AsYa story--UNRECOGNIZED EMOTIONS- Thread 1-ch1 to ch 3 - Page 57

The day after the event was a holiday, as per the college rules. Zoya started a new day with new hopes. She followed her regular routine of having breakfast with her parents and then started planning her day. She called Humeira to find out if she was free.

"Good Morning Humi... Are you free today? Then we can go for some shopping?"

"Good Morning...Sorry Zoya, I have classes today till 3pm."

"How about if we meet after 3 O'clock?"

"Yep. No problem with me if it's fine with you. Atif is also in Boarding School and will be back only at night."

"Fine..Will wait for you.. "

"You decide and tell me the place and time."

"Done!!!!"

Zoya disconnected the call and decided to make a list of things that she would need.

Atif was Humeira's younger brother who was still in school. After the demise of her father, all the responsibilities of her family came on her shoulders. She was always a responsible girl but she had never imagined that she would have to take all the responsibilities at this young age. But time made her grow up before she came of age. Afterall, she was also a slave of time.

Dear Diary,

Good Morning to you. I am going for shopping today with Humeira after so many days. We could not spend much time together after getting into college. I did not even tell her anything about Asad. Again, what will I exactly tell her?? I don't know anything myself.

Going to make a list now. Tell me if you need something. Ha ha... Will get back to you soon. Bye.

Zoya called up Humeira and asked her to meet up near their favourite hang out place, Rahim uncle's Golgappa shop. If there was anything that Zoya and Humeira could not resist eating, then it would be golgappas. Today was also not an exception. Zoya put a huge piece in her mouth and relished its spicy taste whereas, Humeira got tears rolling down her eyes.

"You cannot eat spicy food then why do you still add so much chillies to it?",asked Zoya, like everytime.

"Because the real taste of Golgappas can only be had when there's enough spices in it to bring tears in your eyes", said Humeira, in between her tears, which made Zoya look at her in disbelief.

After having their favourite, and most unhygienic food, they decided to move on with their shopping. Zoya could buy only a few things that were included in her list as it was already getting late. In the last few hours, Humeira noticed Zoya's behavior and at last she decided to ask her about it.

"Zoya, is there something that you want to tell me?", asked Humeira in her softest voice. Zoya smiled at Humeira's talent of reading her mind.

"Are you a mind reader or something? How do you always do this huh?"

"It's simple..Just the way you do it...", said Humeira giving a proud smile to her and at the same time praising Zoya's capability to understand her more than she does herself. They were so much used to it now that they did not find it surprising anymore.

"It means, you are hiding something from me, right", asked Humeira quite sure of her question.

"It's true that I want to tell you something, but I really did not want to hide it from you", said Zoya looking straight into her eyes.

"Let's go to that park and then you can tell what you want to."

They went to a nearby children's park. There they saw many children playing and enjoying different rides. They were mainly accompanied by their grandparents. This sight brought a smile on their faces and they took a seat on a park bench, keeping their shopping bags aside.

"Now speak up. What is it that is making you so restless?", asked Humeira keeping her one hand over hers. Zoya mirrored her action and started speaking, the thing that she had wanted to do since many days.

"I don't know how to start Humi and what to say because I myself couldn't figure out anything yet.", she said in a calm voice. She told her everything"her first meeting with Asad, her drooling session over him, her restlessness when she did not see him, her worry for him when he did not call, her defending herself when Asad thought the food to be made by her. She gave each and every small details of her feelings to Humeira who listened to everything quietly. She did not stop her for once because she knew how that Zoya has been longing to say all this since many days.When Zoya said what she wanted to say, Humeira finally spoke up.

"After what you said and what I heard, I understood one thing and that is, you are confused of what feelings it is. Isn't so?", Humeira asked, though she was quite sure of what her answer would be. Zoya simply nodded a yes and said, " I also don't know whether these feelings are for real or not."

"What do you mean by real or not? I am sure you are not a ghost or something, so your feelings have got to be real ofcourse.",said Humeira trying to lighten the mood. Zoya smiled at her best friend's attempt and Humeira understood that she was successful.

"No, not that, I want to know whether it is an infatuation or something like what school girls often call it as crush? If it's anything like that then I want it to stop here. Again I am not sure if I want it to be something more than that or not. I know nothing about him except that he is the only son of a rich businessman, a great dancer and a topper in the college. I don't even have his number. How can I have some special feelings for him then?", Zoya asked confusedly, her eyes hoping for an answer from Humeira.

