Chapter Six
Raina yawned as she flicked through the monotonous files, hastily signing her name at the bottom of the pages. It was her first day in Paris and already she was pushed into the world of mundane work. She had been here before, of course. Meera Fashion House had it's branches around London, Paris and New York as well as Aminah thinking to branch out to more infamous cities. Raina was always moving from one energetic city to another: to the point where she had practically memorised her whole journey.
"Bonjour, Ma'am." A young brunette walked through the door, perusing through her portfolio of sketches. "Here are some sketches I did bearing in mind of the season and theme." Raina looked through the numbers of pages, admiring each and every design. She smiled, nodding as she promised to send it off to Aminah who would take a look at it.
She sighed, glancing at her watch. It was getting late, nearly six in the evening. She decided to return back to the Hotel. A couple of minutes later, after a quick good bye from the rest of the workers, Raina made her way through to the archway where she caught a Taxi back to the Hotel. It was a mere fifteen minutes from the Hotel but the sudden traffic lengthened the journey to nearly half an hour. She shivered, cursing herself for forgetting to wear a jacket.
There was a slight mist in the air as the city of Paris became illuminated by light, more so than it was in the day. There was a glow coming from the background where the sun had just begun to set; painters sat on the edge of the canal, painting the immaculate landscape. The Taxi driver switched on the radio to alleviate the awkward silence. Instantly, the car started to sing out the mellow tune of Birdy's Skinny Love.
Come on Skinny Love, just last the year. Pour a little salt, you were never here.
The air began to get chilly, people who had groceries stacked outside their mini shop had started to pack away, getting away from the ghastly weather. The clouds began to darken, turning into a displeasing grey colour.
And now all your love is wasted, then who the hell was I? 'Cause now I'm breaking at the bridges, and at the end of all your lies.
"Madame, we are here...I'hotel du Louvre." The elderly Taxi driver smiled as he spoke in his French accent. Raina nodded as she gave him his fee, deliberately giving him more as he thanked her graciously.
The instant warmth hit her as soon as she rushed inside. She hastily rubbed her arms as to make herself warmer before being greeted by the attender, Amelie. Nodding in approval, Raina made her way through the lift and into her room where she was welcomed by Faiza, who was galloping around the room, listening to music on her headphones.
"Hey!" Faiza said as she turned the extremely loud music down and took off her headphones. "How was work?"
"It was good, the usual." Raina replied honestly. She stretched her arms a bit before taking a change of clothes into the bathroom. It was a slightly strange situation to be in. It had been so many years since she had last shared a room with anyone, and she had gotten used to the silence. She couldn't help but think about how she used to fight with her younger sister over the silliest things. They would argue about everything from sharing clothes to who gets what, and then other times, they would share each other's secrets. She felt a pang in her heart, thinking about how she had said a solemn goodbye to her sister - the last person she had seen. She couldn't help but wonder what her sister must be up to, whether she had gotten a job, or found someone.
Raina shook her head, not sure why she wanted to think about her past. That's all it was to her, her past. Nothing else matters now. Everything changed as she ran away that night: hastily kicking away her purple bridal sari and jewellery on to the floor before falling onto the bed in tears. Her hand began to shake as Raina looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
Two large eyes looked back. There was no emotion, no feelings. Everything inside her had died. She shook her head before splashing on freezing cold water onto her face. She started to shiver as she wiped herself before getting changed.
"Raina?" There was a knock on the door followed by Faiza's voice. "Hey, are you okay?" She seemed concerned.
Raina sighed as she twisted the door knob and unlocked it. She gave Faiza her usual pretentious smile before nodding. "I'm fine." Faiza smiled back. "So, how was your day been?"
"Oh, we spent the whole day settling in. The twins were becoming ill with coughs and sneezing but they're okay now that Rehaan Bhai looked over them. So that meant we really couldn't go anywhere." Faiza chirped.
"Oh right, Rehaan is a Doctor right?"
Faiza nodded. "Yep. He's a Paediatric Doctor and although he seems like a hard-ass, he really loves children. So I guess that's why he's a children's Doctor." Raina smiled listening to her. "How was Bhai in College?" She asked.
Raina stuttered. "I...er...I really don't..."
