'Ayat...can I ask you something?' Haya said to me while I was busy cooking and she was working on her assignment by the dinner table.
'Hmm,' I replied.
'Why don't you talk to Zaid bhai? You are about to marry him, but he doesn't even ask for you when he comes over to meet Papa sometimes.' She complained. She wasn't too fond of him.
'I told you to not worry about this...and besides, I don't like to talk about it' I told her.
'You don't even like talking about him, how are you going to live with him?' She questioned me.
'What do you want me to do? Stop this marriage and break the promise I made with Mama when she...' I turned around to look at her and saw my dad entering the house.
'Papa...' I looked at him and so did Haya. He walked in further and came into light, that's when I noticed that there was a cast on his left arm.
'What happened to you...are you...' I stopped when I noticed Mr.Hamza walking behind Papa. What was he doing here?
'What are you doing here?' I stared at him and he also looked shocked to see me.
'I...' He looked between me and Papa.
'You know each other?' Papa asked me.
'Yes...he is the facilitator for the training program that I am doing...you need to sit down first...' I went up to Papa and helped him to sit down. I looked at Mr.Hamza and offered him a seat.
'Haya, go get some water...Papa how did this happen? Does it hurt?' I looked at the cast.
'I am fine now, there was a car backing up and it was a blind spot...the driver hit the break on time or else it would have been worse...thankfully Hamza was there, he took me to the hospital and then came to drop me off' Papa covered my hand with his and tried to assure me that he was okay but I could see that he was in pain. There were drops of dried up blood all over his shirt and trousers.
'Thank God you are okay...' I took a glass of water from Haya's hand and handed it to Papa.
'Would you like some water?' Haya asked Mr.Hamza.
'I am okay...I think I should get going...I was just here to drop him off...' Mr.Hamza looked at me as he got up to leave.
'I can't let you leave like this...have dinner with us...it should be ready soon...'Papa interfered. Why did he have to stop him? I bet he had thousand other things to do anyway.
'No...there is no need for that...I have some things to do anyway. Take care of yourself.' He walked over to Papa and shook his hand, before heading towards the door to leave.
'Ayat...go walk him to the door' Papa told me and I went after Mr.Hamza.
'Mr.Hamza...'I called out his name and he stopped in the hallway.
'Thank you for taking him to the hospital and bringing him here' I thanked him. I thanked him because I knew he didn't have to do that. I thanked him because I knew how normal it was for some people to look at someone suffering and not offer them help. I thanked him because he went out of his way to make sure a complete stranger to him reached his home safely.
'Was that your sister?' He asked me instead of responding back to my gratitude.
'Yeah...' I nodded.
'Is it just you three?' He asked as we continued walking towards the main gate.
'Yeah...' I replied. Why was he asking all this?
'You can miss this week's class if you want...' He finally said to me when he opened the door to leave. Did I hear him correctly? Did I just hear him offering me to skip a class?
'I can do that?' I was still surprised by his offer.
'There is still worry in your eyes for your father...you won't be able to pay attention in my class anyway.' We looked at each other...he didn't even know me. How could he possibly see the worry in my eyes? Or anything for that matter?
'Thank you...I really mean it...if it weren't for you...Papa would have been in a lot more pain' I lastly said to him and watched him as he walked away. Maybe I misunderstood him after all...he was different from me, but it didn't mean he was wrong. He did so much for me without even realizing what he did. I closed the door behind me and walked back inside.
'I didn't even get a chance to properly thank him' Papa said while having dinner later in the evening.
'You did Papa and so did I...don't feel bad about it' I said to him.
'You were kind of rude to him at first' Haya said to me and I glared at her to tell her to shut up.
'Rude?' Papa eyed me.
'No Papa I wasn't rude to him...why would I be rude to him...he is kind of my teacher' I quickly said.
'I think we should invite him for dinner' He announced, and I almost choked on my food.
'There is no need Papa' I told him. He didn't have to come to our house again. Or ever.
'No Ayat, lets invite him...on our way here, he told me how he lives here by himself...his family is not here with him and he misses home food. I think it will be a nice gesture...right Haya?' Papa asked for Haya's opinion and she shook her head in agreement in a split second.
'When you see him next time...make sure you give him an invitation...okay Ayat?' He assigned me the job.
'Hmm...anyways...Papa I think you should take a sick leave for a few days...' I changed the subject as fast as I could. It seemed as if every day had something to with Mr.Hamza ever since I met him and I didn't like that one bit. He was not important. Not at all.
'Ms.Ayat?' Mr.Hamza acknowledged my presence in the class as I walked in. After skipping last week's session to look after my father, I was finally back. My father was also recovering fast from his injury and went back to work this week, so I had no reason to stay at home.
'Mr. Hamza' I nodded in his direction and quickly walked to my seat, feeling awkward as other students stared at me oddly for some reason.
We did an in-class assignment in today's session and I successfully presented my ideas to the class. I felt good to be back in class, I felt motivated and did find Mr. Hamza's way of teaching to be intuitive and logical. He knew what he was doing, and I felt as if I was learning something new...something that would actually help me in the future.