"You know what Zoya, we both have never felt something like this for anyone and moreover I should not be the one guiding you too. Your heart will guide you through out."

"And what if it guides me wrong? What if I fall on my face and never recover from that turmoil? What if..." Humeira stopped Zoya before she could continue as she was again getting restless.

It was a first time for her and as decided earlier, if one would ever have such feelings for someone then the other will guide her. But none of them had ever imagined that things could be so hard when it would actually happen.

"Zoya, neither me, nor you had such feelings ever, and you are not having enough faith in your heart too, then why not let someone else decide things for you?"

"Who?", asked Zoya . looking at her quizzical look, Humeira lighly squeezed her hand and answered her, " The only person who drives us, the only person who follows our each and every step, towards good or bad, towards right or wrong"the almighty". Zoya looked at Humeira with a blank face, still not registering what she said.

"Leave everything to Allah. He will guide you through out. He will show you the right path and will bring you back from the wrong ones. He will give you all your answers like he gave mine. I always asked him that why he took away my parents from me. But now when I think about it I always get one answer, They Were Suffering. They had to bear so much pain. Allah just took away the pain from them. Similarly, he will give you that what you deserve and what is right for you, sooner or later."

After hearing Humeira's words, a lone tear dropped from her eye and she hugged her tightly. Humeira too controlled the lump forming in her throat which was about to make her cry.

"I know that I was of no help but I think I didn't confuse you either??", asked Humeira still hugging her. Zoya laughed at her words and broke the hug and said, "Why are you so good Humi? What would I do without you? Do you know that you are the best?"

It made Humeira laugh aloud and she finally said, "the same goes with you too Zoya"

The two best friends finally shared their emotions with each other and left everything on the hands of the almighty. Zoya decided to go with time as racing against it was not a good idea as well.

They got up from their park bench, took their bags and was about to leave when Zoya got a call from Aafreen.

"Hello baji"

"Hello Zoya.. You know the photographs of the event have come and it's so good. So thought of telling you about it."

"Thank you baji. That's so sweet of you. I want to see them.", said Zoya making a puppy face which was not visible to Aafreen but she could still imagine how her face would look like. She smiled at her innocence and replied, "tell me your Email ID, I will mail them to you."

"Will you? really? Thank you sooo much.", said Zoya excitedly and told Aafreen that she will text her mail ID to her.

Zoya hung up the call and looked towards Humeira and told her about the photographs. She asked Humeira to come to her house with her to see them.

They reached home at 7pm and went straight to Zoya's room. Zoya opened her laptop and checked her inbox. She downloaded all the files and started viewing them.

Asad's House

Aafreen and Farhaan often came for a group study at Asad's place. All three of them were extremely good students but Asad was still the better. They preferred studying in a group as it was helpful for each one of them.

They were busy solving a problem when Aafreen got a call from the photographer who informed her about the photos. She switched on her laptop and started viewing the pictures. One of them caught Aafreen's eyes and she thought of forwarding it to Zoya.

Zoya's Room

Zoya and Humeira were busy seeing the photographs. Zoya showed Humeira all the photos and told her who was who. Humeira could also identify some of them based on Zoya's previous descriptions that she gave her on their way. But in none of the photos there was Asad. Zoya was searching him in every picture but could not find him. Suddenly a photo grabbed her attention. It was group photo that was taken outside the green room when all the performances were over. Zoya did not notice it at that time, but she was hell shocked now when she saw the photo.

In the photograph Asad and Zoya stood side by side, but quite a distance apart. At that time Zoya did not notice their position in excitement, but now it shocked her to hell.

Asad's House

"Asad, don't you think that we should forward all these photos to Zoya? See this one, she is there in the group photo too.", asked Aafreen, who was trying to read Asad's expressions after seeing the pic.

"Why are you asking me? You decide. Moreover, you think more about her these days than me.", said Asad with a pout. But Aafreen understood that he was trying to change the topic. She was too smart to leave Asad so easily.

"Okay then, if you say so, I will delete this photo, it's not so good too. See, how tired we are looking in this." Just when she said this and pretended to delete it, Asad jumped back towards the laptop and removed her hand from the touchpad.

"Are you mad? Why will you delete it?", said Asad, or rather shouted Asad.