"Oh come on, you must have spoken to him. How was he? Was he always the sort of person that was no fun? Because that so sounds like him!" She sat on the edge of the bed, her legs crossed whilst Raina looked down at her.
"Urm..." She gave out a nervous laugh. "Well, from what I remember, he was always someone who was quiet. I guess. I mean, he only spoke when he needed to. And he never really did laugh or anything, unless he had to." Raina laughed, thinking about the younger Rehaan and how she had tried to make him laugh but he didn't. Boy, was so she embarrassed.
"I so knew it! Bhai was always a hard-ass!" Faiza gasped. "Seriously, he can scare someone with the way he behaves. So moody all the time. Well, I say every time but you know." Raina nodded slowly, not sure she understood but Faiza didn't seem so. "And God! He has this tendency to always annoy me, I mean come on! Just because I like certain things like Boy Bands and Justin Bieber, Bhai thinks he can say whatever he wants."
Raina laughed, Faiza reminded of her sister Aafiya what with her crush tendencies and her easy and outgoing lifestyle. "Well, I wouldn't know much about Justin Bieber." Raina laughed again, sitting onto the bed. "I'm not that much of a fan."
"What?" Faiza mocked a gasp. "How can you say that?! Oh come on, you must like one song."
"Absolutely not."
"Baby?"
"No."
"Somebody to Love?"
"Ugh, no." Raina rolled her eyes.
"So you've heard of the song?"
"My sister made me." Raina laughed before stopping in mid sentence. She closed her eyes shut before opening them slowly. How could I say this? After I vowed to forget them? She thought.
"You have a sister?" Faiza asked. Raina didn't reply as she stood up from the bed and looked at the clock.
"It's getting late, should we have dinner now?" Faiza looked at the clock and noticed that it was just past seven in the evening. She nodded as Raina walked out in silence, not even saying a goodbye. Faiza stood back, wondering what was just happened before calling down Ibrahim and Naila.
Rehaan sighed as he browsed through the list of friends on Facebook. He hadn't been online in a long time thanks to his long work schedule. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he had spoken to his friends - it had been a few years. Sure, he kept in touch with some of his University friends but there were still some friends from college that he had tried to keep in touch with. The fast paced life had prevented them from seeing each other with him working and his friends either doing the same or busy building their family lives.
There was of course, one person who he had kept in touch with all the way through. His childhood friend, Tanvir Khan. Tanvir was the complete opposite to Rehaan. Loud, popular and a complete flirt. Sure, he was intelligent but he hid his with his over exaggerated personality. The good thing about their friendship was that it gave Rehaan the stability of his social life, which he had clearly lacked. It was also through Tanvir that he met Raina.
She was sitting alone in the library, looking intently into her English notes when Tanvir had come over to speak to her. As Tanvir was studying English as well and had already done the year, he would often help the younger years just like Rehaan did but more so. Rehaan remembered her illuminating smile as she greeted Tanvir before noticing Rehaan. He didn't say much, then again he hardly did. Over the next few weeks, he had gotten to know her well often from Tanvir whilst she was completely clueless about who he was. On the day of the results, he had seen her smiling at her piece of paper, before going up to her and asking her about her grades. He couldn't have been more overjoyed to learn that she had passed with flying colours. Since then, he had spoken to her more but his shyness sometimes got the better of him.
He had always known her as the one who tried to make everyone smile, even when they were upset. She hated to see people in trouble and would do anything to get them out of it. He remembered a certain memory of when she tried to make him laugh but he was just too embarrassed of what she would think of him that he didn't do anything and walked away. As he was in the Upper Year, it meant that he was also leaving in the next few months, and as they both got busy with their own studies, social life became less and less important. Soon enough, he was gone. He did come back to the college, especially on the final results day but couldn't see her. For once, he felt somewhat dejected but didn't know why. She didn't even know him, if anything he was merely a stranger to her.
Rehaan looked through his homepage, trying to see if anyone was online but there wasn't. He had no other contacts whom he could find about Raina from. He sighed, before signing off. He didn't know why he wanted to find out about her, she clearly wanted nothing to do with him. He bit his lip wondering whether to call Tanvir but shook his head. He shouldn't look into her business. After all, he was no one to her.
Just no one.
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