Always Asad: A Short Story (Ours #9)

Another Affair

Komal nodded, stunned by the familiarity between Asad and the shopkeeper. They said goodbye and on their way back Komal asked Asad why the shopkeeper gave them the bangles for free. A grin appeared on his face. "He's my actual chacha. His stall is best known around here; if your family needs any jewelry, then tell them to come here," he said, laughing.

She began laughing, too. It was easy to laugh along with him. The sun was still high in the sky. They had time before they had to return. "Why did you get me bangles?"

He didn't stop walking, but he looked at her momentarily before moving to the side of the road, and she followed. "My mama wears bangles all the time. They look really pretty on her. I think they're pretty on you, too."

Komal wanted to say something, but her lips curved upwards instead. Asad continued, "Are you going to come back one day?"

"I think so," Komal replied.

"When you come back, I'll get you more bangles. And one day, I'll even get you gold bangles."

Seeing the way Komal's mouth slowly opened, Asad chuckled. "I'm joking. Don't look so shocked." They avoided a rickshaw heading their way and ran into another street. How far were they from home? Would anyone notice they were gone? Komal wasn't too worried. Asad seemed to know where they were going. At that moment, she enjoyed the company of her new friend.

When she got home that afternoon, she slipped on the chudiyan and smiled every time their clinking made a soft sound. After their first encounter, she wanted to see him again. So she did. Almost every day, Komal would rush through breakfast, earning a scolding by her ammi, which made her slow down her last few bites. She'd feed the goat on their terrace, using that as her excuse to look down from where she was and see if he was home. Sometimes, he stood there, waiting for her. Other times, she would see his sisters or brothers if they were drying the clothes, and she asked them to call for him, to which they smiled and rushed away to bring back a beaming Asad.

She stayed in Pakistan for a month on her first visit. And during her time there, Asad would take her to fly kites in the park at noon or to eat gol gappe early in the morning when the cart would pass by their area. Then, in the afternoons, Asad would go to her dada's house where he played kanche with her up on the terrace or listened to her read fairytales to him only to make her close the book and hit him on the head with it.

"It's not real, though!" he protested, rubbing his head and laughing.

"Yes, they are." And they went back and forth with it until Hina api would come into the room and yell at them for yelling. Komal found out a lot of things about Asad. He was a middle child with two brothers and two sisters. He was the same age as her, just younger by a few months. He loved kulfi just as much as she did, though he preferred coconut over pistachio.

When the month was nearing an end, Komal asked her parents to stay longer, to which they laughed and fondly ruffled her hair, saying that they would be back soon. She didn't get to see him at the airport, but before she left, he came up to the terrace to say goodbye.

On her second visit, they didn't get to her dada's house until late at night, and Komal was so jet-lagged that she fell asleep on the charpai. She didn't wake up until eleven, and that was only because Asad's little sister Mahnoor came over to wake her up, saying that Asad was waiting for her on the terrace.

So a groggy and hungry Komal went there with Mahnoor holding her hand, breathlessly talking to her. "We were sleeping when you came. Asad bhai was so happy when mama told us."

It had been four years. They hadn't spoken since he had said goodbye to her on her terrace. Admittedly, he wasn't the first thing on her mind, and with her head still foggy and her feet blindly walking along, he wasn't fully there either. It was only when she came up to his terrace that it registered. Mahnoor let go of Komal's hand and announced that she was going to go outside and play, and Komal almost stumbled without her.