A Midsummer Weekend (The Extended Version)

13. Ahad

Note: Ahad's love story is not one you may have expected in this book, but imma give it to you anyway...Enjoy! Also, there is a flashback scene that is long so I didn't put it in italics, I find that font hard to read sometimes.

One Month Later

Ahad

Summer classes at my University had resumed and my single self was living the mundane life of a man who worked, worked and worked because there was nothing to do at home. That is, unless you call listening to your mother drone on about potential rishtas, entertainment.

My phone pinged as I sat in the empty lecture hall, preparing for my next class at 10 am, in exactly ten minutes from now.

'Taking off from Dubai. Will pray you you find that woman with brown eyes. They say prayers while travelling are always answered 😛'

I laughed. That was Kamran, and this text message wasn't one he would have ever sent before. But over the last one month our relationship had turned from one of adversaries to almost friends. I had to admit, all things considered, losing the girl was a small price to pay for getting my brother back.

Though, who was I kidding? That girl was never mine.

Just as the one before her wasn't, I sighed.

Visions of her gorgeous brown eyes permeated my thoughts every now and then. Honey brown with specks of gold when the overhead light hit them just right, those eyes and the life they held still haunted my dreams. As did their owner's words and laughter, and her tired smile that night when I begged her to stay and she timidly obliged.

Maham Qureshi, was the name that I would never forget, nor would I forget the night and day I had spent in her presence.

I texted Kamran back, and looked at the clock on the far end of the lecture hall. It was noon, yet there was no sign of any student. Fifteen minutes later, I was still sitting in an empty class.

"This better not be a prank", I grumbled as I stormed out of the room looking for my students.

Finally, I found a couple of girls I recognized hurriedly walking towards me.

"Nadia and Huma, why are you late to class? And where is everyone else?"

"So sorry sir, we had a guest lecturer come from the US for our Math course and his class went overtime. Most of the others from your class were also in that lecture", one of the girls replied to me sheepishly.

"A guest lecturer? What does he think of himself, going overtime by almost 20 minutes?", I wasn't angry, just very irritated, my time was as important as some expat's.

"Umm...", Huma said hesitantly, "Dr Qureshi, said to apologize to you. He had to take his daughter to meet someone in the Journalism Department across campus, which is why he was late to our class and then ran overtime. But he said he knows you, and he'll make it up to you"

Dr Qureshi, who knows me? Is from the US? Has a daughter who does journalism?

My mouth fell open as I stared in disbelief at my baffled students, "That is not possible"

***Flashback***

Four years ago

It wasn't my first time in the US, but it was the first time I had come here to attend a conference of the greatest minds in Engineering, Math and Physics. As a fresh graduate from my PhD program in the UK, it was awe-inspiring and intimidating at the same time.