A Romantic Vision

An Adventure with Awan

I adjusted layers of olive curtains over mint the view. The house freshened with obscure colors, the majestic fragrance of my father's cologne and the radiant shine of my mother's clothes.

To disturb the retribution of blue in this house, we added the gloom.
A bright house with dull people, we decorated though artificially every corner in contrast to us, we furnished the table with pastel vases, had Turkish carpets in mahogany and maroon. The lamp shades dusted with brighter hues and our smiles plastered but did not check our roohs.

We stayed unwelcoming.

Father brought me a saffron scarf, he admired me cautiously when I wore it, he smiled at me attentively. He makes me warm.

Awan was exceptionally treated as a favorite yet as a servant, a good one.
Mother enjoyed his humor, he was brought up as a fine man. No wonder at ease with himself and almost dangerously free.
I saw him every alternate day in conversation with either of three people in the house with an astounding line which gave me a scar of pondering over him.

I found a corner in the garden, the grass floor had one solid rock bench, it was my lonesome abode. The mornings were faced with abject and night with an open heart. I dragged myself through the day till the night would come to embrace me, the burnished sky would fall on my body and the weight of this blaze would explode in my breast, I would let the sea of sorrow pass like the jungle allows the river to flow and take every sorrow from within.

This became a part of my routine, I never was a miser when it came to letting go.

However now not alone. Awan would sit beside me at an arm's length every single time he would spot me crying. He would stay there like a quiet owl in the night, inspect nevertheless in calm.

It was almost frightening to see a man find comfort in sadness, he never would utter a word. Just as I would leave, he would walk away.

In the company of lilies and dandelions alike, I found it absurd to have him stay for no reason, silence at all times is intolerable.

"Why don't you go home?" I said wiping away the last tear for the night.

He did not answer. I gathered the pleats of my skirt and sighed as I stood to walk home.

"I always stay till you are finished, why don't you stay till I am" a weak voice of Awan broke in the wind.

I let the pleats open and sat beside him. He had two lilies in his hands, I took one. We both never faced each other's sight we wandered in our own world, in our own darkness. His existence and mine to him were just as it of the sea to shore.

He, at last, smiled.

~~~~

"The new maid is excellent with the food" mum poured the soup in my bowl.
I agreed, she was a good cook and found pleasure in all housework, she would find work from nowhere and scrub it off.

"He called yesterday" mum pursed her lips, fathers spoon halted before his lips and our eyes fixed at mother.

"He said it would take a month or so. The workmen are doing their best but it would still take time. I think we would have to bear with this place for a little longer than we deliberated" she added, my tongue rolled, I looked at father and mother alike showing no dismal for the delay

"Did he ask of me?" I lay my query.

"He did, you were in the garden or somewhere. Lord knows what you find there Laraib, it is so muddy outside" she added more soup to my bowl
"If he calls again, tell him he is useless" I did grit my teeth and left the table and the bowl with the soup circled till the cold air took all the taste of it and Mrs. Hameeda in the evening handed the same bowl to Awan.
"Drink, it's good," she said. I wanted to stop Awan but he already had a spoonful and I was embarrassed to now tell him that it was a leftover.