The night after we went bowling, I woke upto the sound of a text message:
I amsry if this woke up, but I need 2 talk to you about something, so could you plzmeet me @ the park @ around 8;20?
- Noor
When I looked at the time it was 7:27, whichgave me plenty of time to have breakfast, and get ready.
I got to the park at 8:15 and saw Noorsitting on a bench with her back bent, and head up, watching a couple of kidsrunning up and down the slides. The weather was perfect for outdoor activities;the sunshine was light, the breeze was gentle, the trees were green, and showedthat our spring break wasn’t too far away.
I walked up to her with a smile as I greetedher. I noticed her eyes were half closed, and her eyes were a little dark,which probably explained why it was difficult for her to smile. She stood up,fixed her pink dress, and motioned me to follow her without saying a word.After two minutes of just walking in silence, I finally asked why she wanted tosee me.
“I was wondering when were you going to askthat, but I was also hoping you would have asked something else.” She laughed.
“Alright then, why have we been walking insilence for the past couple of minutes?”
She sighed, trying to waste some time, andthink more about how she is going to start whatever she wanted to say, “I knowyou left early just because you wanted to smoke last night.”
“I- but how-"
“It doesn’t matter, I wanted to tell you thatI know it will not be easy for you to just stop. I don’t want you to keep leaving us every time you have to smoke.I’m not saying you are allowed to smoke in front of us, because that would bejust disgusting to watch-“
“Ouch!”
She ignored me, “Butyou have to stop going away, okay? Iwant you to stay with us, and enjoyyourself as much as possible.” I noticed her struggling with some of her words.She looked exhausted, and made me wonder why she wanted to come this early.
“Thank you forunderstanding, and for supporting me.” I said delightedly.
She didn’t say anything; in fact she looked alittle distracted by something.
“Could you tell me why you really wanted meto come here?” I asked as I stared at the flying birds.
“What do you mean? That’s all I wanted tosay.”
“So, you came all the way to the park, atsuch an early time, even though you look like you haven’t slept all night, justso you could tell me that?”
“I didn’t wantmany people to see us together, and start talking about us.”
“Noor, I know yourfamily are a bit loose when it comes to these things, so just tell me what itreally is.”
We stopped walking now. “You see those birdsover there,” She pointed to the sky, “They come and go all the time, so theyare probably used to saying goodbye.” She frowned, took my hand, and guided meto sit on the nearest bench. “Now look at us, we’ve been living in this placeour entire life, because gravity makes it so difficult for us to just fly away.I used to be thankful for that, until last night when I realized gravity makesit difficult for us to fly and leave, but doesn’t make it impossible.”
I tried processing what she was saying, “Whatare you talking about? Who’s leaving?”
“Adam. His Dad got a new job in Turkey, andhis Mom is excited about the news, since that’s where all her family is, soit’s a done deal, and they are leaving in two weeks.”
“But that’s so soon, how’s it possible?”
“He knew a about this a while back, but hedidn't tell me from before because he couldn’t.” She stopped for a while, andstarted tearing up a little. “It sucks! I actually believed that we had afuture together, I really loved him, but now I can’t do anything about any ofthis, because I wont be able to see him anymore for God knows how long! I feelso limited, so hopeless, and-“
“Hey, listen,” I cut in before she couldcontinue. “Maybe humans weren’t blessed with wings to fly, but we have beenblessed with a brain that could undo all impossibilities. Him going away doesn’tmean your relationship has to go away as well. You can always email him, video chatwith him, or whatever. You could also visit him this spring break if yourparents allow you to.”
Just as I ended my sentence, a little girlrolled over her ball right next to Noor’s feet. “Do you want to play with me?” Thelittle girl asked.
“Of course shewould.” I answered for Noor.