Aafreen was quite impressed with his reaction but she still decided to play a little longer.

"Why don't you want me to delete it?", asked Aafreen making an innocent face.

Asad was out of words for a few seconds but then he finally spoke, "Because this is our only group photo that we have of that day and I don't want to lose it". Asad was proud of his answer this time but Aafreen was also not letting him go so easily.

"We have so many other photos which are better than this. Why do you want to keep this only?"

"Yes, we have, but none of them are from that day", once again Asad answered back proudly.

No wonder, he is the topper. Always ready with an answer', thought Aafreen, a little disappointed at her failed attempt.

"Atleast tell me whether I should send it to Zoya or not",asked Aafreen irritated, only to get no answers from him this time too. Farhaan who was a man of lesser words could see his girlfriend losing and being a good boyfriend, he could never let it happen. He took Aafreen's side and said,"Come on Asad, she is just asking you if she can send them to Zoya or not. She didn't tell you to get married to her!!!!!!!" Aafreen let out a chuckle after listening to what Farhaan said but stopped immediately when she saw Asad's glaring eyes at her.

"Okay fine!! Do what you want to do. I am leaving". Saying so, he left that room. Aafreen and Farhaan gave each other a victory smile and forwarded the mail to Zoya .

Zoya's room

Seeing Zoya's shocked reaction and open mouth, Humeira could guess that it was something related to Asad. Zoya pointed towards his photo and told her that it was Asad. Saying Humeira was shocked, correction, pleasantly shocked would be an understatement. Like every other girl, she too was mesmerized by Asad's handsome look. Zoya noticed her and said,"Show some respect and stop drooling over him!!!"

"Jealous huh??", asked Humeira who could clearly read her face.

"Jealous my foot!!!", said Zoya, trying to ignore what she felt just now. Humeira could not stop herself from laughing out loud.

"Look at you Zoya. On one side you are saying that you don't know what feelings you have for him and on the other side you are jealous of your best friend??",said Humeira still laughing. Zoya threw a pillow at her to stop her laugh which was getting louder. Humeira too threw a pillow back at her and they continued with it until they heard Zeenat's voice.

"What are you girls doing? You both have grown up so much still you are fighting like this?", Zeenat said faking an angry look. But the girls were smarter and they could easily understand her fake anger. Zoya closed down the laptop screen and went to hug her mother. Humeira too did the same and they shared a tight hug. Zeenat asked Humeira to stay back for dinner to which she denied.

"No aunty, Atif will be back home by now. I don't want him to stay alone for long. He starts watching cricket matches when I am not around." Zeenat understood this so she did not stop her. She asked the driver to bring the car and drop her home as it was already quite late.

Zoya bade a good bye to her standing near the doorsteps. But Humeira once again turned back and called her, "Zoya??"

"Yes?"

" I know that I was not able to help you much with your confusions as I still feel that you should be the one to understand them first, but I can surely give you a suggestion." Humeira paused for a moment and continued," Please go and get Asad's phone number. It might help you."

Saying this Humeira winked at her and went towards the car leaving behind a thoughtful Zoya.

Dear Diary,

I told everything to Humeira today. I knew that she will be able to help me out. It's always a pleasure to discuss things with her. For the first time I shared all these things with someone else other than you. I had to because you never answer me back. You only leave my mind wandering with some more questions.

Humeira asked me to figure out everything alone. She says I have the first right to know about what I feel and not anyone else. She also suggested me to get Asad's phone number but she did not tell me how. How am I supposed to get his number? See. Once again you have left me with a question. Why do you always do this? I know you are laughing at me now. So bye. Will get back to you later. Good Night.

Just like Zoya, Asad too was in a dilemma. When he found himself getting caught by his friends, he tried to ignore Zoya. He could hide things from his friends but not himself. His friends might have missed out the smile when he turned his back towards them and left the room leaving them to mail Zoya the pictures, but he could never hide it from himself. It was the first time for him and taking the first step all by himself was difficult for him too. Moving away from them was also not an option. He definitely needed to figure a way out.

A/N: Finally i am over with the third part. Truly speaking, it did not turn out to be the way I wanted it to be. But I still hope that you will like it.

You may feel that the story is going slow, but this is what actually happens when it's not a love at first sight.

I was late but i have replied to each and everyone of your comments 😊