Dear Shumail..

Chapter 20

And that's what actually happened.

"Sir?" He was brought out of his thoughts as he quickly shook his head and tried to get rid of all her thoughts.

"Umm no. No need to do that." Shumail said. "Ok then. I'll get going." He said and cut the call. He had reached the store by the time the call ended as he opened the door and entered, walking to the food section. He picked up some random cup noodles and a bottle of juice and went to pay for it.

"Fincan erişte tekrar?" The cashier spoke, shaking his head at Shumail while Shumail just gave him a smile. "Tekrar kahvaltıyı atladığını sanırım?"
(Cup noodles again? Guess you skipped your breakfast again?)

"Umarım fincan erişte günlük olarak yenirse sağlık için iyi olmadığını biliyorsundur." The cashier said while packing the noodles and juice in a bag.
(I hope you know that cup noodles are not good for health if eaten on a daily basis.)

"Biliyorum." Shumail replied handing him the money for it.
(I know.)

"O zaman neden hep onları yersin?" The cashier questioned, raising his eyebrows at Shumail.
(Then why do you always eat them?)

"Sadece hayatta kalmak için." Shumail answered and getting the bag from him, he walked out of the store and began walking back to his apartment.
(Just to survive.)

When he reached his apartment, he quickly headed to the kitchen and put on a saucepan to boil some water for the cup noodles. When the water was boiling hot, he poured the water in the cup and let it rest for a minute or two. He digged in right away after the noodles were done. His mind wandered to his home back in Toronto and to his friends as he placed his fork down and stopped eating. He was missing them badly and wanted to return to them as soon as possible. Being all alone in a totally different country without anyone by his side, he had almost went crazy if not for the office work that kept him busy. He had even given up on his company, not wanting to work and wanted to be left alone but he had thousands of employees to take care off who were dependant on him, and just for them he took his responsibilities back again.

Walking to the living room, he got his ipad which was placed on the couch carelessly and walked back to the kitchen and sat on his chair. He placed his ipad in front of him and connected the call to the three of them and began eating again, waiting for them to answer it.

The three answered the call and the screen flashed their faces while he could be seen on their screens as he ate his noodles.

Shumail waved them a "Hi", his mouth full with the noodles, and the first thing he heard was a gasp from the three on seeing him.

"What have you been doing? What is wrong with your face?" Zaid almost screamed and cursed at him on seeing his dull pale face with his eyes having dark circles underneath them, his eyes looking totally hollow. His cheekbones were visible more prominently due to the weight loss and skipping of food. He looked skinny. He looked a total mess.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Shahmeer exclaimed, his blood boiling in anger at Shumail and in that moment he wanted to punch Shumail right in the face for leaving them without a notice and not contacting for a whole year. "This is what we get for caring about you? I don't even know how badly I'll beat you if you come in front of me! What have you been doing!"

Shumail swallowed quickly to answer them both when Aahil cut him off as he spoke, "Don't you say a word! You left home, you left the country, you left us. You left everything behind and didn't even took effort to make a call? You have seriously lost your mind to take such a step." Aahil scolded. "You better not come in front of me. I don't know what I'll do to you." Aahil's voice clearly showed how much angry he was with Shumail for leaving them like that. "What took you an year to contact us. You changed your number, don't reply to emails, we don't even know where you went! As if you wanted to erase yourself from our lives!"