Incandescence

Chapter 16

Anis

I watched as Alisha walked away, carrying her shopping bags in both of her hands. I should've offered delivering the bags to her car but then she stopped at a shopping cart, placed her bags in that cart and wheeled it outside towards her car. Good idea!  Every time I met her after the accident, there was something about her that I couldn't put my finger on. The Alisha I had met on her graduation day at Gloria Jeans was proud, confident and had a bit of ego but the Alisha I met now was a different girl. This Alisha looked broken and hurt, her feelings that I could read from her eyes. Her eyes betrayed a lot of hurt and bewilderment. They drew me near her in order to take her pain away from her. The aura of confidence that had surrounded her before had disappeared and I could easy understand that, she had lost her confidence as well as her beauty. She looked wretched, anyone could see that.

Maira snapped her fingers in front of my eyes and drew my attention back towards her.

"What are you looking at brother? She already left." She smirked at me as she sipped her latte.

"I'm not looking after her." I said, looking away from the direction Alisha had disappeared from.

"Yeah, yeah! Whatever!" She said playfully and grinned back at me. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I really like her." Her statement made me look at her sharply. She was perceptive as hell.

"Really? You don't care about how she looks like?" I asked, an idea coming to my mind.

"Duh bro! You think I'm THAT dense?" She gave me an angry look. "I don't think care if she's burnt or not, I like her the way she is and I think she's gorgeous." Her words warmed my heart.

"No!" I said and grinned at her.

"I know you like her bro, A LOT! I can see it in your eyes."

"Shush kid! Finish your latte so that we can be on our way home. It's getting late and I have a dinner to attend tonight."

"Yes sir!" She saluted me and then finished her latte.

We made our way home as Maira had almost completed her shopping. Now that she knew how to drive, half of my duty of her pick and drop was off my shoulder. I was thankful for that but today she had come to pick me from office to go Centaurus Mall to shop with her. I knew her reasons for coming there. She needed my credit card but being my younger sister, I gave her what she wanted. After all, we had each other company to go out and have fun.

Once I was back in my room, I changed into slacks and a t-shirt to get comfy and then went to the lounge to spend some time with mom and dad before I had to get ready for dinner.

Saad Ashraf, my class fellow in Germany, has returned with me to Pakistan and he had invited all of his ex-classmates for a dinner at his place. He had specially called me up and asked me to grace his dinner with my presence and I had agreed. It was six in the evening now, I had a little time before I would get dressed and be on my way.

In the lounge, Maira was lying on the couch as usual, munching on a chocolate bar and watching the television. Mom and dad were there as well, watching some drama with her. I came forward and sat near my mom, who smiled softly at me.

"You know what, Maira!" I called her for attention.

"What?"

"Mom loves me more than you." I grinned widely at her as she made an ugly face at me.

"She told me that I'm her best daughter when you weren't here." She retorted.

"Yeah yeah!" I provoked her and kissed mum in front of her. Her eyes blazed at me and I grinned back at her. I loved teasing her and the best thing about her was that she got teased easily.