"Taro ki thi mai musafir,
Ghum rahi thi andhere asman me...
Ek din nazar aai roshni us Chand ki,
Aur laga mil gayi manzil hame...

Kyu aese na aae ho tum meri zindagi me???

(I was a traveller of stars,
Roaming around the dark sky...
One day saw the light of that moon,
And felt I got my destiny...

Isn't this how you entered in my life???)

-By Ayesha Shaikh M.
(Dedicated to my Shahid)...

***

"Hey, see Bhab's here." Hadi pats Shahid's shoulder and directs towards the entrance of the canteen.

Shahid looks at her and again gets mesmerised by her. A simple white coloured shirt with dark blue jeans gave her a simple yet elegant look. Feeling someone's gaze on her she looks at the side only to gaze in the brown eyes similar to hers.

She gives him a sweet smile and lifts her finger and points at something in his direction. He furrows his brows in confusion but a second later understands when he feels a sticky liquid running down at the backside of his palm.

He quickly places his sandwich on the plate and wipes his hand with the tissue. He looks up and at the same time, she stands beside him.

"Hi Sha!" She waves her palm. Composing his happily running heart he offers her to accompany him. She looks at her friend who nods her head. Sidhra then sits on the empty chair and her friend goes to bring them sandwiches and cold coffee.

"So Mr Sha what are you studying?" Sidhra asks him. Shahid's throat suddenly becomes dry as he isn't habitual in talking with girls and this girl is not just someone but Sidhra, his Sidhra, the one about whom he has searched for hours on Facebook, on twitter, through following her secretly and what not. Now he's somehow nervous sitting in front of that bold girl in a decent environment.

"I... I... I am studying Pharmacy. I'm in my final year of Bachelor's degree." He somehow managed to reply. He mentally face palmed himself as he didn't stuttered for once that night but today the curious gaze that other students were giving him makes him feel uncomfortable.

"Wow, by the way, I'm a medical student, second year. Well, let's leave this formal introduction and thanks for fixing my car that day in the parking. I was so tired and my car wasn't working and on top of that my brother's cell was switched off, God knows what I would have done if you wouldn't have arrived." She keeps on blabbering.

"No problem." He replies.

"Sid." She says.

"What?" He gets confused.

"I mean you can call me Sid for Sidhra as I call you Sha for Shahid." She casually replies.

"Hey what's your name bro?" She asks Abdul Hadi.

"My name is Abdul Hadi. I'm Shahid's friend." Hadi replies.

"So Hadi nice name, I like it. Here this is my friend and my neighbour, Elli." She points towards her friend.

"Will you join us this weekend? Actually the whole week I'm a punctual, obedient and studious student so I let myself loose on weekends to release stress." She again starts blabbering when Shahid replies.

"Let's go for dinner this weekend." He doesn't know from where this idea appeared in his mind but he doesn't want to go to any club with her and see the other wild side of hers. He's already amazed by her boldness, they have meet only twice before this and she's talking so freely as if they are friends for years. But he's happy that she feels comfortable around him.

"Dinner? It sounds like, wait are you indirectly asking for a date?" Sidhra raises one eyebrow questioning.

"Me, no, I don't mean like that, it's..." Shahid doesn't get words to clarify his intention.

"Ha, ha, ha... Just look at his face, Elli. No need to worry Mr Sha I was just kidding but I like to go to clubs at weekends as my mom is very strict for the rest of the week and doesn't allow me to drink or have parties except weekends. But if you can we can have dinner at some other time." She laughs heartily and replies.

"Yeah, so what about this Wednesday?" Shahid asks.

"Ok but my brother will be a tag along. I hope you won't mind as my mom doesn't allow me to meet my male friends without my brother. I hope I get my degree soon so that this rule of her's can come to an end." Sidhra again jumps from one topic to another.

"It's fine you can also bring this friend of yours and I'll bring mine," Shahid replies.

"As if I'm not at all present here." Both Elli and Hadi replies in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh sorry! Ms Elli, please join us for the dinner this Wednesday and Hadi you too." Shahid formally asks both of them and they nod their head with a smile.

"So friends." Sidhra extends her hand towards Shahid who shakes her hand, she then does the same with Hadi.

"So let's make this dinner as a thanksgiving treat from me, for your help Sha," Sidhra suggests.

"No, I'll accept your treat next time, this time let it be my treat for our friendship, alright." Shahid disagrees and she nods her head.

"Buy Sha, bye Hadi, nice to meet you two." Saying so she leaves from there while both the guys reply to her.

"Come on Sha aren't we getting late for our practical?" Hadi asks Shahid in a girly voice and receives a smack from him. Shahid quickly eats his leftover sandwich which has turned totally cold by now and both the friends leave from there.

***

Today Shahid is least interested in his practical, first of all, his mind is full of Sidhra and secondly today they have Cosmeceutical practical to make lipstick.

"Lipstick yuck..." That's what he thought when their teacher was informing them about the practical. He doesn't like Cosmeceutical as he thinks it is a girlish thing.

He thanks his luck as he gets paired up with Hadi and two other classmates who are luckily girls and are overexcited to perform this practical so today he won't have to do much besides writing work. Both Hadi and Shahid smirks looking at each other.

***

After offering his Sallah and reading Quran Shahid lays down on his bed and Hadi too comes and sits beside him. They talk for a while about their studies and then takes out their mobile.

"Hey Sha why don't you send her a friend request on Facebook?" Hadi asks Shahid.

"First of all stop calling me that, listening to that nickname from you makes me feel as if I am an aged man." Shahid gets annoyed.

"Oh, really and don't you feel anything like this when she calls you Shhhaaa..?" Hadi asks purposefully stressing the word, Sha.

"No, I like it when she calls me that but not you. Next time if you call me by that name remember this..." Saying so, Shahid encircles Hadi's neck in his arms.

'Ok, ok bro I give up. Won't call you that, just leave me at least to send her a friend request." Hadi pants.

"You better remember." Saying so he leaves Hadi and sends a friend request to Sidhra on Facebook which she accepts after a few minutes and Shahid's heart is like flying on cloud nine as now he can chat with her anytime...

***

Assalamalaikum/Hi! Dear readers...

I hope you all are fine and healthy... 🙏

It's really boring this lockdown and all but can't help it's for our own safety...😔😔😔

Coming back to the story I'm sorry if I disappointed you but whatever came in my mind I just wrote it down...🙈🙈🙈

So bye👋
Take care...