Stairway to Heaven

26. Endings

She sat still in her place; the Holy Quran set closed on the dressing table in front of her. The room was enveloped in darkness, save for the mystic moonlight streaming into the room through the window. Piercing the dark clouds obscuring its path, its radiance dulled the pitch black darkness of the night and continued to illuminate her palms; outstretched on her lap in front of her. Peering through her thick lashes, she maintained her gaze fixated upon her hands. Her eyelashes fluttering in the slightest, when she lifted her one hand to softly caress the lines of the other.

The tips of her fingers grazing ever so slightly along the lines of her palm; faintly obliterated by the intricate designs of henna staining her hands. Lost in deep thought, she blinked slowly; completely oblivious of her surroundings. Until the loud bang of door shutting, knocked her out of her delirium.

Startled, she turned her gaze towards the source of the sound to find Aymen standing in front of her. Her persona lit by the dim lighting of her phone's torch, while she lamented about the sudden power breakdown.

"—Hassan is trying to get the generator to work. Hopefully we'll get the power back before their arrival—And why are you sitting here in the dark, Hajra?!" Aymen's distressed cries continued seamlessly and Hajra only smiled at her before returning her gaze to the mirror in front of her.

"You look breathtaking—He is done for today, I am telling you." Aymen's cheeky remark came with a smile matching her expressions, as she glanced at Hajra's reflection in the dimly lit mirror after coming to stand behind her. Hajra shied away from Aymen's gaze and smiled softly while glancing at her henna covered hands on her lap.

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5 Months ago

"—I have compiled all the data. You might want to take a look at it to see if anything's amiss—" She went on plainly, while giving a finally look over to the documents in her hand before handing it over to Dr. Hashim; who was curiously but silently watching her go on.

His gaze remained fixated on her for a long moment, who was looking back at him without any hint of emotion, while waiting for him to take the documents from her outstretched hand. Hashim's eyes finally flickered to the papers in her hands and with a soft sigh, he took them with a thanks.

"Hajra?" She had turned on her heel to leave after completing her task, when he called her out; causing her to halt in her steps and turn to face him.

"Yes, Sir?" She asked seriously, only to earn the blank look on Hashim's face. He watched her in amazement for a moment, before deciding to let the cat out of bag. The whole weekend, he had spent distressed; since Hajra had left without answering him that day, because of her family's arrival. He kept wondering what her answer was going to be. Or more correctly put, his worries were rooted to the fear of her most obviously expectable answer.

"You haven't answered me, yet." He remarked with a soft smile, only to catch her face flooding with confusion at the comment. For a short moment Hajra kept gazing at him through a frown and suddenly, as if the puzzle piece had finally snapped to its rightful place, a sharp gasp of realisation escaped her lips and she immediately turned her gaze away in shame.

Of all the reactions Hashim could possibly conjure up, this never crossed his mind. That's why he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Right—I am guessing, I am not even worth wasting a moment's thought for you—and here I was hoping you would agree to spend the rest of your life with me—" He said this in a lighthearted tone, combined with his signature warm smile, while looking back at a guilty Hajra.

"Uh—sir—" She tried saying and upon catching the hint of hurt behind his smile, she averted her gaze.

"I am sorry. I honestly had no intentions to treat you, or your proposal in such a light manner. I hold utmost respect for you, Sir. You have been a great mentor and inspiration to me. I really look up to you—"