Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

44. The same place

When she moved into this neighborhood some six months back, Elaf had just given it a fleeting look. They needed a cheap place and this area provided them with that. Anything else was workable. They settled down and Elaf got busy with her new job. She never tried to explore around and she didn't even have time for it as well. Bus rides weren't as aesthetic as they'd show in the movies. The smoke and the packed inside wouldn't let your imagination run as you looked through the window at the scenic plains, colonies and just commercial areas. They would appear bleak.

But some people had the art of finding beauty in this murky overlay as well.

Elaf was once one of those people.

She wasn't sure if she still was.

She looked out of the window. This was the first time she was actually slowing down and letting her mind relish the serenity around. It was battered but it still has a beauty to it.

It could also be because of the company she had. Elaf glanced at him through the periphery. His eyes were focused ahead. Navigating his way through the unkempt road as he wasn't as familiar with this side of the city he had been brought up in.

There was silence inside the car. None of them spoke much after he opened the door for Elaf to get inside and then drove away. She tried refusing but his one stern look had her resigning. She was sure Areej had left already so, this was the only way she was getting home tonight that too safe and sound. She hadn't forgotten how many times Yusra had asked her to never stay outside after eight because of the notorious nature of this area.

She mumbled her location when he asked and for a small moment, she almost missed his old beat down car. The one which he had gotten from his Nana and revamped to the best of his ability. That car was, mostly, just a piece of junk but Elaf always loved it. Mainly for its history. It was a vintage piece.

But that was one telling sign among many that how much life had changed for the both of them. Sarim wasn't the same struggling engineering student he was six years back and Elaf wasn't a thriving dreamer who loved her journal and her life.

Both had gone through massive changes but the implications were different for both of them. He was still in his element, even though his life had taken one eighty. She had lost that element too and her life also took the same turn, but in the negative direction, a negative one eighty.

The stark difference between how they had become who they were now hit Elaf right there and she looked away. She wasn't bitter about it. It was Sarim in question. She was as proud of him as she was back then for every small achievement of his. She just didn't want him to spend his time making right the wrongs in her life. That wasn't his business to take care of.

But even when she refrained from turning towards him. Just looking from the sidelines, she couldn't help wondering what it would feel like to have this man that he had become a constant in her life. He had always been one but to have him there close and not as someone residing just in her consciousness and memories.

It would be beautiful.

But life had long stopped treating her with its beauty. For the past six years she had been left with just the marred pieces, trying to make sense of them and often reading everything wrong.

She shook her head, earning a look from him. Her focus had gone back to their surroundings. They were almost there. Her street had started and Sarim sighed with relief seeing that it wasn't a silent eerie location. The shops were open and in full bustle.

Stopping the car, Sarim got out of it. Elaf followed suit, not giving him a chance to open her side of the door. What was she? A medieval maid in distress?