Choosing Him

16

Areesha talked to Maya on the phone sometimes and they met up once in a while too. But after Maya got busy with her exams they had to cut short their dates. Zayan still didn't approve of Maya but for the sake of his sister he didn't mind her when she came to their house once or twice. Areesha's mother had met Maya and Fawad too and liked both of them.

That day Maya had invited her over to her own house on the weekend as she was done with her exams now and wanted to enjoy herself. It was the weekend after Zayan had told her about Fawad's proposal. She hadn't met him in office either. She had tried to decline Maya's invitation but she had been very persistent.

Areesha had felt very awkward when she first stepped in the house as her boss lived in the same place too and she didn't know how to talk to him outside of office. She got along well with him when it came to their worker-employ relationship and Fawad didn't overwork her too much either. But she didn't want to confront him yet knwing what his feelings for her were. It wouod be so damn awkward! How would she behave around his family? She just hoped that he wasn't at home or they didn't cross paths. 

For some reason she thought of Maya's house her boss's house more than her friend's.

"Assalam alaikum," Areesha said to Maya when she opened the door for her.

"Walaikum salam girl! What took you so long?" She replied in a cheerful tone

"Nothing. I got out of the house late as none of my dresses were ironed so I had a hard time finding a neat one." 

Lie. Liar liar pants on fire! You were trying to find an excuse to not come. Her subconscious scolded her.

"Yeah I totally feel your pain. I hate it too when that happens. Come on inside." Maya said to her as she led her inside her house.

Their house was very well furnished and clean. The tiles were small and white and sparkling clean. She could even see her reflection in them. Velvet drapes framed the windows, the lace inner curtains remained drawn, allowing daylight to enter. Under the window there were some plants pots.

On one side of her living room was a glass table and six black iron chairs. There was a piece of furniture with glasses and DVDs, and there are some pictures on the walls. On the right there were burgundy sofas and two green cozy armchairs. Opposite the sofas was a thirty-two inch LED on the wall.

"My ammi." Maya said and Areesha looked around to see a woman entering the room.

"Assalam alaikum auntie. I'm Areesha; Maya's friend." So this was Fawad's mother, she thought.

"I know beta. I've been waiting to meet you for a long time now. My kids talk a lot about you."

"Kids?" she asked surprised. Had Fawad told his mother about her?!

"Don't you work as Fawad's assistant?" No he hadn't then. Thank God!

"Uh yes. All good I hope?" she said awkwardly

"Of course beta. Make your self at home and why don't you join us for lunch first, you can't miss my palao."

"Oh I'd love to auntie but I am full." she replied courteously

"No you got to taste he palao. It's amazing. You can't miss it for the world!" This time it was Maya who said this.

"Uh yeah sure then."

"Why don't you girls come along and help me set the table."

They dutifully followed her to the kitchen. It was a well-lit contemporary kitchen. The walls were lined with mahogany colored cabinets and the oven was fixed between them. The island was in the middle with a granite top.

She helped Maya set the table.

Once the table was set and everything was ready, her ammi told Maya to call her brother.

Areesha just hoped it wasn't awkward to sit with her his family and eat. Why did he have to be home?!

When Fawad came to the table she politely said salam to him not meeting his intense gaze.

They all sat down on the table with the mother at the head and Areesha beside Maya and Fawad across them. The palao looked very appetizing and mouth watering.

Areesha helped herself to some and almost moaned at its taste

"This is very tasty auntie." she said through a mouth full of food and quickly chewed it when she realized how unsophisticated she must have looked.

"Jazakallah beta. So tell me about your family." Aunite said to her with a warm smile.

"I live with my brother and mother. My dad passed away two years ago."

"May Allah grant him jannah!"

"Ameen."

"So is your brother older?"

"No we're of the same age."

"I see. So are you engaged?" Typical Desi aunties! 

Fawad had definitely not mentioned her than. Thank God! 

"No." she said swallowing deeply.

