Truly Madly Deeply

Chapter 4

School had completely drained me out. After blocking that weirdo last night, I had to pull an all-nighter to cover up the syllabus. Ammi had wanted me to miss class so I could catch up on my sleep but I had insisted on going to class because they were doing a revision session and I really needed it.

I dragged my feet to class, my eyes were puffy and the circles under my eyes looked darker than my future and that was saying a lot. I met Zoya on the door to our class and she gave me a weak smile as she took in my appearance as I took hers. She looked as shit as me except she looked like she had put on a little concealer so maybe a little more presentable than me. We chuckled as we saw each other. We had pulled a nighter together and it showed.

"You look shit." Zoya laughed as she stepped inside the class with me following her.

"Thanks. I could say the same for you." I countered as we threw our bags down and collapsed on the seats.

"Nighter?" Sarah questioned me and I nodded my head as I put it on the table trying to mute everything around me. There was still ten minutes till the class started so I closed my eyes hoping to get a quick nap in.

"Misha Yousaf!" I heard someone yell my name out and I reluctantly opened my eyes to look up at the source only to see my math sir staring down at me with a look of pity and impatience.

"Asalaam o Aleikum, Sir." I replied groggily. It wasn't the first time I had slept through class. My class was known for being notorious for breaking rules and it was ironic that most of the student council members, who are supposed to be known for being disciplined role models for others, also belonged to the same class because we had received the most votes during elections. Hell, I was the student council president also known as Head Girl so I was supposed to be the epitome of ideal student.

"Pay attention to class. If you wanted to sleep, you should have stayed at home." Sir scolded me but I knew he wasn't a harsh one so I was chill. He was more like a fatherly figure for all of us. All our teachers loved us, maybe the vice principal didn't cause we were usually in her office for breaking one rule or another but she would eventually miss us when we were gone too. 'We brought life to this school' as the school coordinator had once put it. If something happened, our class would be the first one everyone would turn to as suspects. It had become a norm around here.

The class resumed as I tried my hardest to focus on what was written on the board but my eyes kept shifting to the clock on top of the board. When will this end? I groaned internally, I should have listened to mom and ditched school today, it's not like I was retaining anything that was happening around me. I completely phased out the rest of the lecture as I started to think of completely random things and my mind suddenly drifted to the Ibraheem Narejo guy from last night. Now, that was weird in more than one way but I didn't need to concern my exhausted mind with it.

The rest of the day went by, my exhaustion became harder to deal with every passing hour. Finally it was 2 p.m. and I was free. I speed walked to the main gate and noticed Qasim standing at the gate typing something on his phone. Guardians, drivers and family members were not allowed into the school premises since it was an All-Girls school so they had to wait by the main gate which was further protected by a metal fence. Qasim waved at me, giving me a grin that I returned as I said my goodbyes to my friends and walked to him. He ruffled my hair as he grabbed my backpack from me and flung it over his shoulder as he started to walk towards his car with me following him.

We were relatively wealthy since dad was the assistant director of a large conglomerate so all of my brothers owned their own cars and my father had his own car as well and he bought a car for me and mom with a designated driver since neither of us could drive so we shared a car. Qasim threw my bag in the back seat of the car as he sat in the driver's seat while I sat in the passenger's seat.

"How was your day, little one?" Qasim asked me as he revved the car to life and turned on the air conditioner. "You look more drained than usual. Did you get any sleep last night?" I shook my head as I put on my seat belt. "Well, go to sleep if you can, I will wake you up when we get home."

I nodded as I adjusted the seat, reclining it slightly and pulled my dupatta on my entire body like a bedsheet and instantly fell asleep. It felt like I had only slept for a few seconds but in fact I had been sleeping for half an hour until finally my brother shook me from my shoulders to wake me up.

"We are home, Mish." He said as he unbuckled the seat belt for both of us and got out of the car. I dragged my feet inside as I hugged mom in a semi sleepy state.

"Eat something before you sleep?" Mom offered but I shook my head again. Right now, all I needed was my bed. "Alright, go on to bed then." I dragged my feet to my room and collapsed on my bed as I closed my eyes and snoozed off again.

It was around 6:30 p.m. when I woke up again. I had been sleeping for almost four hours. I walked out of my room and found my parents sitting at the dining table helping themselves to some food so I joined them.

"Asalaam o Aleikum Ammi Abbu." I greeted them as I gave them both hugs and sat down.

"Walaikum Asalaam, how are you feeling now?" Mom asked me and I smiled at her.

"Much better. What's there to eat?" I scanned the table expectantly.

"Masala Bhindi." Dad replied and I clapped my hands in delight. Contrary to popular opinion, I absolutely loved bhindiyan, karelay and kadu unlike all my friends who hated them with a passion. I don't know if it was because mom made them so amazing or I just had a unique taste but I loved it. I instantly gobbled down the food and smiled contently once I was done.

"Salaam Misha," My sister in law, Hina, greeted me as she joined us on the table. She had a hand on her stomach and her belly bump looked pretty prominent to all of us now. We were all super excited and happy for Saleem and Hina because mom and dad had wanted a grandchild for so long.

"Wasalaam Bhabhi (Sister in law)." I smiled at her as I gave her a side hug as well.

After talking to her for a while, I went back to my room and picked up my phone from the dressing table. We weren't allowed to bring our phones to school so I usually left mine on the table or bed before leaving for school. I checked the notifications and there was a message popping up on my fb messenger. Sighing I clicked on it and waited for it to load.

There was a message from an id that literally had the name of 'Unknown ID' and the message was short, precise and scary.

You shouldn't have ignored me. Look forward to tomorrow.

- Ibrahim Narejo.