Destiny - مقدر

18 - I Tried - میں نے کوشش کی

"Justice cannot be for one side, but must be for both." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"Okay, so here's Mr Arlok's vegetable stand."

Market stalls lined the route, and both Daniyal and I paused for a moment to survey the flamboyant scene, and observe the bustling throng. Children ran around hand in hand, casually browsing various toys and delicious foods, whilst housewives  hustled and bustled, and   haggled over the price of  the exotic fruits and other imported merchandise, with vendors  of various nationalities.

The footpaths were crowded with stalls selling sacks of nuts and dried fruit, or meat roasting on skewers. Powdered spices lay in rust red and dusty yellow piles, or spilled bright green from sacks as large as feed bags. Rich and unfamiliar scents cut through the smell of engines, so heavy I could taste them in my mouth. The piles reached so tall that it seemed almost majestic.

We came across Mr Arlok's stand, and of course, not surprising at all, he remembered me. It seemed that he had grown ten years in the space of one year. His once thick, ever-growing, brown beard, was a grey stub of hair that sat like a dead rat under his lower-lip. His eyes, once the dark brown of sweet cinnamon, were now the tired brown of fresh mud. They drooped under his wrinkled eyelids, merging with the hanging wrinkles that his skin held. He was wearing a white kameez, stained brown by the mud and dust on the streets but his face, also stained with dirt, still smiled. A permanent smile was plastered across his face, day in, day out.

He stood in front of the same brown, ligneous table. One of the legs was dented, held in place by only pieces of paper and sap of the trees. The table seemed older than he was. Though the table was weak, it held around double it's weight on top. There were trays of vegetables, so fresh that they still had stains of earth, lying on brown rags that caught the dry mud. There were carrots, lettuce, tomatoes and cauliflower, and other colourful vegetables stacked up in neat piles. They reached around twenty centre-metres into the sky, vibrant piles of delicious produce. When he saw me, his eyes widened under thick eyebrows. His mouth fell wide open, above his beard.

"Aqsa?! You're still alive?" He exclaimed, jumping back at the sight of me. I laughed, "Yes, hello Mr Arlok." That's not a question you hear everyday.
"I've been so worried, everyone was claiming that you'd died! Is it true that you ran away?"
"Um...well." Suddenly sensing that it was clearly a personal topic, he slowly backed away from the subject. It was all part of his compassionate nature. Mr Arlok wouldn't hurt a fly. "Oh...so, whose this friend of yours?"
Daniyal waved, "Hi, I'm Daniyal."
Mr Arlok clapped his hands together and smiled, "Well, hello Daniyal." In many ways, he reminded me of Mahmood from Skardu. 

"I must say, you two make a very handsome couple! Ah, young love." He beamed at us both. "No! We're not, um...well, I-" I stammered, feeling my cheeks turn bright red. Daniyal turned to me and laughed, his gorgeous laugh only adding to the red tint in my cheeks. I stared at the ground, trying hard to predict what he would say next. "We're not a couple, but thank you." Daniyal said, flashing his famous smile at him. A part of me couldn't help but feel disappointed, I don't know why. It was entirely correct that we weren't together, but I was still slightly dissatisfied. Mr Arlok's mouth formed an 'O' shape. "Oh, I'm sorry. You just fit together so well so I assumed..." I laughed nervously, "It's okay, Mr Arlok." 

We said our final goodbyes to Mr Arlok and carried on our journey. We turned a corner, and continued to walk down a string of unfamiliar streets, getting closer and closer to our destination. I'd never visited Afreen's house before; we always met up either at school, the streets or Sarafina's house. We passed the mosque in all it's glory. A large green dome, turning shiny emerald with the light of the sun. It had two large towers, pointing upwards like sharp needles. The enormous building looked magnificent as it towered above us. I looked over at Daniyal who was looking up at it and I saw the dome in his eyes. He looked over and saw me staring at him, smirking. I abruptly looked away, a red tint on my cheeks as I smiled to myself. You fit together so well...