Fawad who knew all about her broken engagement had noticed how her expression had fell and he concluded that she could never reciprocate the feelings he had started to develop for her. He couldn't help but stare at her. Even though she didn't wear make up like most girls, she managed to look beautiful without it. Everything about her attracted him. He didn't know when he had started to develop all these feelings for her but she was such a strong girl. She had earned his respect.

He had completely zoned out of their conversation and when Maya kicked him under the table he realized his mother was talking to him.

"Sorry what did you say Ammi?" He said apologetically.

"Why aren't you eating?" She asked with a smirk and raised her eyebrow suggestively making him groan. 

"I am." He shoved a spoonfull of the rice in his mouth as he narrowed his eyes at her. Any girl that was associated to him and his mother would start making the wrong assumptions. He caught Maya's eye who wiggled her eyebrows at him and smirked. He kicked her back under the table in the shin. Only his foot didn't make contact with Maya; he had kicked Areesha.

Areesha looked up at him surprised at that and he realized his mistake and sheepishly mouthed sorry. She seemed to understand that it was supposed to be for Maya.

"Uh Maya, I need to use the washroom." Areesha said when she was finished with her food.

"First door on the left down the hall. It's my bathroom you can use that."

"Thanks."

She left the table and went to the hall. She entered the room on the right and hurried to the washroom to relieve her full bladder.

Once she was done with her business she washed her face and after drying her hands on the toilet paper, she braided her hair again as it was now loose.

Once she was done she walked out of the washroom, she gasped seeing Fawad lying on the bed.

What was he doing here?

"Uh-" and then she realized this had to be his bedroom as everything from the perfume scent to the lack of neatness of the room screamed it was a guy's room. She scanned the room and concluded that this guy was very messy and careless. Clothes were discarded on the arm chair and his shoes were on the floor. A few books littered the carpeted floor.

"Sorry. I-I  didn't know this was your room." She said hurriedly, utterly embarrassed and turned to leave. Fawad sat up straight surprised to see her there.

"Areesha wait. I wanted to ask you something." He said ignoring his heart which seemed to be beating like he had run a marathon.

"Er.. Maya must be waiting for me. Can't we talk in office tomorrow?" She said quickly having a fair idea of what he wanted to say.

"Just a minute."

"Yes?" She asked staring at the opposite wall.

"A-are you over Aamir?" He knew the answer all too well, but his heart wanted to hear it from her mouth as he had some hope in him that she might like him.

Her head snapped to his and their eyes clashed.

"Why are you asking me that? It's out of your business." She said coldly and turned to leave. She had given him the answer to his proposal then why in the world was he interfering in her matters.

Impulsively, he grasped her wrist to stop her. "I know you aren't, but I can help you." He said looking straight in her eyes.

"Leave my hand." She said trying to wiggle it out of his grasp.

"Marry me." He blurted out and her eyes snapped to his.

"I refused, didn't I? Why do you have to be so damn persistent?!" She almost yelled at him.

Fawad placed a hand on her mouth to stop her from yelling.

She didn't know what to do so she just bit his palm hard. He hissed in pain and removed his hand from her mouth and she looked to see that there were marks of her teeth on his hand.

"This is haram. Leave. my. hand." She said through gritted teeth trying to pull her wrist from his tight grasp.

"Oh? This is haram now is it? You didn't seem to mind when that bastard Aamir held your hand."

Before she knew it her hand made contact with his cheek. She had slapped him. He numbly touched the stinging spot. That was hard.

"That's what you were going to do if I said yes?" She yelled at him. Right now she didn't care about anything or anyone. He had no right to say that to her.

Without as much as a look back she rushed out of his room silent tears pricking her eyes.

She dashed out of his house without telling Maya or her mother who were probably in the kitchen.

She ran to her car which was parked out of the house and fiddled with the keys trying to open the lock.

