Apologies for the ridiculous hiatus. I promise to try and be more consistent in my updates. Happy reading
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Malaa'ika's point of view
I asked him to a play... a play! And he said yes! Does this happen? Well, it certainly has. Tonight's the play. It's Macbeth... and he said yes... Either he is a really genuine guy who felt bad for me and couldn't turn down my invitation or, he is so pressurised by his family to give this relationship a chance that he has agreed to attend a play with me. Of course there was the slight chance that he actually liked Shakespeare and was into live performances, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Either way, this is happening and it's happening tonight. I'm not really sure why I asked him in the first place. Perhaps it was timing, as he called me just a few minutes after we had been gifted these tickets and I was just in that rare, excited mood. Or maybe it was the fact that I too had vowed to give this thing a real chance. Of course again, there was also that off chance that I was intrigued by this person and was actually looking for excuses to spend some time getting to know him, but again, let's not get carried away.
I love the drama of Broadway. I love how in the past it was made to be such an occasion, where people would dress up in their best attire and treat the event with such grace. This obviously, was a small, local production and anything more than a simple jeans and light knit jersey, would seem insane. Then again, when have I ever cared what the world has to say? After an hour (okay 3) of self deliberation, I settled on a light weight emerald dress. It was one I purchased a few years ago and used only on special occasions. It had been a while since the last "special occasion", which was eid at a friend's house a year ago, and I decided my dress needed a night out. I finished my look with a matching silk hijab, lace pumps and a lace band around my scarf. I always found such joy in dressing up. The jewellery, shoes! And just adding something special to something ordinary. I never did it for anyone but myself. It was my own personal touch of sparkle in my otherwise chiffon life. I couldn't stop shaking, as I tried to apply my eye liner. I was usually rather steady, but that was not the case tonight. I was all shivers and no peace. Perhaps this is what people refer to as butterflies in the tummy? ... What nonsense! I was going to see a rendition of Macbeth with my colleagues and this one other person just happens to be coming along. That is it! I texted Amaan the address but he insisted on fetching me and was supposed to be here by 7:00pm. It was almost 7:05pm and I did not appreciate the delay... I know that sounds bad, but my anxiety just wouldn't condone it. Should I call him? Maybe... Would he think I was crazy? Maybe... Lost in my thoughts I was alerted by the vibration of the phone in my hand. Amaan. "Hey I'm downstairs" came his voice, in almost the same shaky manner as mine. "I'll be right there." I answered and simultaneously made my way out the door and down the stairs. He stood next to a black Mercedes Benz whatever class car. (I have no knowledge on cars except that this one looked amazing) He waved when he caught sight of me and the sight of him made my heart sing... uhm I mean I was glad he wasn't any later. Amaan wore a black jeans and a crisp black shirt. In fact, he wore it so well, that it could easily have been an Italian suit of some kind. Or maybe I was just trying to make myself feel better for dressing in formal attire. I smiled back at him before approaching the car. He didn't move from his place, just stood still looking at me. I pretended not to notice and got into the car. Before long he was beside me. We drove in silence at first, just as awkward, maybe more so as the first meeting. I promised myself that I'd try to interact and decided to give it a shot. "So..." I started, "How are your mum and them? How's Rayhaan?" He cleared his throat before answering, probably shocked that I had made conversion. "All well hey. He's good. He still refers to you as the flower lady, for some reason." I couldn't help but chuckle, remembering that he really has no idea why his nephew calls me that. "I guess we'll never know. " I said, trying to sound um... mysterious? I don't know. "So..." Amaan started. Please don't ask about my family, please don't ask about my family... and he didn't... "Please brief me on this play, because I have no idea and I'm probably going to look like such an idiot. I tried googling it but uhm... yeah..." I started at him in awe. "What?" He said, almost defensively. "You're crazy..." I laughed. "Hey! Are you going to give me a brief or not?" He asked playfully. "Um okay... let's see. There's this guy, Macbeth. Witches prophesied that he would be king and he becomes so obsessed with the idea that he kills the current king and anyone who gets in his way..." I said, not really sure how in depth to describe one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. I didn't want to go all dramatic and scare the guy, at the same time though, I wanted to sell it. "Oh right, I remember doing it in school." He nodded slowly, still kind of uncertain. "Are you sure you're up for it?" I asked, sensing his inhibition. "Um yeah, it should be... fun." That pause told me all I needed to know. He wasn't really looking forward to it and now, neither was I. Hopefully he wouldn't find it too bad though. "Oh one more thing. Apparently you can't say the M word in a theatre. Like ever." I said. "The m word?" He asked, rather confused. "Yip, Macbeth, the theatre people consider it a cursed word not to be spoken in the theatre." It was his turn to laugh. I couldn't help but find it silly too. But, according to the theatre do's and don'ts I found on wiki, it's an absolute fact. Yes, I Googled theatre do's and don'ts, but I wasn't going to admit it. "Do you understand? " I asked him seriously. "Yes Mam."
