A reach for the stars

Chapter Three

“Hi.” on reaching the shop, Mr khan said to the shopkeeper, a blond guy who appears to be at least eighteen years old who wore a T-shirt, a trouser, and an apron.

“Hello, good afternoon sir, can I help you?.” The shopkeeper replied respectfully to Mr khan with a wide and inviting smile on his face.

“Afternoon my boy, give me some vanilla flavor ice cream with chocolate chips toppings.” Mr khan requested.

“Sir your order is timing, just give me three minutes and your ice cream will be ready, you can make payment over there.” The shopkeeper stated as he pointed at a corner in the shop where the payment was made.

“Alright, make it snappy, I am in haste. As you can see, my daughter is waiting for me over there.” Mr khan asserted as he went to make the payment.

“Here is your ice cream sir.” Some moments later, the shopkeeper called upon Mr. khan and offered him the ice cream.

“ehe, thank you, see how things have gone expensive, just this cup of ice cream now costs $200. May God help us in this country.” Mr.khan sighed in lamentation then he suddenly jolted out of it when he sighted a familiar figure of a boy, stationed together with his luggage from afar.

Mr. Khan opened wide his mouth as he began to whisper to himself “Is that not the Leo kid standing over there?.” Why does he look so uneasy? It looks like he’s waiting for someone. How come he hasn’t noticed me, should I call him? No, let me just give this ice cream to Alina before it melts.

“Dad you are back,” said Alina when Mr khan came back with hands filled with the ice creams.

“yeah, my dear, here’s your ice cream.”

Mr. Khan gave Alina the ice cream.

“Thank you, dad, you are the best…” Alina remarked as her eyes were glued to the ice cream.

“You're most welcome.” Said Mr khan. Smiling and glimpsing at his daughter while she takes the ice cream.

“ohhh my, this ice cream is just too tasty.” Alina suddenly declared delightedly while in the middle of licking one of the ice creams.

“that’s what you always say when you want me to try something.” Mr. Khan stated, feigning the look of the uninterested but deep down, he madly wants to try out how tasty it was. The reason he was like this was that Mrs.Khan had prevented him from taking things like this not too long ago because of his age, she was afraid that he will have diabetes.

“Trust me, dad, this time, it’s different.” Alina kept urging him.

“I think you should try it, here come on dad.”

Alina finally manages to convince Mr khan to try the ice cream.

“ok, but I will take only one scope.” Mr. Khan said as he stretched his hand to collect the cream but even after that, he was still hesitant to take it.

“come on dad, mum isn’t here to scold you for taking sweet things so just try it.”

Mr. Khan later ignored his misgivings and tried the ice cream under Alina's constant urging.

“my dear, you are right, this ice cream kind of tastes different.”Mr.khan testified after feeling the taste of sweetness.

“I told you it is”.

“ I guess now you believe me.”

Alina said.

“no wonder it’s so expensive.” Mr. Khan Stated as he reached for another one.

“come on dad, didn’t you say that one is enough for you, if you keep taking more it might affect you and mum will surely find out when that happens, what excuse are you going to give her then,” Alina said jokingly as she pulled the ice creams away.

“ there’s no problem, I will just tell her that it was you who stuffed it into my mouth.” Mr. Khan replied shamelessly.

“dad?, do you want Mrs khan to accuse me in the future for attempting to turn her into a widow?.”

“come on, stop kidding and give me the cream, my situation is not that bad.” Mr. khan said. Finally stopped the joke and Alina complied with his request shortly after.

“By the way dad, where were you looking at earlier,” Alina asked all of a sudden.

“Ohh that, I even forgot to tell you earlier. I saw Leo standing behind the ice cream shop, it seemed like he was waiting for someone. I saw that he couldn’t take his eyes off his wristwatch as he kept looking around for somebody and he didn’t notice me so I didn’t bother disturbing him since he was carried away.” Mr.khan narrated directly without putting much thought into it but to Mr khans surprise, Alina was shocked and short of words as she listened to his statement.

“wait a sec dad, are you sure that it was Leo whom you saw?.” Alina joltingly said like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her breathing accelerated and her heart started beating quicker.

“Yap, am very sure that it was Leo, your childhood friend.”

