Urooj (Pakistani Short Stories)

Dobara. Phir se. Again. Once more.

|Raqs|

Hadeed could hear the cheers of everyone who had caught up. He could hear the bottle of sparkling water being popped. But he could only see her.

Brown assessing eyes, narrowed as she smiled with them, full lips and red cheeks and silk like hair. His lips turned up in a smile, at the corners, like he was sharing some sort of joke and then he was stepping forward and she was in his arms and he was spinning her around and oh God.

Oh God.

This hadn't happened before. He hadn't felt this before. Ever before.

|Ba Dastoor|

"I don't know. It shouldn't be like this. I don't feel those butterflies when I'm with him. I don't feel giddy in my stomach or excited and jittery. My heart doesn't race."

"What do you feel?"

Diya couldn't speak for a few seconds. Her mouth would open but the right words wouldn't come out. She wanted to cry pitifully. Because as soon as the words came together, she knew.

"Safe." Her voice broke. "At home. Like I've known him forever. Like I could make any mistake in the world and he wouldn't care. Like his arms are the only place I'd ever want to be. Like his words are the antidote to any poison I could think of. Like he and I were made from the same fabric."

Her voice trailed off and tears pooled in her eyes.

"When he looks at me, I know I'm going to be okay. And if I don't. Then he promises me that he'll make it okay."

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Heavily unedited 😭