Love through time

Lunch

The restaurant was themed to a tropical oasis. It had flowers protruding from the ceiling above and corners of the seating area. Jamil was greeted by the waiter with familiarity. The restaurant was empty, Zarah guessed they were the first to walk in as restaurants usually open by 12 noon and it was just a bit past noon. She loved the ambiance of this restaurant it was unpretentious, even in the name. It was called Osh bo'lsin, which means bon appetite in Uzbek. She read it on the info by the door.She would have never thought of going to an Uzbekistani restaurant and she really did not know what to expect.
They sat by the corner close to the window. Zarah could see the drizzle turn to heavy rain. She was glad she was not waiting at the bus stop.
The waiter handed them both a large one sheet menu. Zarah looked at it and could not recognize any of the food's names.
Jamil smile and said
'May I?' Indicating if he could order for her.

'Please' Zarah said
She listened to him place the orders, when he was done and turned her way, she realized she had been starring at him. He was easy to look at she thought. His jawlines were perfect, his face looked like he spent much time with his barbers. He had a clean shave. He was moderately built with well-defined muscles. Jamil was perfect she thought.
He flashed her a wide smile, almost like he had read her mind. She looked away and thought to herself maybe she was putting herself deep into trouble seating in a restaurant with him.

' you alright?' Jamil asked, he must have seen a change in her demeanour.

'Yes I'm fine' she said
To take her mind off her reality and doubts about why she had allowed herself to be seated with Jamil at a restaurant, she decided to just talk.
' So how often do you go to Nigeria?' she asked him
' Not very often, we lost my dad's parent several years back and his only sister lives in Houston, the last time we went, my dad had a few official events and caught up with some old friends'
She listened to him attentively, his British accent was obvious, his voice was deep and calm.
'My dad still refers to Nigeria particularly, Zaria as home, 30 years of living and having his family here' he shrugged

'I can imagine, my first year of uni I thought I was going to book the next flight out of here, I couldn't stand leaving home, for me Kano will always be home'

'I'll say home is where the heart is' Jamil said, he was obviously trying to make a point to her comment on home.

Their orders started coming out and there were about four different plates of dishes. There was a lamb dish with carrots onions eggs and she could also spot sausages and flatbread. Jamil called it Plov. Next to this was dumplings, side salads, pastries, neatly sliced meat, a bowl of chicken noodles soup and what looked like stirred fried tufo.

' Are you expecting some people to join us?' Zarah asked curious about the amount of food.

'No, I ordered all their best dishes hoping to keep my promise about the Jollof rice' Jamil said with a light smile.

He just wanted to impress her not knowing how. He really hoped she does not see him as extravagant.
He looked at her trying the dishes and was relieved she seem to like it.
' this is good, I most agree' Zarah said i between bites.
'I'm glad you like it' Jamil said.
'So how did you come about Uzbekistan cuisine?' Zarah asked, she was genuinely curious.

'Travel, I know is not the popular Chinese, Indian, but the moment I discovered it, it became my favorite'

' and you discovered it right here in Birmingham also? That's some luck'

Jamil smiled. He wanted to say something but he held back. He wanted to tell her he owned the restaurant and had sponsored the head chef to come from Uzbekistan and operate the restaurant, but he didn't. He really did not want Zarah to see him as that person. It was enough that she was an intern in his office.
Lunch went so good, at least he thought so. They had conversations about childhood. He told her how he felt growing up as the only child. Zarah listened and occasionally told him a snippet of her life. She explained to him how she missed her mother and that void it left in her life.
' I'm sorry about your mother' Jamil said

' thank you, I now know when you lose someone you love, the pain never stops, we just move on and learn to live with it' she said in a sober tone.
Jamil saw the hurt side of the girl he was trying to get to know. More than anything he wanted to comfort her even without understanding her pain. They had two separate realities, world apart, but they bounded on Tech issues. He told her how he got into Tech.
' my dad is an engineer so it was easy to follow his path but the software aspect came from my need to solve issues' Jamil was explaining to her.
'Funny I can't even say how I found myself in this profession, but I love it so much here we are' Zarah said with a shrug.

The waiter brought the dessert, chocolate muse cake and cream.

'I really can't eat any more food at this point' Zarah said.

'You have to try this' Jamil insisted

'Okay I'll do, only because chocolate is my favorite thing'

They continued with tech discussions and time flew by so fast. Jamil did not want their time together to end. He had really enjoyed her company and he had no doubt he wanted to get to know Zarah and be with her the halal way.
On their way home it was still raining, when they got to her place he got out and umbrella and escorted her to the front door.
'Thank you again' she said

'Thank you for having lunch with me, I truly enjoyed it, best company ever' Jamil said
This made Zarah blush,
'So what's the verdict on the food versus jollof?' He asked

'As half Nigerian you should have an idea the answer to this question' she replied with a smile.
They were both standing under the umbrella, it felt too close her heart was beating so fast she imagined he would hear it beating.

'See you' she said and push the front door opens to enter.
'See you' he said walking backwards still looking at her. He turned when she closed the door.
Zarah leaned on the door and closed her eyes. Behind her outside was everything she's ever dreamed of in the person she wanted to be with, Jamil has broken down every guard she had put in place for her heart. She was not allowed to be in love with anyone, her family is strict on this. No one brings an outsider to marry, but want she felt was undeniable. She was falling for Jamil and she
Couldn't stop herself.