Chapter 10 7: B

"What of you, Nana?" She asked as she stared at Nana. "Do they have hot and fresh cow milk like in Sardauna? I ve missed taking it." Fareeda threw her head back and laughed, "You can t get that here, Nana. I ll get yoghurt for you." She moved to where Asma u was standing, a few feet away from Mujaheed and nudge her shoulder. She handed her some cash, "I know, you have your own money to buy things for your boyfriend but I m doing this as your big sister. Ask him what he will like to take and go get it for you two, okay?" Asma u heaved a sigh, "I m nervous, Ya Fareeda." She softly spoke and Fareeda chuckled softly. "You ve never been nervous to be disrespectful to me, but since it s about a man, you re nervous, right? Will you do it or else, I ll make sure I break your bones the next time you do something to me." She chuckled and gave her an encouraging squeeze on her shoulder, "Come on, you can do this, Asma u, you re Kamal Sardauna s daughter after all." And she left to the store. Asma u heaved a sigh before she walked to where he was standing, staring as Nana heartily laughed with a smile on is face. "What will you like to take? A drink or snack, anything." Her voice shook as she spoke but she wasn t going to let him realize that she was nervous. Just like Fareeda said, she was Kamal Sardauna s daughter after all. He looked at her with a calm smile, "Anything will do." And she walked off to the store to get what she could think of for them. She came back shortly after that and handed him a cup of smoothie, "Here, banana smoothie, it s my favorite, I don t know if you ll like it." He flashed her a thankful smile and collected it from her hand, he had found a nearby bench and sat down, so she sat beside him. "Thank you, I think I ve tried it once, and it s not at all bad." "Nana! This is crazy!" They both heard Fareeda s voice as she laughed at the pitch of her voice and their eyes immediately turned to where they were. She had placed down her handbag and hopped onto the swing with them, riding as fast as she could as they all laughed at how thrilled she was. After a few seconds, Asma u stole a glance at him before she placed down her cup between them. She had to do this once and for all. "Have you received it?" She asked, and he had to tear his eyes away from a crazily laughing Fareeda that kept swinging as if that was her first time and looked at Asma u. "What? Oh, sorry, yes, I have." He realized acting dumb wasn t like him. He had always wanted to be straightforward with things even though he hated talking. She softly palmed her face and sighed, "I know it s not right for me to repeat it again here, but I like you, Mujaheed. Yes, there are a lot of obstacles, Abba wants you to get married to Ya Fareeda, the financial difference between us even though that is insignificant to me. But what s more important is how you feel. I can understand if you say no, but I d crazily hurt." "Let s get to the rollercoaster, Dahlia, are you sure it s fun?" She held their hands while she heartily laughed as they walked to the rollercoaster. "We ve been here times without number with Ummah, Ya Fareeda, it s so much fun, believe me." They ran to the rollercoaster that was about to be filled and quickly bought their tickets and hopped on. Nana was as frightened as Fareeda was, but they were so excited to try it out. He had never seen her like this before, even when she laughed while on phone or with someone in front of him, he believed it was all a facade. Because her laughter couldn t have sounded truer than this, her smile, her excitement, everything looked so real. It felt like seeing her childhood self right before his eyes. Reminding himself that Asma u was waiting for an answer from him, which if you asked him was ridiculous, he turned to look at her briefly before he fixed back his gaze on the cup he was holding. "I understand your urge to say this out, Asma u, and I respect you for that. But you see, I don t think something like this could ever happen between us, I m sorry because I m usually blunt. Even if I m not getting married to your sister, which both of us don t like, I don t think I could ever do this. I appreciate that you like me in this way, but I ve always seen you as the daughter of my employer if more, a little sister to me. You re only 19 years old, you re beautiful, I assure you that you ll find someone that deserves this from you…" She was intent as he went on and on about how he respected her and whatever it was men say when they wanted to reject you. She wanted to cry, but she wasn t going to do that in front of him, rather she smiled and spoke. "I understand, thank you for being honest with me." And she quickly stood up, "I ll go and play with them, care to join us?" It was awkward, she was embarrassed, but most importantly, she wanted to cry. He chuckled and shook his