Twice His Age

1: Encounter

"Anas! Oh my Allah!" She cried some more, clinging onto him as Anas rocked them both. He was crying too. And he wondered, which kind of bond these two shared that even though it had taken them five years to see each other, it seemed to still be active and alive?

Zaid couldn't take his eyes off her. She had dressed beautifully, even though from a single look one would certainly see that she was lacking in more ways than one. But of what she had used to create what she looked like today, she looked magnificent and it seemed as though she had done some magic to have him hooked onto her. His eyes never leaving her face and she kept smiling while tears flowed down her cheeks.

They were now finally seated in her living room. Everything about her home spoke loudly of what she lacked but her face? She looked the happiest. Zaid couldn't keep his eyes off her even though for each second that passed, he reprimanded himself for staring at her. Probably staring too much that she had noticed and turned to Anas that was seated beside her on the sofa, this time, leaving a reasonable space between them.

"Anas, is he your friend?" She had asked, with a kind smile and every time she spoke, Zaid couldn't help himself but be enthralled with the way her voice sounded.

Anas turned to him and smiled widely. "Yes, he's Zaid. Remember him? The one I always talk to you about?" She seemed to think for a minute before she quickly nodded her head and her face broke into a grin.

"Oh my god, Zaid? Good evening!" She greeted him excitedly and hearing his name from her mouth, uttered using that voice, it was hard to shake off the feeling and answer her, but thankfully, he did.

"Good evening," he said and ducked his head down. Because how could he keep on staring at her face when she was staring right back at him? He was all sort of things, but not that shameless, right?

They spent almost two hours in the house. They ate, even though it took a a lot of persuading from both her and Anas before he agreed to eat and when they were about to leave, she walked them to the door.

"Waleed, Uncle Anas is leaving, come and say good bye to him!" She called out. And as though a movie was playing right before his eyes, Zaid watched the boy ran to them and he shook hands with Anas and out of courtesy, shook his hand as well as they bade them goodbye.

They must've probably spoken a lot, said a lot, but he heard nothing. All he did was stared at her face while she looked enormous. Not in the fashion or luxury sense, but in the sense of her being. She looked enormous and he had never been hooked on someone like he was today. He didn't even know what got over him. Like, she was obviously married!

Anas smacked his arm after they had walked a distance away from the house, his face looking so relaxed and collected. "You haven't spoken a word, man!"

He sighed and slightly shook his head to get back into his senses. "I was just in a thought and you know that I'm not usually a talker."

"I'm so glad to see her, Zaid." Ignoring what he had said, Anas spoke of his mind and Zaid nodded his head.

"It has shown all over your face. Which makes me wonder, what are you really feeling towards her? It's so unlike you to act this way around a woman, Anas." He was teasing, which was so unusual and rare, but he was at his best when Anas was around.

Anas turned to him and flashed him a sad smile. "She's my sister. My niece, actually. What do you think I should feel about her? We grew up in the same house, Zaid! Sometimes you have the worse kind of imaginations."

"I'd love to see you admit it someday." That was all he said before they hailed bikes and went immediately to the automobile shop, where they had kept his car after it had gone faulty and Anas wasn't patient enough to wait until it was repaired.