Mikaal

24: Mikaal

 "So how are you coping without meat?" Mikaal asked, walking alongside Dalia in the unfamiliar territory known as Perth Hills.

"Not bad actually. It's just beef steak I have to avoid. Thank God I can still eat fried chicken!"

Mikaal laughed as they both stopped to look out for traffic before crossing the road.

They had just parked their cars at a small, local shopping centre in a suburb called Kalamunda. Although Dalia rarely travelled out this way, something about the place seemed familiar, but once again, Mikaal had kept their catch-up a surprise. The only clues she had were in what he had asked her to bring - at least one litre of water, a tube of sunscreen, a hat and sunnies, and finally, to wear sneakers and 'cover up' with long, loose, comfortable attire - that suggested it would be an outdoor activity.

"Can you eat beef generally, like beef burgers?" Mikaal asked.

"I'm not sure to be honest, but I don't want to risk it until I get the results, so I'm avoiding everything beef." Dalia followed closely behind Mikaal as they crossed the quiet street. "Where exactly are we going?" she asked, a furrow in her brow, scanning her surroundings, noticing it was very bushy.

"You'll see," he said, his tone cryptic.

"Why do you love surprising people so much?"

"I love surprises myself," he said matter-of-factually, "so I guess I assume other people would love surprises too."

'Hmm, so we're similar,' Dalia thought to herself, able to relate to his sentiments. She knew of people like Meagan who hated surprises - who liked being in control of things and would get overly anxious even if it was a 'good surprise'. But Dalia didn't mind 'not knowing', often finding pleasure in the thrill of the unknown - well, she didn't mind not knowing some things. Being kept in the dark over what was going on between Simon and Mikaal had driven her mad - so rather, she didn't mind being pleasantly surprised when the surprise was something she would enjoy.

"Bibbulman Track?" she said aloud upon noticing the wooden sign post at the entrance of a popular hiking trail, creases on her forehead, her eyes quizzical as she turned to Mikaal.

Mikaal's green eyes looked intently into her hazel ones, as if waiting for her to say something more. "Have you been here before?" he asked in a careful tone.

"Yes..." she trailed off, reminded the last time she had come was with Simon. It was among the activities he had organised for her to get over Blake. Dalia couldn't help thinking now that perhaps Simon and Mikaal had been much closer to each other than she had assumed. It was just too much of a coincidence that Mikaal would first take her boxing, now hiking, just like Simon had the year before. Mikaal must have learnt about these activities from Simon when they were still friends.

Unable to resist, she asked, "Were you and Simon really close?"

Mikaal's face looked off guard - a rare sight for Mr Smooth - that further reinforced Dalia's notions that she must be on the ball.

After taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Mikaal finally said, "Yeh, pretty close... in a guy way," he added with a smile.

Dalia laughed. "What does that even mean? Like, do guys open up to each other?"

"If it's the right guy, yeh."

"And Simon was the right guy?"

"Yeh, Simon's the trustworthy type."

Dalia shook her head, amused, saying, "I can't imagine it... How do you open up?"

Mikaal didn't answer straight away. Instead, he began leading the way into the thick of the jarrah forest. Dalia remained close at his heels through the narrow, winding, unmarked path. The path eventually grew wider, where Mikaal slowed down so Dalia could continue by his side.