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It was late evening when Katrina, along with a few of her colleagues, ended up at the Chinese place next street.
Their supervisor had brought up the word takeout. What started as a desire to order in food, soon transformed into a plan with a group of people travelling to the restaurant.
They got a large table for themselves at the end of the room. The place was nearly empty, the pace of service was slowing down as their time for closure was drawing to an end. The tired, yet content, voices from around her were humming.
"Wait, you're friends with a Fayyad?" Katrina heard Arafat ask over the table, his eyes widening in surprise.
"Not just friends, he's my best bud," Salman replied.
"Of course," Arafat spat out. "How did I not see this before? You went to one of those fancy private schools, right?" Arafat peaked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at Zakariya. "You went to the same school as well. Are you secretly wealthy too?"
"If I were, my parents must have forgotten to inform me," Zakariya replied dryly.
The chatter continued as they ordered their food. Katrina Whatsapp-ed her parents about their whereabouts as they waited. A group of boys entered the place, their loud and drawling voices filling up the room. Tamara started shooting them annoyed glances as their boisterous laughter reached their table.
Salman looked over his shoulder, and the moment he glanced at them, his face went pale.
"Salman!" one of them cried.
That drew attention across the table. One of the boys whipped his head up immediately. A grin slowly spread his across his face. "Big boy, is that truly you?" he asked in a drawling voice.
Fardin got out of his seat and started striding towards them. Salman stood on his feet as well. The hesitance on his posture was as clear as a sky after rain. The two guys embraced.
Fardin patted his back once and then held him at shoulder's length.
"Where have you been, man?" he queried. "It's like you disappeared off the face of the Earth."
Salman did not respond.
Fardin unglued his eyes from him and then slowly swept it across each face around the table, the inhabitants of which were staring at the duo of boys quizzically. Anxiety wrung Katrina's stomach when the guy's gaze landed on her briefly. He landed his eyes back on Salman's face.
Both parties waited for Salman to make the introduction, but it never came. Anticipation rose. The air was turning thicker with discomfort with each passing second.