“No dad, it can’t be, this is not happening.” Alina loudly exclaimed as she remembered that Leo told her that he will be waiting for her in that location.”

“what is it, my dear.”

“I thought that he has already left, I never expected that he was still waiting for me.” At this time, her breathing accelerated and her heart started beating quicker.

“Alina why are you running?.”

Alina promptly dropped the ice cream and ran towards the ice cream shop ignoring her dad's further questions. though she couldn’t run fast because of her long gown. not caring, she kept running.

“hah, these youngsters of nowadays, they just don’t have patience.” Mr. Khan sighed when she disappeared from his view.

Alina kept sprinting until she saw Leo who was far away. She first froze in guilt, not knowing what to do then continued to run towards him after gaining a little courage from nowhere.

When Alina was almost there, she started yelling his name.

“Leo!”.

“Leonardo!.”

Leo who was standing alone undisturbed suddenly heard a familiar voice calling his name from afar. He already had an idea of who it was the moment he heard the sweet voice. So he smiled and turned around to see the person.

When Leo turned around, he saw Alina who looked exhausted as she kept running.

Alina stopped running when he turned around to look at her. She stopped and bent at the other lane of a road in between them, inhaling and exhaling rapidly with her hands on her laps.

“What a relief, he has finally turned to see me,” Alina said to herself.

Leo worked to where she was standing at. Alina didn’t utter a single word when all this was happening. She just stood there, looking deeply at him. “am sure that Leo will definitely be furious if he finds out that I was here the whole time but only came here now.”

Leo began to wonder why Alina wasn’t talking as he got there. Instead of continuing to stare at her, he started a conversation.

“Hey lady, what took you so long, I have been waiting for you here for the past four hours but you didn’t show up until now.”

Leo was expecting an answer but Alina still didn’t say anything.

“ I would have joined the first train but instead I chose to wait for you, aren’t you going to at least say something now that you are here.” He added after she kept silently steering at him.

Leo couldn’t take it anymore so he pinched Alina's shoulder while saying into her ears. “will you stop staring at me like that and tell me why it took you so long to get here?”.

Alina finally opened up. “Leo am very sorry. I swear to God, I don’t even know where to begin or what to say…”

“Sometimes, I really don’t get you, why are you apologizing to me. I am not mad at you, I just wanted to know the reason why you came this late.” Leo stated as he peeked at her in amazement.

“ by the way, did you come together with Mr.khan,” he asked.

“Yeah, dad is over there waiting for me,” Alina said as she pointed in a direction behind her, still anxious.

“let's hurry up and go back to him.” He said as he turned but Alina pulled him back and opened her mouth like she wanted to speak.”

“ what do you want to tell me that is so urgent.” He said after turning back to see her turbulent face.

“well, I.. didn’t….just… arrive now,” Alina said in a stammer, at this moment, she felt her heartbeat quicken again.

“what are you saying Alina, what do you mean by you didn’t just arrive. Where on earth have you been.” Leo gave her a surprised look When he saw how worked up she looked with her chest rising and falling.

“I arrived here fifty minutes ago but I didn’t come to find you because I forgot about this spot. in all my thinking, I never knew you were here, still waiting for me, I thought that you have already left, thank goodness my dad saw you when he left to buy me ice cream. Leo, please don’t be offended, I am very sorry about making the wrong presumptions. Please forgive me.” Alina said all these words snappily and fluently while holding her breath.

Leo chuckled on hearing all of Alina's remarks as he said in a sore voice. “Alina, are you even listening to yourself, you thought that I had left?.” Do you think that I will go without you after making a promise?....when have I ever broken any of my promises, or is that how you see me now?.”

Leo then looked around and said. “Alina, I must say that I am highly disappointed in you, after all these years of friendship, you still don’t trust me very well.”

“you are getting me wrong Leo, it’s not what you think…”

“there's no point in saying any more…..” Leo said in annoyance.

Alina tries to further explain but she was cut off by Leo,

“let's just get out of here, am sure Mr khan must be waiting for you now, and as for me I have a plane to catch and as you can see, we are already late so there’s no time for me to listen to all your tales.

Alina opened her mouth widely to say something but she swallowed it back down and followed after Leo like someone guilty of committing a crime.