Thrones & Roses (An Islamic Love Story)

Chapter 3::The Introduction

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Shahzad's POV
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I was undoubtedly nervous as I set foot in this university... all my life, I had studied at a Desi(local) Pakistani environment and now I was between people from all around the globe and not to forget, all of these are talented ones. Thus it was hard to maintain my composure and play it cool.
With all these jumbled thoughts in my mind , I didn't notice the petite figure coming my way and bumped into her..

"Oh my Bad" I thought in my mind. I hurriedly collected her books and apologized but oh uh why was she staring... I remembered to lower my gaze cause that's how my mom raised me. From her skin tone and facial features I realized that like me, she must be South Asian too and probably that's why she couldn't see me as she was in her nervous bubble too, just like me.
She was a pretty young lady with big brown almond shaped eyes straight nose,slightly chubby and flushed cheeks....oh oh buddy where are these thoughts coming from huh??? Astaghfirullah Astaghfirullah!!!!

I reprimanded myself and hurriedly turned around as she said a small "its ok"
During my first class which was the class of Business Analysis ,our professor Professor Michael introduced himself and told us to introduce ourselves too. I was the only Pakistani in our class.

Rest of the day went pretty well without anything specific.
On the way back to my dorm I was thinking of my possible roommates as I still hadn't met them.
I grabbed a sandwich for lunch from a nearby cafe and went to my dorm room.
A young lad around my age was unpacking his suitcase when I entered my room, he looked up, extended his hand and exclaimed "Hello!! My name is Jackson Black but you can call me Jack. What's your name?? Are you my roommate?? You must be an Arab??? What subjects are you taking?? Will you be in any of my classes???" Whoa I guess my prayers for a friendly and jovial roommate have been answered after all. This fella seems pretty pumped. I shook hands with him and said "Hello to you too. My name is Shahzad Mirza. Yeah I'm your roommate and I'm a Pakistani. I'm here for a MBA degree in Business Administration... I don't know if we have classes in common or not... from your accent I'm guessing you must be British...Ain't you???"

"Oh yeah I'm from England and I was offered a scholarship for a MBA degree here so I'm here now and high five fella we are taking same degree!! He exclaimed happily and I mentally thanked Allah for a good partner because lets face it, I had to live with him for the next TWO YEARS.
I decided to unpack my belongings too and we hit it off quite quickly... I came to know that he is an only child and always wanted a brother, that his father is an ambassador there and that his mother is a manager at a pretty famous fashion designer chain. I told him about my family and my village life, he was quite fascinated by it.

Frankly, I was kinda shocked to see his enthusiasm as media has always showed that western people hate us Muslims but I wasn't gonna complain... since it was our first day we decided to treat ourselves and ordered pizza.
Finally at 10 pm we called it a day and went to our beds
I sighed contentedly and Thanked Allah for a good day as I was in totally new surroundings and away from the comforts of my family and my homeland.

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Fiza's POV
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That boy was something different. His eyes were lowered and his clothes very formal and decent. He looked like someone from the 15th century. He was that much different.

Anyways, after that I went straight to my class. After the usual introduction, our Professor Miss Elizabeth Wright gave us a brief introduction of our syllabus.

After class finished I was packing my bag when a girl sitting next to said "Hi"

"I am Bridget Jones....." she explained with a smile and extended her hand. Red Hair, Green Eyes.

".....I am from Ireland." She continued. She sure could talk.

"I am Fiza Ahmad and I am and I am from..." I was introducing myself when she interrupted me.

"From Pakistan???" she asked with a smile.

"I am afraid not. Actually I am from India." I replied back with a smile of my own. :) :) :)

"Well Fiza. it is a pleasure to meet you....." she said and then called the girl sitting on the other side of her.

"This is Aisha Rana from Kenya." Bridget explained while pointing towards her.

Aisha removed her focus from her book and looked towards us.
She was a Hijabi Girl
Ma-sha-Allah Ma-sha-Allah

She gave me the impression of a hard working student. Aisha gave me a handshake and said "Asalam Alaikum! nice to meet you. what's your name?" She must have been deep into her book when I was talking with Bridget.

"Walaikum Salaam. I am Fiza from India." I quickly introduced myself again.

After the usual introduction. All 3 of us had a nice conversation. Both Bridgett and Aisha seemed like two young girls with big dreams in their eyes in a land far away from the country of their birthplaces.

Then all three of us walked outside the class while still talking with each other.

Late in the afternoon I was in the university cafeteria, when a boy came over.

"May I sit here?" he asked. He has black hair but he seemed European to me.

"Do I know you?" I stared at him. Cause Usually i was uncomfortable around strangers and especially around boys.

"I don't think so." I replied

"Weellllll OK sure. have a seat if you wish" I didn't know what else to say.

"Hi I am John Hazelwood. I am a student of Engineering and you?" he said as he extended his hand for a handshake.

"Hi John. Sorry I don't shake hands with boys." I replied.

"Oh it's alright I can understand" He simultaneously replied.

"Where are you from?" he asked

"I am from India and I am a student of engineering too. Oh and I am Fiza Ahmad." I answered.

"Oh nice name. India is nice country. I have heard good things about your country." He said.

"Well Thanks. Your homeland is famous too." I tried to be friendly.

Then our chat continued. He was from Australia , not Europe as I had guessed. He had 2 brothers but all his family was back in Australia. But like me and many others he had come to Canada solely for study reasons.

Maybe he is a nice person. Possibly Friendship material.

In the Evening I went to my room. There I saw, Natasha and Mahrukh were already in the room. Natasha was deep into her book on the study table while the Mahrukh was just sitting on the sofa.

I walked into the room and this diverted their attention.

"Hello" Mahrukh sitting on the sofa got up.

"I hope you had a nice day?" she asked me.

"Yes Alhamdulillah I had a nice day..and you?" I replied

"yes me too Alhamdulillah.

Then I had a conversation with Mahrukh while Natasha was busy with a novel. That novel was written by a certain famous female writer from Ireland Abeer Khan.

After a long and tiring day we went to sleep. I thanked Allah after my Isha prayer, for a nice day in a foreign land and then went to sleep.

I want to thank all of you for reading our 3rd chapter. These are still the introduction phases but soon the suspense and drama will come into play.
I hope you guys will stick around.

Again I would like to thank my co-writers
AimanShoaib
samichauhan

And and all members of our whatsapp group.