head, "I ll watch from here. Have fun and be happy, Asma u."And she turned to her heels, feeling the weight of her heart with each step she took. It was too painful, too embarrassing for her to carry. But whatever it took, she would have to wait until she was in the confines of her room to cry it all out. They were about to ride the moving horses when she walked upon them and Fareeda quickly placed her hand on her shoulder, "How did it went?" She asked with her heart brewing with hope, she knew it would be the end of the world if Mujaheed accepted Asma u but she still hoped he would. "We can talk about this when we re back home, now let s play. We ve never done this together, Ya Fareeda." She flashed her a genuine smile for the first time in their lives, and somehow, Fareeda thought even if their plan didn t work out, she had felt something she had never felt in her life, and the effort was worth it all. She had never had the kind of fun she did today and all thanks to the sisters she had never spent time with. The moment she knew was time to take some rest was when her glass nearly fell and she knew her heart would have to seize if she broke this glass. She left them playing and walked to the bench Mujaheed was seated on and sat down, gulping down her water. "How old are you?" He asked out of the blue and her eyes immediately turned to him with the signature eye roll he had gotten accustomed to. "And why are you asking me this all of a sudden? To see if you can marry me according to my age? Please say you can t, I m already old." "And what age is that?" "23, I pray you have a problem with girls above 20, please." She really prayed he did. "I don t, sorry to burst your bubbles. But seeing you play today, I doubt if you ve ever let the little girl in you grew up along with your body." And that struck her harder than Mujaheed had ever intended it to. And it made her realized, she might have been a 23 years old lady, but her soul would forever be that of an 11 years old girl. ? Asma u softly knocked on Fareeda s door for the first time in her life, Fareeda wondered who it was. Because all the other people had never knocked, they either barged inside or nearly knock the door down. And when it was Nana, the first thing she heard before the girl make an appearance in her room was, 'Ya Fareeda, are you inside? and without waiting for an answer, she would just barge in. "Who is it?" Fareeda asked as some part of her heart told her maybe they had a guest? But which among the guest they had could ever ask for her and even proceed to come to where she was? She doubted if it was a guest. "It s me, Ya Fareeda, can I come in?" She nearly gasped outwardly, Asma u? She moved to the door, unlocked it and smiled when Asma u s face showed up, "I ve been waiting for you since. Come in and tell me how it went," she said and ushered her in. They sat on the resting sofa and Asma u heaved a sigh, staring at the night sky through the window. "He rejected me. And his exact words were even if you two aren t getting married, he can t have that kind of relationship with me. That I m still young, I should focus on my studies and I ll find someone that ll love me." She sighed and palmed her forehead, "You know all those cool stuff men tell you when they re about to reject you, right? That s all he said trying not to make me feel bad." Fareeda cursed him under her breath, what was this man trying to pull for the sake of the almighty? She knew she had to think of a way to not make this happen, but how could she? By Allah, she hated to even think about this, and now just the smallest thin of hope she had had been broken by him. She softly hugged Asma u that was beginning to cry and realized she had never hugged her before in their entire lives. "I m so sorry, Asma u, okay? You shouldn t cry because of that man." At first, she was just going to use her to revoke Alhaji s promise on them, but now she realized that if this was a joke to her, it wasn t a joke to Asma u at all cost. "But I love him, Ya Fareeda. I know, as a lady since he outwardly rejected me like a lady I shouldn t keep on holding to him but by Allah, it feels so hard to do that. My heart is paining me so much." There was a time when she wished one of her family members would feel even a pint of the pain she felt every passing day in her life, but seeing the way Asma u was crying bitterly, Fareeda kept revoking her prayers and curses on them. So this was how bad it felt to see someone in tears? Someone in pain? Was it because she had never had someone by herself in her life that she didn t know all these or what? "Asma u…" she began but was cut off when the door got banged open and a furious Ummah stood in front of them, with Dahlia by her side. Did Fareeda once think of the reason Ummah left Dahlia at home this evening? Whatever the reason was, she would know it now.