Train to Love ☑

M - 28

She heaved to steady her breaths, "It was you Maahi who was standing near the door wearing this same colored shirt. Maahi! You are my answered dua," she said that out loud blinking tears, tears of sheer joy. 

"And the unfortunate me didn't see you?" He questioned being taken aback. 

"No." She shook her head, "We locked our gaze in the mirror near the door. The time froze the minute we locked eyes and your eyes Maahi! They are the most beautiful pair I have seen. I was wondering what was even Allah thinking when he made you. How come you are so perfect and so radiant and so beautiful and so handsome and so and so and so…” She blabbered eyeing his face, which she adored so dear to her heart. She was squealing with excitement. 

"Don't tell me you are the niqabi?" He finally remembered, making her freeze from jumping. 

" You remember?" She asked. He just curiously went through each detail of her face and kept quiet. "Yes! I am the niqabi. I used to wear a niqab back then and Armaan, that Idiot forced me to remove and not use it when I am with him. I can't say no to him that time and eventually, I was ridden of the habit which I liked the most," she added seeing him quietly listen. 

But Maahi didn't pay much attention to her rant because he was too stunned at the moment. 

Then it registered to him. The scattered blocks of the jigsaw puzzle placing themselves back in form. 

No wonder, why her eyes seemed familiar. To double-check, he stepped forward and made his two hands cover her face. One blocked the view of her mouth and nose and the other blocked the view of her small forehead visible through her hijab, both hands facing different directions and leaving only her eyes only the one thing he could see and then he confirmed. 

"Shabna!" Her name sounded like the most wonderful of all the names in the world because it was called by him, "Ya Allah! You are here." 

"You remember?" she questioned again stifling her grin. 

"Yes. Yes. I remember crystal clear. I was returning after visiting Sameer's parents during my final year on a train to Chennai and I was listening to some nasheeds through my earpiece. I kind of turned on the shuffle mode and all of a sudden, Zawjati by Ahmed Bukhatir started playing and I was smiling thinking about making my own family in the future and having someone to love for myself when I had the realization of someone's gaze on me. I didn't want to turn straight to them and make the situation awkward and so I turned towards the adjacent mirror and then Subhanallah! We locked gaze. That juncture made my heart completely stop. I didn't know why?" He ran a hand through his hair. "and I saw you again out of the train but before making a move, the vehicle speeded away." 

"Yes. You saw me again but do you know what? Circumstances made me stand near your seat for a good five minutes and I was got swooned by your looks." 

"What? Really?"  

She just shook her head again in a yes. 

"I was sleeping then right?" 

She nodded her head in a reply and the tips of his ears turned pink. 

"You were and that time made me memorize each of your features to embed in the file of my memories and got saved itself on the CPU of my brain so that no matter what happened in my life, it won't get deleted because even though if we weren't meant to be, your face is something I cherish and it's something which shows the world how beautiful can the Creator design His Creation."  

He cupped her face and looked inside the pools of her brown iris, "You are exaggerating, aren't you?" 

"Maahi! I never exaggerate. And the most beautiful part is, after knowing your soul, I can't even stop myself from imagining how handsome you would be in Jannah."