When the session ended, I waited for the rest of the students to leave the room, so I could ask Mr.Hamza about the assignment I missed last week and discuss any further details about the assignment if necessary.
'You need something?' I was on my phone when I heard Mr. Hamza. I looked up and found him looking at me.
'I wanted to talk to you about the assignment that I missed last week. Can I get a copy of the assignment and some extra time to complete it?' I put my phone away, grabbed my bag and walked over to him.
'I will give you the login details of the website that I have set up...any assignments I assign to you guys will be posted there, you can hand in the assignment by end of this week..give me a minute' He looked through some paper and finally took out the sheet of paper with the login details and handed it over to me.
'Thank you' I turned to leave but he spoke again.
'How is your dad now?' He asked me.
'He is fine...he is recovering fast...thank you for asking' I turned my head to answer him before exiting the room. I felt bad for not inviting him over for dinner but at the same time, I didn't. I didn't want him to think that I was trying to befriend him or anything. I'll just have to lie to Papa and tell him that Mr. Hamza declined the offer. Yes, that'll do.
'Ayat' I heard Papa's voice coming from behind as I walked across the soccer field to get to the bus stand.
'Papa...what are you doing here?' I found him sitting on the bench, so I walked up to him and sat down next to him.
'I took an early leave today, so I could take you guys for lunch...we'll go pick up Haya when her school finishes' He said, and I couldn't help but smile. He did that sometimes and those times were our favorite.
'You are the best Papa...while we wait for Haya...how about we go get some coffee?' I offered and then we went to the cafeteria to kill some time.
'That's some nice coffee' Papa complimented, and I nodded to confirm.
'Oh...did you ask you Hamza about having dinner with us?' He fired a question at me and I felt as if I dropped a cup of hot coffee on my lap. I hated lying, I was bad at it and Papa knew it, but it had to be done. Lie had to be told.
'I did...he said no' I blabbered.
'No? Did he say why?' He inquired.
'I don't know, he just said no' I looked at the cup of coffee instead, I hated lying while making eye contact...I didn't know how some people did it with so much confidence. I just had to keep practicing and maybe one day I'll be able to lie like a champ. Who was I kidding, I'll never be able to lie with confidence.
'Mr.Amir...' Just then I saw Mr.Hamza coming our way. Why? Why?
'Oh Mr.Hamza...so good to see you...how are you? We were just talking about you' Papa got out of his seat to greet Mr.Hamza.
'Good to see you too...you look good...the arm looks okay too...'He smiled at Papa.
'Yes...it's getting better...please join us...' Papa offered, and he accepted the offer as he took a seat right next to Papa, right across from me.
'We have to leave soon...we have to go pick Haya...remember Papa?' I reminded him.
'There is still time Ayat...' Papa looked at me suspiciously.
'Anyways...yes Mr.Hamza we were just talking earlier and Ayat told me that you won't be able to have dinner with us...I really wanted you to come over to our house so I can properly thank you' Papa wasted no time and got straight to the point. This will be the end of me, I just knew. Mr.Hamza was going to make me feel ashamed in front of my father and it won't be his fault either. I should have just asked him to come for dinner.
'Yes...she did ask me...but I am busy tonight so I had to say no...I apologize...and Mr.Amir you don't have to thank me. I am just glad that I was there that day and I was able to help you' My shot up at him in surprise. Mr.Hamza played along and lied for me. He saved me from the embarrassment that I would have faced if he had told my father the truth.
'Tomorrow then? Come on you can't say no now...I would really like you to come over...besides, Ayat is an excellent cook, so I can guarantee you a great meal if the company lacks' Papa pushed.
'No now you are embarrassing me...I am sure you are an excellent company, it's not like that all' Mr.Hamza's eyes moved from my father towards me, waiting for me to say something. What did he want me to say?
'Then you should come for dinner' I added and now I was the waiting for his response.
'I'll be there tomorrow' He answered, and Papa finally looked pleased. He was big on showing appreciation.
'That's wonderful...okay Mr.Hamza we have to go now...we'll see you tomorrow then..., I'll go pay the bill first' Papa left without even waiting for my response. I got up to leave and so did Mr.Hamza.
'Why did you lie to him?' Just as I was about to walk away from the table, Mr.Hamza walked around the table and stood in front of me.
'Sorry?' I stared back pretending as if I had no idea what he was talking about.
'You must really dislike me...I guess we both have too much pride, don't we?' He shook his head in exasperation and then left the cafeteria. No, I didn't dislike him...I just felt intimated by him. He was too blunt for me. Plus, he was my teacher. And Pride? Where did that come from?
'Everything okay?' Papa came over and collected his files from the table.
'Yes...let's go' I put my thought of Mr.Hamza aside and went on with the rest of the day. But the thought of Mr.Hamza thinking that I disliked him bothered me nonetheless. I didn't dislike him. How could I? After all, we had just met.
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Happy Wednesday friends!
I hope your week is going great! Mine is going truly...in it's purest form...hectic. I can't wait for the weekend!
Anyways, if you liked this chapter even the slightest bit, then please don't forget to vote and leave your precious comments.
Q: Who is your all-time favorite music artist? I would love to know.
Ayat and Hamza will see you next week with a fresh update. Chao! xx