Scented Roads

(18) The meeting

*my writing style has been affected because of going under the rock for months, sorry about that*

Ala

Ala has been waiting all week to meet Ayaan again. She loves the few hours she has previously spent with Ayaan. They are the most beautiful memories of this season. Her heart has been all over the place thinking about the possibilities, ever since they met.

Yesterday, when Aisha told her it wasn't right to meet a man alone, Ala felt anger. It was because she knew, deep inside that it is truly wrong. She didn't want to accept this fact, so she ignored it for the entire week. But here she is, a few hours before their meeting, thinking about how wrong it is for her to feel this way and want the things she does.

Everything is ready, from her clothes to what makeup she should wear today. She was excited the entire week for this day. But not anymore.

The reality is, that it is definitely wrong to have lunch with Ayaan today. Not just because they are non mahram and hanging out alone but because their intentions for this meeting were in the lines of fondness for each other. It was not for work, and not for anything else except for the satisfaction of the heart.

And intentions play a heavy role in Islam.

"Intention is like the soul, and actions like the body: If the soul leaves the body, the body dies. There, knowledge of the affairs of the heart is more important than knowledge of the affairs of the limb...how else is a hypocrite distinguished from a believer except by the deeds of the heart?"

She is attracted towards this man, and that is reason enough to not meet him alone.

It has been a hard decision to take, but Ala has decided she will not extend her meeting with Ayaan longer than a few minutes. She can't stop herself from meeting him, but she can limit the time of the meeting to a few minutes.

Basically, she wants to meet him to cancel their plans for lunch and just tell him her final goodbye. Or maybe just a simple goodbye for the day. (trying not to be too dramatic xD)

She justifies this by thinking how rude it would be to ignore him. But we all know this decision is because it is the whispers of her heart she is tangled into. For ignoring just another stranger in her life shouldn't have been a problem at all.

Ala gets out of her bed and changes into black pants and a cream blouse. She then grabs a random shrug from her almira, wears it and gets ready for the day. She had decided to wear a dress today, but she changed her mind and wore semi-casuals instead. All because she has changed her mind about the day. It's no longer the day she gets to know Ayaan, it's now just a normal work day.

It's around 4, she spots Ayaan walking inside the cafeteria. She has been waiting for the past ten minutes and was beginning to think he wouldn't come. But he did. And oh, he looked so beautiful today.

Ayaan wore a blue t-shirt with black pants today. The outfit complimented him in ways that an observer cannot understand.

(Plus I've lost touch, I don't know how to describe Ayaan anymore. You can imagine your favourite guy crush walking towards Ala)(or not :P)

Ala knows, unconsciously, that Ayaan is one of the few good looking guys she has met in her life. Sometimes when a guy is good looking and smart, you instantly get attracted to them. Or maybe that's just how Ala is.

Ala's heartbeat is erratic. She is not ready to let this moment end. She doesn't want it to end. But sometimes we have to step on our desires to be truthful to our responsibilities. Being a Muslim is more than praying five times a day. In the end, is something is not right, it just isn't. Period.

Ayaan scans the cafeteria and spots Ala. He smiles.

That. Beautiful. Smile.

He jogs towards Ala, and quickly grabs the chair in front of her to sit.

"Hey!", he says, just like a child would greet you at home, after a fun school day. "How are you?"

Ala blushes. Two minutes in his presence and she has lost control over her senses already.

"Alhumdulillah good. You?"

"I'm fine, good. Excellent actually", he is smiling cheekily while speaking.

Ala smiles at his enthusiastic reply. And then decided shes had her good share of this meeting to be happy about, now she can let Ayaan know that she has to leave.

"I-" She starts to say something but Ayaan cuts her off

"Before you say anything, I got you something", he brings to her sight a box of chocolates. The box is made of beautiful, intricate designs on the top. And has a selected 24 chocolates inside. Ala is so happy, she forgets what she had to say and mutters thank you instead.

"This is a bribe", he continues.

Ala looks up to see Ayaan grinning like a child. She has only seen such excitement a few times in her life.

"For what?", she asks, a little confused.

"Let's have lunch somewhere else. I know a restaurant nearby that serves really good seafood. What do you think?", Ayaan says. It's as if everything is so easy for him. Here, Ala has been troubled about this meeting the entre day, but he seems to not be bothered by such meetings at all.

Ala is confused. She doesn't know how to respond to this. She's happy to see Ayaan's interest in her but at the same time distressed because of what her religion asks from her.

At this moment she makes a tough decision.

Maybe, just for today, she can spend some time with Ayaan. And after lunch, she can let him know she can't anymore. Maybe a few moments of wavering won't do her wrong.

So she nods, removes from her mind all feelings of distress and stars to enjoy this moment with Ayaan.

She becomes herself again, or at least that's what she thinks she does anyway.