Manaal glanced back at the veiled girl for the third time, as she passed her a bright smile. Seriously, what's her problem? The former thought. She didn't even know her.
The class ended, as Manaal walked out, the veiled girl caught up right after her. Manaal sighed as Zara smiled, yet again. They quietly made their way to the room situated next to the library, their recent spot for lunch.
Settling down by the window overlooking the college ground, they began to eat, no words exchanged.
"Want some?" Zara offered her potato chips, nonchalantly.
Manaal stared at her, at how unaware she was. Sometimes, it was hard to assume if she really was naïve or if she liked to play dumb.
"Why are you here? Don't you feel embarrassed or even just awkward to be seen with me? We are just...not cut out for each other..." Manaal murmured, her eyebrows furrowed gesturing towards her and the girl offering her potato chips.
"No," Zara replied confidently, but then whispered softly, "Why would you say that?" her eyes held so much curiosity, a hint of sadness, or was it disappointment?
And Manaal instantly regretted her words. She was giving away too much. Compose yourself, her conscience ordered. For how long? She retorted, desperately.
Zara snapped her fingers in front of the brunette, oblivious of the mental battle she was having with herself. Being caught off guard, Manaal, swept with a wave of distress, startled at the action.
She looked at Zara, really looked at her. A strange girl, whose attention solely focused on her. Who followed her, cheered her up, and just kept chasing her, while all she did, was to ignore and push her away. Why, she did not know.
Zara, she was pretty, kind, humble, exuberant and so....nice. She could be friends with anybody. But why her, of all the people? She was not worth it, not worth her, or even anybody.
She was the girl, people stayed away from. She was real, nothing scared her, she dressed as she pleased, she hung out with the wrong kids, even though she wasn't one of them, just because the good won't accept her.
When finally she had accepted her fate, and stopped looking, and had changed once and for all, fate proved her wrong.
And in came this girl, ruining everything, all her plans, all her decisions, and all her tough façades of apathy. And the fact that she was slowly crumbling the walls that took her years to built, was exasperating.
She never wanted any barriers, any hindrances in the path she paved for the new version of herself, yet her insecurities kept getting in the way.
Zara caught her attention again, poking her arm. Overwhelmed by the mental chaos and the swarm of emotions, a drop enriched with raw emotions slowly fell out of Manaal's eye. Her quivering lips stretched into a weak smile as she wiped away her tears that kept falling nonetheless.
Zara, perplexed at the suddenness of the situation, pursed her lips shut, trying to comprehend but failing miserably. Perhaps, her question refreshed some bitter memories, burried deep within. Fighting off the guilt that she made Manaal cry, while raking her brain to think of a way to comfort the weeping girl, looking so vulnerable, yet how she held herself together even in that state, astonished her.
In the battle of the overpowering emotions of guilt, empathy, desperation, awe and confusion; desperation won.
As she leapt out of her seat and hugged the girl tearing up. Cuz consoling was the one thing she was miserable at.
Turns out, that was all Manaal needed.
Veiled_Intellect (Excerpt from Till the Tables Turned)
