bumps on her skin. She tugged her black coat closer to her body, in hope to keep her warm. She mentally cursed herself for telling her driver that his services was not needed. Earlier, the sun shone high in the sky and Laila mistakenly thought that it would be a nice day for a walk home, but boy was she wrong. The weather was bipolar, just like her emotions these days.

She felt like the character in her books, walking along after a study session in the library. This was the part where someone stalks the main character and she just continues to walk around oblivious. Laila snorted out loud. How can those girls be so naïve? Everyone has seen ghost and killer movies. If you think someone is following you, you run, not try to play superhero and see who they are. Same way, in the ghost movies when you hear something in another room when you're home alone, instead of running away, the stupid main character starts a conversation: 'Hello? Who is there? Is anyone there?' It's not like the ghost or killer is going to reply saying 'Yeah, it's me. I'm just here to kill you.'

The sound of footsteps broke her thoughts. She turned around and looked behind her. A couple of teenagers were walking behind her and she was glad, but they soon overtook her and she was walking alone again. Another set of footstep continued to emerge behind and Laila quickly turned around. She saw a shadow disappear into an alley. Unsure of whether someone was following her or not, she picked up her pace and started walking faster. There was a shop nearby; she only needed some people to surround her. The footsteps continued behind her and not wanting to turn around, she started to run.