Ishq Kinara[Love Ashore] Complete

7. Conundrum

The last house in that particular lane of Jauhar was as calm as the night itself. The outside perimeter was submerged into darkness. Not eerie, calm in a way only a serene night air could provide. The only source of light was coming from the room on the upper floor.

Elaf played with the corner of her open book when her mind wasn't able to register anything written on it. She was far too preoccupied for something as normal yet as tiring as studying. She didn't know why she even bothered sitting down to start with her mids preparation. What happened today was going to make her rake her brain sooner or later and now it did.

Mishal was the first friend she made in the university and the only one until they were joined by Rabea and Marwa. They all had their own areas of expertise and unfortunately Mishal and Elaf's arenas to play contrasted heavily with each other. Where Elaf was proficient in gestures, body language and expressions of face, Mishal was a pro at understanding the concepts of mechanical engineering. She was the best in the class after, of course Sarim Haider.

Elaf knew Mishal and she were very different from each other but it never proved to be a problem. Not even when Elaf was approached by Professor Kaleem to be a part of his dramatics and literacy society. Things started changing when Elaf started getting noticed for her performances. Studying was never a problem because Elaf had never been the make-a-schedule-study-everyday kind of person. She had a habit of piling up her work but even at the last moment she'd do it. She wasn't a star student, not by any means, but she wasn't that bad either.

It pained that Mishal tried guilt tripping her today that too about something Mishal knew was her sore point. Her father and her passion for theater. Two extremes of her life.

There weren't many reasons why Elaf had hidden this aspect of her life from her parents. They were supportive, supportive than many to think of it. But Elaf knew at a point even supportive parents have a way of telling you off for something they don't approve of.

Daud had.

Elaf was in her sixth standard when she won the house with her performance on school annual day. There were two reports with which she had come home, one of her academic performance and the other of her extra curriculum. When she had shown those to her parents, particularly Daud, he had very conveniently put down the sheet which had accolades written for her on it; instead all his focus was on her various subjects and her performance in those. He asked her about her weak points, contemplated on tuition with Yusra and even patted her head on full marks in history, but not for once his focus went to the discarded sheet of paper on the table.

Elaf's heart broke a little that day. Then it started happening more often. There was a clear disregard for her love for dramatics from Daud. Yusra had embraced her daughter's talent with open arms but that validation never came from Daud. He didn't stop her from anything but like everything regarding her, he wasn't involved in this aspect of her life. It kept on going all her school years.

Elaf's getting into IST that too in the engineering faculty was more a dream of Daud's than Elaf's. Sitting in their famous complicated admission test and passing it, then getting a seat in mechanical engineering department was something Elaf did as it was expected out of her. Daud had been preparing her for this since she was in high school. Theater had taken a backseat in her life for that first six months of university and that was the time Elaf knew theater could never be a career option for her. Her father would never like that. It would always be something she was good at, loved doing and a hobby of sorts. But nothing more than that.