The girl took both of us by the hand, anddragged us towards the grass. She then went back to the ball, and threw it for Noorto catch. At that moment I finally saw real happiness in her eyes, and she nolonger looked hurt as she played with the girl. For some reason, that littlegirl made Noor forget her biggest problem. Somehow, that girl was able toreflect her smile on a depressed girl, who thought she wouldn’t be able tosmile again, and she did that in a matter seconds. Somehow a stranger made Noorforget the closest person to her. Even though the memory of Adam is goingto catch up to Noor later on during the day, it still fascinated me how aninnocent child could turn around a corrupted teenager.
After a few minutes, a woman, who appeared tobe the girl’s mother, came up with wide welcoming hands directed to the littlegirl. The girl ran into her mother’s arms, “She always runs away and plays withpeople she meets here.” She kissed her daughter’s head, and then continued,“But she always comes back to her mommy, right sweetie?”
“Yes!” Said the girl excitedly, and startedwaving at us as her Mom took her to the car.
“I wish hecould return back to me.”
I didn't know what to say, but I thought bringing happy memories to her mind could keep that smile for a while longer, “How did you two meet?” I asked.
“It wasn’t a long time ago like you wouldthink, but we clicked, and became close fast enough for anyone to think we haveknown each other forever.
I was walking with my friends last year inthis park on the thirtieth of April, just a day before Labor Day. I was actually on my phone texting my olderbrother, when all of a sudden I saw someone running in front of me. We bothtried getting out of each other’s way, but ended moving towards the samedirection, causing us to bump slightly into each other. None of us got hurt,but my phone slipped out of my hand due to the incident.
He picked it up from the floorbefore I even started processing what was going on. When he looked at the slightlyscratched screen he insisted on paying for it. I told him it was nothing,because I hardly even noticed it, and then I excused myself, and left, withoutgiving him a chance to say a thing.
The following day, I came backto the same place. He was with a couple of guys playing football. I recognizedone of them; it was Talal. When he saw me looking at him Talal gave him a tap on the shoulder and looked to my direction. Adam walked up to mewith a bag in his hand. Without saying a word, he smiled at me, I was somesmerized by his smile, that when he handed me the bag, I just took it withoutrealizing what I was doing. Then he just left me with a small bag, and a memoryof the most innocent, and beautiful smile my eyes have ever seen.
I sat on a bench and looked intothe bag. It had a note, and a wrapped box inside it. I got out the card, and Istill remember what it said because I have read it thousands of times, and itsaid:
I don’t know you, and to be honest I don’t know what I am doing. All Iknow is that when I saw you I saw a beautiful future. I know all of this probablysounds crazy to you, because it does to me, but I couldn’t stop thinking ofwhat happened yesterday, and I have to pay you back what I owe you.
I read that note two more times,not believing what my eyes and brain were telling me. My eyes kept reminding meof how concerned he looked last night, and how bad he felt for what he hasdone. They also reminded me of his smile; his breathtaking smile, that just thethought of it took me to another world. My brain kept telling me that I found astranger who cares about me, andwants to make me happy. It told me that I’m living a dream, a fairytale, and afantasy all at once. Somehow I couldn’t comprehend that what was going on was abit odd or creepy, because for some reason all what was going on seemed perfect,and when I unwrapped the box, the moment became ten times better.”
"What was in the box?" I asked anxiously.
She looked aroundwith a silly looking grin on her face, and giggled like a little girl, "Ican't tell. Umm, tell you what, since you say that I actually will continue seeing him,then that probably means so will you, so why don't you ask him about the restof the story when you see him?"
“That wont be long from now,I’ll probably see him after the Friday prayers.”
She smiled when she heard that. It reminded her that Adam is still here; she doesn’t have to be sad just yet. It was then when I thought she realized it was him she should have texted this morning to see, and not I. However, that was not what happened, maybe it was just a coincidence that it didn’t, or perhaps for some reason fate didn’t want them to meet just now. Whatever reason it was, it was probably the right reason for her to have seen me, because spending those few minutes away from him now, could have saved them years together in the future.
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