Destiny - مقدر

8 - A New Life - ایک نئی زندگی

"Every sunrise is an invitation for us to arise and brighten someone's day." -Richelle E. Goodrich

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She shook her head and clasped her hands together, impatiently. Daniyal pushed his hands together in a pleading motion. "Please, Ma'am! Please check. If it's not there then we will leave straight away, but check first." Daniyal begged, his eyebrows falling into a frown. She stared at him, then at me. "I'll check once but if it isn't there than you will have to leave. What was the name again?"
Daniyal exhaled with relief, "Thank you! Thank you so much! It's Aqsa Bhatt."
"With a K or a Q?"
"Q. A - Q - S - A."

She nodded, turning her attention back to the screen. After a while she groaned, rubbing her temples. "It's not here. Now please, before my patience runs out, leave." She looked up at us, frustrated and unamused. "What? Are you sure?"

Shock and fear passed through me, making me shudder. We really were doomed now. Daniyal peered over the counter once more, making the woman almost burst with annoyance and frustration. "I said... leave now!"
I swivelled on my feet, turning to face the door when suddenly I heard Daniyal shout 'wait!' I huffed. It really wasn't worth it anymore. I just wanted to leave before my headache physically drilled a hole into my brain.

I turned to see Daniyal, carefully inspecting the illuminated screen. "You spelt her surname wrong."
She groaned, turning her attention back to the screen, her eyes flickering. "Did I?" Her tone was sarcastic and mordant and her eyes were rolling to the back of her head. "Yes, you did." Even Daniyal seemed to be getting impatient now. "It's B-H-A-T-T, Bhatt. Not Butt."

She continued to press the little black buttons on her keyboard before her frown become neutral and she simply nodded. "You've booked a room for one night, yes?"
I jumped with joy and Daniyal exhaled with relief. "Yes, yes we did."
She swivelled around on her chair and pulled a key off of the wall before turning back around and handing it to Daniyal. "You're in room 3. It's down the second corridor, to the left." She pointed to a corridor opposite us. "You're welcome to stay till ten o'clock tomorrow but then you will have to leave."

We said our thank yous and then followed her directions down the corridor. Once we were out of view I simply looked over to Daniyal and laughed. "Well that was scary, wasn't it? For a minute I thought we'd have to sleep out on the streets!"
He chuckled, "Indeed. Thank God Sarafina booked us a room."
"But where did she get the money from?"
"I gave it to her so she could use it to book it for us."

I nodded. Daniyal, though I could now call him a friend, had only known me for a few days. It pained me to think of all that he had done for me. We quickly jolted to a stop outside room 3. There was a brass plaque on the wooden door that read '3' in italic, gold writing. Daniyal fished the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door before we walked inside. I pulled off my niqab almost immediately and threw it onto the closest bed. It felt good, finally being able to breath properly.

There were two beds in the tiny room. Both were medium-sized and covered in dull white sheets. The walls were painted white and the carpet was flat and grey. There was one photograph on the wall, black and white, of a child, all smiles and laughter, kite running. There was one cupboard and a shelf to store our things. Neither of them were fairly big, it was a good thing we didn't have any luggage. One window was placed at the other end of the room, a beautiful view of mountains, nature and the streets below us. There was also one small table, a telephone and list of numbers placed onto it.

It wasn't very grand compared to the interior at the main entrance but it sufficed for its purpose and that was good enough. "I don't know about you but I am exhausted."
I fell onto the bed where I had thrown my niqab and drooped like a dying flower. "We're going to need a lot of energy if we're going to make the journey to Skardu."
Daniyal dropped his backpack onto the shelf and sat on the end of his bed. "I think it would be safer for us to eat now so we can leave straight away in the morning without the hassle of hunger."