Through My Eyes

Chapter# 8

"Ruba, you are worrying too much, what's wrong seriously? Cant you be friends with the guy? Or at least make his acquaintance, I don't get you." And she keeps eating her fries.

Haya returned from Karachi two days ago, so we decided to meet at college today.

"Why?"

"Its the 21st century and its not frowned upon anymore that you actually have a bit of contact with your future fiancee, but its up to you. I feel personally that you should know the other person before agreeing to something." How do I explain myself here?

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem right to me." People don't concern me, its just some conscience knocking at the back of my mind. "I don't really care about people here, its just that he is the one who should be making a move, not me."

We don't find the need to mention who 'he' is, its obvious already.

"What about his mom? She never mentioned anything about him wanting to talk?" My best friend asks while adjusting her big, black glasses, solely interested in her food.

"Why would she? I mean we don't banter about his son all the time, we have got other topics to discuss as well. And not to mention, she is my mother in law, not my best friend okay?"

A soft laugh escapes from my mouth, making Haya giggle in response.

"Not my best friend okay?" She mimics me in the most childish way possible and we both burst into laughter. "I'm telling you, people are nosey, they would question, and every time you would smile looking at your phone, they will suspect you."

"I wish I could care."  I reply, while stealing a fry from her plate. "I forgot why we dont share fries, look at this, the ketchup's literally dripping." I add, scrunching my nose up at the amount of ketchup in her plate.

"So thats that then?" She questions while raising an eyebrow at me and swatting my hand away from her fries.

"Yep, thats it then. I'm not talking, unless of course he doesn't make a move. And trust me, he doesn't seem interested to talk to me anyway."

"You are silly literally, if I wouldn't have known you better, I would have cussed you out."

"You are lucky I love you Haya."
Bantering is the only quality I have, well besides crying.

"Yeah as if. When are you going to tell Mehak and your other friends about it?" She asks the same question that has been hovering over my mind from days now.

"I don't know. Whenever I feel the right time you know?"

"And when is the right time for that?" Haya questions while sliding the now empty plate of fries away from her.

"I cant tell them yet." Its hard to tell them, i only met them a month ago. "I told Rida though. She probably thinks I'm going to leave her or something. We haven't talked since. And I really miss her." I admit, letting a long sigh escape my lungs.

"You should talk to her about that. I'm sure she will understand. Well, I like her."

"I do too. Ill try, I just need a little more time to figure things out." I assure her and she nods.

"Don't you wanna eat anything? Im noticing, Ruba, you don't eat much now a days."

That is why we are best friends, there is no need of explanation.

"I don't feel like it, the thought of food, alone makes my stomach hurt. I am full, watching you eat k bear."

"Dont be silly." She narrows her eyes at me and I laugh at her. "Well apart from everything else, I feel really obliged that I'm the first one whom you gave this news to"

"You definitely should." I roll my eyes at her. "Now lets go we've got literature to take yet."

"Yes ma'am." She simply obeys.

***

Literature was fun today though. We learned about the basic plot of Shakespeare's novel, The Merchant of Venice, which we would be studying next year and received a deadline for the up coming week.

Once I'm finished with literature, I drop Haya off at the bus stop inside our college and turn towards cafe to grab some coffee.

A shout of my name forces me to look at my left and I find Shiza and Mehak sitting on a bench right under a tree.

"What are you guys up to?" I ask once I'm close enough for them to hear.

"Killing time. You tell?" Shiza questions while snatching her phone back from Mehak.

"I was heading to the cafe to grab some coffee, wanna join?"

"Yeah sure, I wanted pasta anyway." Mehak cuts in.

"Thank goodness I found a coffee partner, I thought that wouldn't be possible." Shiza brags. And I giggle softly in response.

We find an empty table in the far corner of the cafe and after putting our bags there, we head towards the girl at the booth. She smiles, giving us our required tokens. Shiza insists me on having an expresso, claiming its the best here. And Mehak grabs herself a plate of pasta as usual.

The warm liquid soothes my adrenaline, it definitely is good, really good.

"So are you interested in someone? I mean you dont seem the type to me, but you never know." Shiza asks, gulping her coffee.

Her question makes me laugh hard. Only if she knew I had been engaged for a month, she would have never asked me that.

Obviously. My subconscious adds.

"Yeah I'm definitely not the type."
Me? And men? Polar opposites literally. "Not the type men want I mean."

Why am I acting drunk?

"Men want women, it doesn't matter what type." Mehak adds, while shoving the salad out of her plate.

"I pray for an honest man for myself. I couldn't wish for a pious man if I would hover over other men too. It goes fair here. So I'm not into these things, thank God. Neither is she." Shiza explains while nudging towards Mehak with her chin.

"Yeah you are right." I cant form more words.

Boys have never been a topic of discussion for me and Haya. We talk about every other stuff but men. I don't know what else to say in response to these kind of things, so I stay quite.

"I wont marry for years." Mehak darts in, "l have seen this world, people are not what they seem like, so I'll avoid marriage for 5 years from now."

"Let these things be handled by God. He has assured pious men for pious women." Im loving this chat, though it has no direction. "Have faith in whatever he chooses for you." Shiza is really good at convincing people though.

"I see, your faith in Him is the strongest." I say, inspired by what Shiza just said.

"It does not come granted. One has to kill his desires to reach here."

Ouch. It touched me.

I want to tell them about Tauseef, i really do, but I just cant find a way to do it.

"If you are pious. Wait for what is best for you. God plans in mysterious ways. You need to have trust in Him, and all goes well." Shiza goes further.

This kind of chat with them really takes me to a peaceful place, a place which is yet to be discovered.

"So you mean that everything is planned already? And that I should just wait for the right time?" I ask.

"Yeah you should." Shiza pushes. "He loves us you know?"

"Of course we do." Mehak replies before me. "Lets head towards the gate, my driver would be outside, its past 4 already." Mehak says, taking our attentions with her, ending the discussion.

I hastily gulp down the remainder of my coffee, and we slowly march towards the gate.

Exchanging my number with Mehak, we head home around 4 in the evening. A long day awaits for me ahead.