Entangled

Chapter 2

I opened my eyes when a beautiful beam of light entered my eyes, I stretched my arms and looked on my left side
"Nushay!" I screamed.
"Shut up!"
"Nushay, this is so rude of you, you brought me home and you chatted all night. Still, you're doing the same thing. This is so ridiculous! What the hell are you doing, show me!" She neglected me once again with her gestures.
"Stop! Whatever you're doing and offer prayer." I said after offering the prayer alone.
"Hareem! I will. You just go to sleep again." Nushay was still on her laptop.
8:00 am, Aunty called, "Hareem wake up! Your parents will be in town in a few hours. They want you back home at sharp 9, Get up!" I hurriedly opened my eyes and found Nushay still on her laptop. The light went out and her laptop's battery died.
"Ok, Hareem! I am going to sleep now."
Before I could say something, she was asleep.
I packed my stuff, took that beautiful dress out of Nushay's cupboard, placed it in my bag and without telling Nushay, went back home. My family had already arrived.
Amma asked me to put cordless on charging and milk in the refrigerator. I didn't listen to her carefully and was lost in my own thoughts.
"What was Nushay doing all night? Why was she so into her laptop? For what reason, she didn't offer Fajar prayer because she never misses prayer. If she was in trouble or tensed about something, why did she ignore me again and again?" All these questions were arising like a tsunami.
Rather, putting cordless on charging, I put it in the fridge and was taking saucepan full of milk to charge it. All of a sudden, Amma raised her voice, "Hareem! What are you doing? What are you even thinking about?"
Without giving her an answer, I went back to the kitchen, took cordless from the refrigerator and placed it for charging and took saucepan back to the refrigerator.
That evening, my father invited our Uncle's family to tea. Uncle Khalid and his family were my favorite. They had a son, named Ashar Khalid, who was my age. I used to call him AK. He was my cousin & a good friend, indeed, a very special one.
When Abba told me that they were coming for tea. I hesitated for a moment because of AK. It won't take him more than a minute to read my face.
"I think it's for the best. I'll share my problem with him. His advice will give me a solution too". Without thinking anything else, I went to change my clothes.
Bell rang along with light knock on the door. Abba Amma received the Khalid family at the door.
I was making AK's favorite "Bread pizza" in the kitchen. I went to tv lounge to meet them.
"Asslam o Alaikum!" I greeted them.
I served them with tea, Bread pizza, nuggets, and brownies.
After everyone ate, I and Ashar went to the terrace.
"What's wrong with you? You look upset" As expected, Ashar asked.
No combination of words was enough to express how I was feeling but he kept asking.
When I finally got the courage to say something "Nushay is...."
"Don't tell me it's about BB" he made a weird face.
"BB?"
"Butterfly Best friend, you were painting a butterfly for her, right? Did it not turn out good?"
"I'm serious AK" I wanted to shout but my voice and words didn't cooperate.
He noticed the change in my behavior and started listening carefully.
I told him what happened last night and how Nushay was ignoring me.
"She changed" I ended my story with these two words.
He smiled with his eyes (I don't know how he does that).
"You're silly Hareem. Now listen, you got all of that just because she ignored you one night? That's how strong your bond is? Maybe she's worried about something, maybe she's mad about something. You should ask her first before jumping on to conclusions"
"And Hareem" he continued "Nobody changes, you just get to see different sides of their personality"
"But we share everything AK. Why doesn't she tell me what it's about", I added
"We hide big secrets of our life from the people we think we share everything with" He said.
My face was wide open.
"How does he know all that," I thought to myself.
Khalid Uncle called him, and I followed him downstairs. They were about to leave. I thanked uncle and aunt for coming and also invited them to our New Year Eve dinner.
"See you on New Year Eve. Hope your 'BB' will be good by then" he smiled.
"Maybe he was right. I should talk to Nushay first"
"Nushay, OHHH I must call her. I left her house without telling her, she must be mad" I thought and dialed her number, but it was busy....
Tried after an hour but still no response....
I left a message "Sorry Nushay, I had to leave early. You were sound asleep. I didn't wanna wake you up.
Call me when you get this message xx"
After a while. My mobile beeped. "Thank God! She replied. That means she's not mad at me. Somehow it was her fault too" I thought while I unlocked the phone.
I opened the message, it read "it's okay Hareem. I'm busy right now. Ttyl"
I got upset. "Okay, sure!" I replied. I didn't wanna say something to affect our relationship.
Someone knocked on the door. "Come in"
Bubbly came in, switched on all the lights because I was sitting in dark. She was there to clean the room. I got up from the bed and wore my slippers that Anushay gifted me.
"How much she used to hate my old slippers" I had a big smile on my face.
"What happened?" Bubbly asked
"Nothing" I smiled.
I went out to get some fresh air and found a letter sitting idly in the mailbox with a name written in bold 'HAREEM AHMAD'
who sent this?
Bottom line "For your eyes only" made me more curious.
"What could possibly be in this letter" I wondered.
I opened the letter and started reading it. My eyes stopped blinking and heart stopped beating. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I finished.
"NO NOOOOO!" I screamed...