A Woman In Hijab

THE EYES

Then while walking towards our van we noticed that Imran was not with Irfan . I pitied him for that . Irfan looked at us (me n' Tasneem) and pushed his hair back gently from his eyes and shyly waved a hand at us .

Then on , he was a good friend and Faridha didn't argue a lot with him , I mean she still does but it's like somewhere between friend and stranger . He was so spiritual , studious , a little good looking and well-mannered. We always liked him for his manners . Sometimes he bores us by giving us some useful advices and Faridha gets annoyed and bored the most , but mostly he keeps to himself , doesn't look at us in the eyes and keeps his distance until and unless he has some duties to carry or it's urgent . He smiles shyly now and then when she isn't looking ,but I won't say that to her .

The days went by and I didn't attend most of the classes . Faridha and Tasneem kept me updated on every single detail that happened . Shaheedha and Nusaiba sent me notes . My cousin writes them for me . I stay at home and hospitals trying to receive the necessary rest . Everytime a male doctor nears me I start feeling nervous .

I purpose hide a few important details like this to my friends . Faridha , Nusaiba and Tasneem gave gone so much more closer to me . When our conversation is over and I cut the call , I talk about them to my mom who listens to me with a smile on her face .

Then I had to go to Kuwait for my medical treatments since my dad was in Kuwait and in a govt. job I got treatment for half the real price .

The condition in school was worse . My friends reported to me everyday about the happenings .

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Itseems that even though I'm not so good at many things I have a pretty good immune system . I was able to recover and come back within a week .

My friends were so excited to see me , I received long huge and an emotional welcome back . In all the times I missed Misba's cheating hasn't gone down at all . Infact , she has magically aced sports and speaking skills competitions in total . And being good at both means an opportunity to become the school pupil leader who is better than the sports leader . Nusaiba has performed well in sports but not so good in speaking competitions , Faridha has done well in both but not so well in a few sport activities . Shaheedha seemed to have topped the speaking skills part , Raheel is no exception , Tasneem seemed to have done well in the speaking part , but there were better students . It made me feel bad , she's an amazing speaker , but sometimes she gets the nerves .

Then , one day . I felt someone's eyes on me . I couldn't identify who it was but it made me feel uncomfortable and spooked . I was feeling edgy and unnerved , almost all my friends noticed , except Nusaiba who is a little dumb on the emotional field .

I went home early since many students in the van were absent. I reached home and put my bag down , I felt a vomiting sensation so I ran to the nearest restroom and opened the door. I vomited blood. Seriously, blood , yuck I hate this . I cleaned that area and went out. My brother caught me vomiting. "Bhayya please don't tell mom ." He's a neighbour and also a frequent visitor . Our parents have friendly relationship with each other because we are relatives . I really don't know how it works , but he's a part of our great grandmother's family tree .

He looked at me worried and made a really sad face ."How can I not?"

"Please." Then I stared at him for for worrying about me so suddenly.

"You weren't this worried about me all those years . Why do you suddenly care ?" I was kind of angry and I usually never show my emotions out this freely . But I didn't know why , but I wanted to tell right now .

"Why ?" I questioned again . Then suddenly , I caught him staring at me so blatantly . He never did that , he never looks at another women's eyes , he also doesn't stare at anyone for so long .

"You were looking at me the whole time." I accused him and he accepted.

"I was worried."

I don't believe him , I won't believe him . I wanted to talk about it to someone . I walked out of that place and into my room . I jumped on my bumpy bed and started at my phone . I quickly phoned Faridha and spoke about it to her . She giggled. And said, "Maybe.. ....He likes you." I was blushing. "No t-that's not true."

"If you know that's not true then why did you ask?" She asked directly and funnily .

"Umm.....he didn't say........ ...you know." I said trying to be matterly of fact .

I guess she notice the discomfort in my voice because she quickly changed the topic .

"You know, the competitions are over and the results are yet to be announced. " She sounded worried.

"Did any of you complain?" I asked .

"No dear . We couldn't find any proof to complain ."

"Hey, isn't that Irfan's uncle or cousin a witness?" I remembered the day he was telling us about it .

"Umm....yeah . Ooh right . It's just that I'm not sure if it'll work . But , you see we all had the voting . So I doubt that it will ever happen . You see that cheating ." She was happy and dancing that Misba wouldn't get a chance . Even through the phone I could tell . She's so forgetful sometimes .

"Now what are you gonna do ?" I asked .

"I'll see and tell you tomorrow. Bye . Eat well , sleep well , study well . Love you ."

"Love you too . Sure." And I hung up . It's gonna be a tough time there . But I was trying my best to stay calm and was wishing so badly that I was with those girls there . Their smile always lifts my spirits .