Chaos in the Canvas √

06 | crimson

These mountains that you are carrying,
you were only supposed to climb.

- Nejwa Zabian

Saturday - 11:21am

Ibrahim Yazdani didn't like feeling useless, especially when it came to walking behind his mother and sister when they shopped.

Morad Yazdani, his father, insisted that one of the brothers always accompanied their mother whenever she wanted to go out for shopping; Safaa, he knew, could not handle the old woman alone. And as it was, mostly Mustafa carried out the responsibility but this time, Ibrahim's shoulders were burdened with this task.

And God, he hated every minute of it.

His mother, like any other woman on the planet, loved shopping. Ibrahim sincerely doubted if she had ever stopped for a minute to rest as she walked through the crowded Bazaars of the city, with pace that sometimes even he couldn't keep up with. It was not until she had returned back home that the pain made itself known, and rest of the day dragged by with her children massaging her legs.

Today, as he walked behind his mother and sister, holding their shopping bags in his hand while trying to match their excited steps with his bored ones, he tried hard not to groan as he wiped bead of sweat from his forehead.

The sun shone above his head mercilessly, sweat trickling down the thick brows of his. With a black shirt that was pressed against the chiseled chest and collarbone that was rendered damp, Ibrahim Yazdani couldn't help but clench his teeth ferociously.

"How much more, Ammu?" Ibrahim couldn't take anymore and finally groaned, but Ammu was busy scanning the pashmina shawls that were hung outside the shop.

However, Safaa did turn around and halted when she saw her brother glaring at her, his face masking the expressions of utter tiredness and annoyance. Stifling a laugh, she shook her head and turned around to say something in Ammu's ears.

"I feel like such a chauffeur." Ibrahim said as he looked at the back of the head of his mother who didn't pay much attention to Safaa and continued on with her shopping.

They had been strolling the Bazaar for the past two hours, and as of now, the only thing his mother had bought was a decoration piece and some cutlery. To top it all, the day they had chosen to go out on was excruciatingly hot. Abbottabad was a fairly cold city, with days that the sun shone brightly restricted to only a few.

But today, however, nothing seemed to go in Ibrahim's luck and he inhaled a deep breath as he wiped the sweat off his temple with the back of his hand. However, he knew it wasn't mainly the weather taking its toil - it was walking continuously for two hours in narrow streets of the crowded bazaar.

Although he had insisted on going to the mall, Ammu's traditional school of thoughts had taken over, emphasizing that bazaars offer a greater variety and now all three of them stood in the middle of a crowded one, sun pitying them as it shone.

"Honestly, my Eccrine Glands had never been this much stimulated in all my life." Safaa said with a small chuckle as she wiped her forehead with her shawl, coming to stand beside Ibrahim who only rolled his eyes.

"Yes, these medical terms are all that I need now." Ibrahim said with a scoff but the tiredness in his eyes was replaced with hope when his mother turned around to look at her son, a small smile on her face.

"You are more tired than I am." She laughed while adjusting the large shawl that covered her head.

"Anyone will be if they walk two hours in a bazaar only to end up buying some cutlery." Ibrahim responded with an annoyed face, earning a laugh from his mother who slapped him on his arm.