Talking to the Moon ✔

-Chapter: Thirty-two-

I had to wear a sling.

According to the doctor that I had met on my first day, I had a ligament tear in my elbow and it would take almost a week to heal. In the meantime, I could not lift heavy objects, I could not use my hands as and when required. Unfortunately for me, the hand that Qamar had decided to twist was also my right hand.

I had not met him ever since that day. I did not know if I wanted to. I did not blame him for what he did but it just hurt me strangely that he did it to me. Maybe I thought that we were becoming close, maybe I had innocently believed that just because I was good to him, he would be good to me.

I had also decided that I had enough of the palace. Ever since I came to the city, I had not stepped outside and for a village girl like me, it was too much to handle. Omar was not in the City and that meant that I had free reign till his return. It also meant that at my insistence Aqib, Asad and Laia had accepted my plea to live the palace ground for the day. Wali had obviously refused but I was not sure if I wanted him with me in the first place.

Laia was turning out to be a good friend. She had remained by my side after my incident, she took care of me, she helped me dress up, bathe and fed me. It was tough to accept the generosity of her and at the same time I could not help but respect this woman. She was of noble birth but she did not act or sound like one. She was beautiful—prettier than any other woman I had seen but she was not vain. She took care of me because I was Aqib's and Omar's friend. She did not care if I was a village girl or a Queen.

She was also a refreshing person to be around; it was almost as if the room lit up with her presence and grace. Aqib and Laia treated each other as friends more than a couple—they argued, teased and played around.

"Do you want to wear the yellow dress or this pretty lilac one?" Laia appeared from my wardrobe holding two dresses. She gave me her dazzling smile as pushed the dresses on my face as if the proximity would help me decide.

"Yellow!" Asad said with his mouth full. He sat on the other side of my bed, leaning against the headrest and munching some leftover breakfast. I glanced at him amused but secretly I was glad that he was around. If anything, the Qamar incident had done one thing; it had me realize that I could not only focus on him. Omar had been right all along, as I tried and failed to make Qamar feel good, I did not realize that I was slowly slipping away. I had distanced myself from my brother and my friends. It was not healthy for me to do so as they were the anchor to my life—the real one that I lived without Qamar.

Laia scrunched up her nose and looked at Asad dismissively, "No, the lilac one would make her look prettier."

Asad rolled his eyes and continued eating from my breakfast table while Laia scoffed and handed me the lilac dress as if to say – men. Truth be told, even I did not care about the dresses I wore or whether the colour suited me. As long as I had a dress on my body that made me look neat, I was happy. Laia may not be vain but she did care about her appearance and the clothes she wore. It was also one of the things that I did not get about her, in my opinion, she would look dazzling in any dress even my ugly looking blouse and skirt!