After some time, we pulled up in front of a grand looking building called the Theatre of Arts Central. We parked up and headed for the door. Amaan walked by my side, quietly but in sync. I spotted my colleagues Jennah and Sam as we approached the ticket line. We exchanged hellos and introductions before hurrying into the theatre. I had a quick look around and couldn't help but hold my breath. As small and simple as the venue was, it was so insanely beautiful. Gold and red draping framed the stage and regal looking seats were set in neat rows around the arena. The seats were even padded! This was amazing. I looked over at Amaan who too, looked quite amazed. We found our seats and took them quickly without saying too much. I set between Jennah and Amaan. I could tell that he was looking at me from the corner of his eye and each time I turned to him, he would look away. Why? I had no idea... this was all rather strange to me. In a few moments, lights were dimmed and the production was about to begin. I heard Amaan shuffle and move as if he wanted to say something. He's going to leave isn't he? But that wasn't it at all. His seat was a few centimeters from mine and i heard it as just a whisper, "You look beautiful, by the way." I was so grateful for the darkness because the colour on my cheeks would be hard to camouflage. And just like that, the curtains were opened.
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A show of just 90 minutes. Short, sweet and quite impressive. Of course it wasn't the real deal, but the talent and hard work was commendable and so very entertaining. In a crowd of 500 or so, we slowly made our way out of the arena. Amaan in front of me, leading the way. He kept turning around to make sure he didn't lose me. I've never had anyone do that for me before, at least not that I can clearly recall. It was pretty wonderful, in a humanly friendly kind of way... We all finally made our way to the lobby where I met up with the remaining 6 colleagues I had not seen when we had arrived. We all chatted for a bit about the play and the beautiful venue. "So Amaan," Jennah spoke up, "what do you do?" Jennah and I had hit it off quite well since my first day at AmTech. She basically knew about the events of my life. Not entirely, but enough to know this was about to get awkward. "I work for Google." Amaan responded, casually. Oh that's right, I knew that yet, I was still kind of impressed and so were my colleagues. "That's so cool", Nate, the head of my research group said. As Nate and Amaan continued to discuss the life of a Google employee, I gave Jennah a warning look, one I was sure she would probably ignore. "I hear the gardens here are lit up and beautiful. Anyone care for an evening stroll?" Jennah asked. "A play and an evening stroll?" Nate replied, "what is this, London in the 60s?" "When in Rome." I chimed in, surprising even myself. Everyone turned, shocked, except Amaan, who just seemed confused. "Malaa'ika never goes anywhere, " Nate explained. "She's been working with us for months and this is the first time we have seen her out of the lab." "You must have quite the effect on her," Jennah just had to add. I scoffed. "No offence man, but I'm pretty sure it's Shakespeare, not you" Nate concluded, aware of my love for Shakespeare. I readily agreed as my already reddened cheeks grew warmer. The garden was actually quite beautiful, all lit up in silvery streams of light. It was also rather large as everyone scattered along the way. Amaan and I made our way to a beautiful pond which sat deep within the garden. It was still and silent but it reminded me so much of poetry. We spent almost 15 minutes just breathing in the fresh air and admiring the beautiful water lilies before Amaan spoke up. "You know, I really loved water in the past. I'd swim for hours and hours. Surfing, diving, I've done it all." I smiled, "I love water too. I'm pretty sure if I wasn't a human, I'd be a dolphin." He chuckled, a some what sad chuckle. "What do you mean in the past?" I eventually asked. He hesitated. I've never seen him hesitate that badly before. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me," I said quickly. "No," he protested. "That's not it... when I was 15 years old, my best friend and I went swimming in rough tides. We were told not to go in at that time but we didn't care. We did it anyways. He wanted to cliff dive. I told him that was crazy but he wanted to do it anyways. I went with him, thinking we'd be safe together. That wasn't the case. When I jumped, the tide was so rough, I lost control, I couldn't breath, couldn't move. I felt my lungs fill with water and the life drain out of me. I hit my head against a rock. I was unconscious for weeks, my survival was a miracle. Ever since, I can't even get too close to a body of water. Not a pool, a filled bathtub, and certainly not the ocean. I get atrocious panic attack, my throat closes up, my body freezes..." He stopped. I felt pain burst through my heart. "I'm so sorry..." I said to him. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, I'm sorry that you still go through it. But you survived. Allah saved you and you shouldn't be sad that you nearly drowned, you should say thankfully and proudly that you survived." He smiled. We began walking back to the car and I felt so deeply about Amaan opening up to me about something so personal. I owed it to him to tell him something real about me too. Maybe I should tell him my family story, maybe I should tell him about my alter ego as a writer. Yes, I felt confident, I was going to tell him something, anything real. "Amaan I..." it was still strange to say his name I thought as I smiled to myself. "Yes?" He asked. Here goes... before I could begin a sentence, I spotted a large, ginger cat headed in our direction. I was deathly afraid of cats. It's fury torso, feline eyes and closeness set my fear into overdrive. I screeched for dear life and sank my nails into Amaan's arm. He jumped too, not knowing what on earth was going on. "Ca... ca... CAT!" I yelled at him. He turned to face the cat, which was almost at my feet and shooed it away. I hid behind him as the cat sprang, eventually moving away from us. "It's okay, " he said softly, "it's gone." I peeked from behind him to make sure that the cat had left. Realising I was still holding onto his sleeve, I quickly released it and walked a distance away from him. "I'm sorry I just... don't like cats." He laughed, "I see that... are you okay though? " he asked in a rather strange way."I'm fine." I replied, still embarrassed. Just like that, the moment was over. After that, he dropped me home, thanked me for a lovely evening and left.
Thank you cat...