Laila

Fall

Laila remained on house arrest for the next two weeks. She would go to her university, almost be bored to death, come back, sleep and wallow in self-pity. Even Amina, Amina was not allowed to come over to her house. Her late night 'rendezvous' had definitely not sat well with her over possessive mother. She still didn't believe Laila's pitiable excuse of why she had been late. She was smarter than Laila's dumb excuses. She knew something was going on and it scared Raheen to think that whatever it was, was causing her daughter to lie to her. Something Laila was not regular at. But other than Laila's house arrest, her mother had done nothing about it. She knew that when Laila would be comfortable enough, she would come to her mother herself.

Despite her bone chilling boredom, Laila was strangely grateful for this forced confinement.

After that fateful night, she had been having thoughts, feeling. Feelings that were not normal at all for her. Feelings that frustrated her. Thoughts that she knew she shouldn't be having at all.

Thoughts of the bipolar guy that had saved her from her worst nightmare.

Ismail.

'Why?' She thought, frustrated, flustered and confused. He wasn't her friend. He wasn't her friends love interest. Why was she thinking of him when she knew he didn't even deserve to be in her head in the first place?

Sure he was a thousand times more handsome than anyone she'd seen in Pakistan. But did that warrant her thinking about him every day for the last two weeks?

No.

Not at all.

To make everything more confusing, it wasn't even his attractiveness that had captivated Laila so. It was him. His personality. His essence. Something's that Laila was yearning to know more of.

She thought of his strong arms around her, how he had made her feel safe. How could she have felt safe with him? Wasn't he the kind of guy she should be afraid of in the first place? After all, he also belonged to the same place as the guys who had attacked Laila. He was one of them, was he not? He was brought up like them, he lived like them. But why did Laila feel as if that wasn't true? That despite living in a place like Lakshami Chowk, despite growing up around people like those guys, he wasn't one of them. That place didn't define him. It seemed as if he was molded out of a different clay entirely.

Regardless of what she felt, Laila knew thinking about a guy, a stranger, for this long and hard wasn't right. Especially if that was a poor, low class guy living in a ratty, run-down apartment in old Lahore. So to cover up her growing curiosity for Ismail, she put a veil of resentment over all thoughts concerning him. Whenever he would pop up into her head, she would force herself to hate the picture presented in her mind. She tried her best to associate hate with Ismail. Because she knew if she didn't hate him, she would soon be in a big pile of trouble. The kind of trouble a daydreamer like Laila wasn't likely to get out of.

Ismail stared out at the setting Lahore sun. As the fast approaching autumn wind rustled his hair and the fading summer sun glowed on his face, a burning cigarette loosely held in his long fingers, he pictured a face. A face that had left his life recently. A face that he was craving to see in real life and not just in his imagination. He missed her. He knew he shouldn't but despite his hate, despite his pent up resentment, he missed her. He missed them all. And today, with the nostalgia of the fall season clouding his head, he missed them just a little bit more.

Laila sat on the back porch of her house, a worn copy of Gone with the wind in her hands, a warm cup of tea in front of her, her favorite music playing on her small speaker. Laila closed her eyes and sighed contently. Fall was fast approaching and Laila was in the best of moods. Fall was her favorite time of the year. When the blistering Pakistani summer was slowly fading and the glorious, cold Pakistani winter was fast approaching.

She smiled with closed eyes as she felt a light breeze signifying the approach of the breezy autumn season. After those long two weeks of staying at home, Laila was finally coming out of her gloomy mood. Today her father had said they'd be going to Paris in the winter and after that news, nothing could put a damper on Laila's mood.

If anything, she loved Paris even more than she loved the Lahore winter and was looking forward to her winter vacation. Maybe she could even convince Amina's strict parents to let her come with Laila to Paris. What a dream holiday that would be.

Amina had come to see her in the morning and Laila was glad she did. Amina was looking more and more miserable as the days passed. It was clear that she wanted to see Hassan again. She never said anything to Laila, fearing probably that Laila would blame herself for Amina not being able to go, but she knew what caused her best friend's sullen, gloomy mood. She was absolutely sure Hassan would be in the same if not a worse condition as Amina was.

Soon, once her mom had gotten over her late night shenanigans, Laila would make sure Amina and Hassan met as soon as possible.

Despite her wanting to see her friend happy again, Laila was terrified of that place once again. She didn't want to go there again. She knew she wouldn't be able to go to any abandoned houses in old Lahore that's for sure. Amina and Hassan would just have to meet at Hassan's place. Laila could take a few hours in that house alone for her best friend.

She didn't want to...she was trying her hardest not to, but despite her gut feeling, despite her uppity upbringing, she was also looking forward to seeing a particular someone, once again.

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Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. Uploads will be less frequent but I'll try my best to upload at least once or twice a week! <3 

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