Prem got up to look her in the eyes. 'But why don't you blame me? It was my fault- It was because of me that he is not here! How can you even love me after that?' he asked, and waited for her answer as she sat in silence. Breaking the silence, Gayatri suddenly spoke. 'What am I without you Prem? How can I not love you- you are my son. Yes your father isn't here- but you are. You are the reason I live- you keep me alive. So please don't upset me by saying such things' she cried rapidly and forcibly, reaching forward and giving his hand a squeeze.
'I don't like seeing you alone' he whispered and Gayatri shook her head. 'Who says that I am alone? I have you- and as long as I have you I will never be lonely' she said softly. Prem smiled, embracing his pain yet soothed by his mother's words of reassurance. Gayatri raised her fingertips to his cheeks and gave him a little tap. She wiped his tears and he reached forward to do the same with her tears. 'I will go make you something to eat' said Gayatri, getting up and straightening her sari before leaving his room. He himself lurched up, walking to his bedside table to grab the picture that lay on it. For the first time in eight years, it felt much easier to look at.
~
The following day at school Prem sat at his desk dwelling in the world of equations that spread across the page of his book, waiting for the teacher to arrive. Meera slid in the seat next to him and tapped his shoulder. 'Hi Prem...Oh my God!' she said suddenly, gasping and causing Prem to frown. 'What happened?' he asked, surprised by her sudden outburst. 'You finally got your glasses repaired!' she laughed and he rolled his eyes. '...you know, me and Ravz went dress shopping yesterday. Ravz finally found the right dress, and wow, she looked amazing. You should consider yourself very lucky,' she said, taking out her books from her bag. 'Yeah, I do' he said quietly, flashing a small smile. 'Of course you will have to wait until the ball to see how beautiful she looks in it,' Meera teased and Prem nodded. 'I can wait,' he muttered.
At that moment Heer chose to walk into the classroom, giving him a small sympathetic smile which he returned before she took a seat between her friends. 'Gaurav said we can hire a limo, and you and Ravz can double with us!' she said excitedly, 'I can't wait, Gaurav got himself a tux' she added. Prem sat sluggishly reading his book as Meera chatted about the ball and how much she was looking forward to it. 'Heer- we haven't seen you properly in days!' exclaimed Shifali. 'You are okay aren't you?' asked Asma, and Heer nodded, grinning at them. 'I'm fine, just been occupied...with stuff' responded Heer. A bulb went off in Shifali's head as she grabbed her back from the desk in front of her and rummaged around for something.
Taking out a small pocket book she handed it to Heer and smiled, 'This is the Paris book I was telling you about. It has maps and everything- it will tell you of all the good places that you should visit. I bet you must have been busy with all the packing, that's why we haven't seen you!' said Shifali and Heer gave a small nod, anxiously accepting the book from her. 'Thanks Shifali' she muttered and looked up as Mr Patel walked into the classroom repeating 'silence please.' Mr Patel took his seat in front of the class and indicated everyone to open their books at his requested page. 'Today I would like you to again work with the same partner as I had assigned in the last lesson. It gives me a chance to see how well you work outside of your circle of friends and there will be less distractions' announced Mr Patel, and the whole class shuffled around to join their allocated partner.
Heer nervously made her way across the classroom to sit next to Prem. He gave her a small smile as she lowered down on to the seat. 'Hey' he said awkwardly, fiddling with his pen as she greeted him back. 'How are you feeling today?' she asked fretfully, hoping he wasn't upset with her for what she had said to him about his father. 'Much better thanks' he said smiling and she breathed a small sigh of relief. 'Thank you for yesterday. You gave me the courage to face up to my pain and accept what happened as something that was out of my hand' he continued and she felt a gush of warmth, overwhelmed that he had taken her advice and in a way, accepted her as a friend, with whom he could easily share his pain with. 'You don't need to thank me Prem. I am just glad you're happy' she said softly.
'Shall we?' he said, indicating to the book in front of them and she nodded, feeling enthusiastic about studying for the first time. They spent the next hour studying Newton's laws and looking at the behaviour of physical bodies when subjected to different forces such as gravity. It was so much easier to understand when he explained it to her, he didn't put pressure on her, and everything just tended to flow. As she gazed at him whilst he jotted down formulas on the page she noticed under the shadow of dark glasses how beautiful his chocolate brown eyes actually were. But she could have sworn that those same beautiful eyes had darted in her direction every now and then. Finding herself staring she gave herself a mental kick, wondering what was coming over her.
'Focus on the theory of motion, Heer' she said to herself mentally. When the lesson ended the whole class erupted into noise, relief spreading over them that the lesson was now over. 'Ummm...Heer...?' Prem started and Heer turned to look at him. 'I just wanted to ask...only if you wanted to...I mean, we could meet up at lunch today...to study of course' he said quickly and Heer nodded and smiled. 'Yeah sure, that sounds good' she uttered. Prem beamed and like a gentleman, he handed her books to her. 'See you at lunch then' he said before exiting the classroom. Heer stared at him as he left. 'Yes, see you at lunch' she whispered to herself.
That was it! I will try to update as soon as I can, but please bear with me if I am unable to! 😳
Love Zahra xx
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