Once she had finally opened the lock, she plopped down on the driver's seat and started driving. She couldn't even see properly as her eyes were filled with tears. She stared out of the windscreen her eyes focused at nothing in particular. She didn't understand what just happend. How could Fawad do this to her? She was very mad at him to say the least. Sure she had respected him and talked nicely but where had he gotten the idea of marriage to her? He had insulted her.

She drove out of their street and into the main road.

Fawad himself was shocked at what he had done. When he had heard the roaring of a engine he knew she was leaving. He had to stop her and apologise.

He grabbed his own keys from the dresser and dashed to his car.

He just kept on cursing himself for insulting her like that. He didn't know what had come over him when he had proposed to her directly in the first place even though he knew her answer would be in the negative. When he saw her standing in his room he had just lost his sanity and started doing what his heart wanted him to.

He sped the car towards the main road and looked around for her car. Once he found her white car he started to follow it.

She was driving like a maniac crossing the set speed limit.

His heart started beating faster and he just hoped that she got home safely.

He pressed the accelerator and honked repeatedly to get to her. He just hoped that some traffic police stopped her for over speeding.

He was racing the car after her. She wasn't even going towards her house, she had taken the highway. What was she doing here Fawad thought.

On the highway the traffic was lesser. He just hoped that she was okay.

He pressed the accelerator again and sped past her car. Once he was at a good distance in front of her he parked his car im front of her so she slowed down too.

When her car came closer she was still going at the same speed and Fawad got really worried. What if she crashed into him?

He was about to start the engine when he heard the screeching of wheels and he looked in the rear view mirror to see she had stopped.

He couldn't help but be impressed. She really knew how to control her speed.

When he still didn't move, she started honking her horn.

Before she could change the lane he got out of the car and went in front of her car.

When Areesha recognized him she came out of the car and slammed the door so harshly that he winced.

"What the f*ck is your problem?" He cringed at her choice of words.

"Areesha-"

"Don't you dare." she said with a murderous glare at him. Fawad clecnhed his jaw. What was wrong with her?

"What the hell were you thinking? What if you had crashed?" He yelled at her his anger getting the better of him.

"Why do you even care?" She sneered at him

"I love you, that's why I care," he blurted out. He was surprised at himself too. He hadn't even come to terms with his feelings yet.

"Well I don't. Now get out of my way." She said coldly without any emotions. She tried to move away but he blocked her path again.

"I don't care about that. Please don't do this to yourself. I-I won't say anything about the proposal from now on. I am sorry for disrespecting you." He said in one breath before she could interrupt him.

"You better be." She said stonily. With that she went back to her car and started driving.

Fawad got into his car too and started following her. She wasn't driving at the same speed anymore. It was slower than before. He thanked Allah that she was calm now.

He was still following her as this was a one way highway. For them to go back to the town they had to take a turn which came after one kilometer.

After a while, her car skidded to a stop and Fawad slowed down too. What was she doing? He wondered. He parked behind her on the side lane and went out to her car to see what had happened.

"Whats wrong?" He questioned getting out of the car.

"Nothing." She muttered through her open window

"It isn't safe for you here." He said softly when she didn't start driving.

"I think my petrol finished." 

"You can come with me then." he said hopefully

"I need my car. I can't leave it here." She wasn't that mad at him anymore but she was still not looking at him now.

"Wait. I think I might have a liter in my trunk." Fawad said. He always kept extra petrol in his car as backup.

He went and checked his trunk and came out with a can.

After he filled her car, they started driving again.

Areesha was very thankful to him and thought that if he hadn't come she would have been in big trouble as there were no other cars in sight at this time.

She drove home but she was still very mad at him for insulting her like that and touching her.

But the way he had cared for her and came all the way for her well being really touched her heart.

She really hoped that some day in future she'd be able to get rid of her insecurities and actually to his proposal. She wanted to but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She really wanted to be loved by someone. She didn't love him but she knew he was sincere. She could see it in his eyes. She could feel it in his actions. But first she wanted to get over Aamir, stop thinking about him. She didn't want anyone to taunt her about her past and that's exactly what he had did.

***