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It was a pleasant day in the city that dwelled near the mountains.
The sun was shining brightly. A cool breeze blew from time to time. The Spring flowers were still in bloom. Summer was still far away. The dogs in their city had turned pink.
Half the dogs in the city had grown pink fur overnight. Nobody could fathom what was happening at first. Conspiracy theories started brewing. Panic was setting in. But then, the government announced that city corporations were vaccinating the street dogs. They splashed colored water on the vaccinated dogs to keep track and run a smooth operation.
It soon became a matter of great amusement and laughter. Street kids chased around the pink dogs, people stopped by to take selfies with them. Dahlia Ahmad's mother stayed true to her belief that it was the result of black magic.
Dahlia lifted her gaze and glanced at the white house looming across the street. She had learned that the window visible from their backyard belonged to the bedroom of a certain grey-eyed man.
Dahlia bit her bottom lip and pondered. Where was he? What was he doing now? The reason she was curious was because Dahlia couldn't recall the last time she had actually seen Kaveh. Not at social events, the streets, or even when she visited his house.
It's not like Dahlia was intentionally searching for him, but she couldn't ignore his absence either. It was so unusual that she was starting to believe he was purposely hiding from her.
"Earth to Della."
Two fingers snapped in front of her face. Dahlia broke out of her trance with a startle. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she realized all the eyes around the table were looking at her.
She cleared her throat and quickly recomposed herself, saving the thoughts of those gloomy eyes for another day. "What were you guys saying?" Dahlia asked.
Dhrubo laughed, a couple others joining him. "We're actually done with the discussion," he said. "I asked if anyone had any questions."
"No questions from me," she replied quickly. You can't have questions if you don't listen in the first place.
"Great," he announced. "So I'll summarize our discussions and we wrap up today's meeting?"
There was an unanimous consensus around the table. Dhrubo leaned forward, placed his folded hands on the table and started speaking again.
Dahlia let out a sigh, her insides still squirming with embarrassment. She couldn't believe she got called out in a group meeting for getting lost in the thoughts of Kaveh Fayyad of all people. She paid attention to her team mates again. She tried to keep her eyes strictly off his window and listen with rapt attention to avoid a replay.
Dahlia Ahmad finally had an idea of where she was going with her life.
She quit her job at the Acid Survivor's Foundation a couple of months ago, at a loss about what to do with her life. Around that time, she decided to try her hand at teaching and applied to a few local schools.
