Ātashé del-am

Chapter-22

Changed my username from @dreamingqt to @twinklingqalb.

♡☆♡☆♡☆♡☆♡

'Ek hai aap, jisne mere dil ko badi maharat ke sath churaya hai.
Ek hai apka khayal,
jisne meri neendo ko meethi neend sulaya hai.
Ek hai aapki justaju,
jisne mujhe bich raato me jagaya hai.
Aur ek hai hamare darmiyan faasle,
jinhone mujhe taweel arse se sataya hai.'

♡Daniyal Shirazi

(One is you, who has stolen my heart with great skill.
One is your thought, which has put my sleep to sweet sleep.
One is your thought, which has kept me awake in the middle of the night.
And one is the rift between us, which has haunted me for so long.)

_____________________________________

Shanzay was sitting in the furthest corner of the library of her department. There lectures were not happening since last two days and teachers has instructed them to do self study and if needed they will arrange doubt clearing sessions for the students. It was Thursday and from the next Monday their semester practicals will be starting, so she was busy in covering all the remaining syllabus in a short span of time, hence late night studies was the option left for her.

It was her favourite spot in the library because it used to be silent and less crowded, hardly 4-5 students used to come over at that place as it was in the furthest corner of the library. Her friends has just left to their respective rooms after continous study of 4 hours. They have planned the dinner outside today, but Shanzay wasn't joining them, due to her studies. Shanzay groaned seeing the length of the book she has to cover up in just 2 days. Her shoulders were stiff and her lower back was also aching like hell, all she wanted to do was hit the bed as soon as possible. Whenever she used to feel the need to rest, she will take few sips of water and murmur, Just one hour more, dear Shanzay.

She was so engrossed in her book, that she didn't saw a guy coming to her table, pulling out a chair and sitting on it. She jumped badly at her place when she heard the clock pendulums loud sound, she raised her eyes at the electronic wall clock to check the time. It was showing 6:00 pm. She was in disbelief how fast the time was running, when she last glance at the wall it was showing 05:23 pm. She straightened out her arms to stretch them, when it got hit with something kinda soft yet rough. She saw Richard seated, next to hers. He gave her a creepy smile and wave his hand at her but she ignored him and looked down at the text in the book.

She saw the girl sitting on the nearby table, collecting her stuff in the bag. Seeing her doing so, Shanzay inquired, "Are you leaving?"

"Yes Shanzay, I have to join my friends for the dinner." She closed the chain of her bag and taking the books near her chest, she moved out of her sight after waving a goodbye to her. Shanzay bid her farewell with a nervous smile and roamed her gaze around the hall which was empty. Only she saw one guy sitting few tables away from her, his face was not visible to her as he was covered in hood and his head was bowed down on the book, kept in front of him. Lights were also nearly off, only the area where she was present was lighted and the small cabin of librarian was brightly lit. She felt strange fear building inside her, because she was afraid of dark places, and the creepy smile, the guy sitting next to hers was giving was enough to shook her fragile heart to core.

"What happened? Are you afraid of something?" Richard questioned, coming near to her. She shook her head in negative and with shaky hands picked up her notebook and stuffed it in her bag.