BRAVE THE SEASONS

PART ONE

That morning, I was nursing a warm coffee between my fingers, my notebook and MacBook laid out on the desk before me. The air was still and frigid and the fluorescent lights were far too bright for this early in the morning. The classroom was otherwise empty and I was enjoying the fleeting moments of silence before my fellow classmates flooded into the room and the professor would begin drowning on about technical writing terms and techniques.

I was so immersed in my own thoughts; I nearly fell out of my chair when I felt the gentlest tap on my shoulder. I whipped around to find deep, chocolate eyes staring into mine. A boy, tall, tanned, and handsome, stood before me, hand outstretched for me to shake. I looked between his hand and his face, brows knitted together.

"Hi," he spoke, a million dollar white smile plastered on his face. I sat there emotionless, trying to figure out who this person was and why he was speaking to me. "I'm Ali, I'm new." His accent was difficult to decipher, it sounded American but with just the slightest twinge of British.

"Hi," I replied, reaching to shake his hand, they were soft and warm. I turned back around to my coffee expecting he would walk away and go about his life but instead he pulled the chair out next to me and sat down.

"You won't tell me your name?" he asked.

"Eman," I replied, without turning to look at him, instead I pulled out my phone noticing I had a text from my mother asking me when I would be home. I hoped he would get the message that I didn't want to chat.

"Eman," he repeated, and for some reason my name sounded a hundred times more beautiful in his voice that it had ever in my own. "Your name is beautiful."

"Thank you."

We sat in silence for the next few moments, as he pulled out his laptop and I shot off a text to my mother letting her know I would be home at my usual time. 

"You know, you might be the first American girl who doesn't want to talk such a handsome guy," he teased, that bright smile back on his face. 

He was in fact handsome, but in a different way than I was used to. Growing up, the only boys girls gushed about were the ones with blue eyes and blond hair. But he was the opposite of all the boys in my class or the ones I saw on TV. His eyes were pools of soft brown, tanned skin, black hair perfectly styled and dark stubble trimmed neatly across his sharp jawline. He looked like all the models my cousins obsessed over back home.

I sent him a pointed glare; "I guess I must not find you all that handsome then." I was lying through my teeth but that didn't matter.

"Ouch," he laughed, "There goes my fragile self-esteem." Something told me his self-esteem was anything but fragile.

I was about to retort when his phone vibrated against the desk, the words 'BABA' flashing on the screen. He picked up the phone immediately, "Aslam o Alikum. Yes, I made it on time, don't worry Baba." He listened intently to the man on the other side for a few moments, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Jee baba, okay teek hai. I won't be late, promise. Okay my class is starting now. Huda Hafiz."

Before I could even stop myself, I turned to him. "You speak Urdu? Are you Pakistani?"

He grinned, "Yes, born in Islamabad, but I was raised in Doha." That explained the mix of different accents.

I nodded, processing the information. Our university wasn't the most diverse place on the planet, the South Asian population was trifling and the Pakistani population was even more miniscule. It was always surprising running into someone who looked like me in the sea of students.

"You must be Pakistani too if you understood my Urdu."

"Yeah-I mean my parents are. But I was born here," I answered, surprising even myself by offering personal information to a mere stranger.

"Well Eman, my parents will be delighted to learn my first friend in university is a Pakistani girl."

Again, my name sounded beautiful on his tongue.

Before I had the chance to interject and tell him we certainly were not friends, our professor walked in and we both fell silent.

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TRANSLATION

Aslam o Alikum: peace be upon you (Muslim greeting)

Jee: Yes

Teek hai: Is fine or Fine

Huda Hafiz: God protect you (Used in Pakistan to say good-bye)

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Hi there, thank you for stopping by and taking a look at my story. I'm new to Wattpad so I'm really excited to see how this goes. Please let me know what you think. Also, I created a mood-board to kind of give you the aesthetic and feel for the book. 

-n.b