Part 113- Aara- From Riza and Zoheb’s Eyes

As narrated by Zoheb:

When Aara passed out in my arms…it sent me into a panic. I carried her to the sofa and gently splashed some water onto her face. It was definitely the shock of what we had heard and seen on that recording that knocked her out like that. Within minutes she was awake again and sat as still as a statue.

Aara: I think we should read the diary now..

Me: (sitting next to her and putting my arm around her) no…(And I kissed her on her forehead)

She leaned in and clutched at my shirt as she shivered and sobbed. My heart broke with hers but I caressed her hair as she let out a river of tears…

When we first met…the day we bumped into each other…and then when we really met again a few months ago…I didn’t think we would be like this…Aara and I couldn’t stand each other…and now I can’t live without her.
That’s the destiny that we don’t write~it’s the destiny that’s prewritten. I often wondered before I met her….who is the one who’s meant for me? She could be someone that walks past me daily and I wouldn’t even know…when I would sit and stare into the skies…I wondered if perhaps she was doing the same thing at the same time…
My silent childhood…my awkward teen years…my non existent parents…a sister who didn’t care that she had a big brother…my Nani’s words came back to me ” Allah has created everyone in pairs…when the time is right..you will meet the one that’s created from you”

And I thought that I had found her…but I was wrong. Love wasn’t changing yourself to suit someone else..love wasn’t superficial…love wasn’t betrayal…

As I held Aara in my arms…my mind drifted backwards to the night that I walked through the lit up trees alone.. where everyone walked hand in hand…..in silence…tears falling from my eyes…why was I always alone…where was she? I always did everything right…but I was always tested at every step….maybe I shouldn’t rely on my heart so much…

The very next day I had bumped into Riza

Riza: NO FRIKKING WAY!! ZOHEB!!! (And he hugged me happily)

Zoheb: I can’t believe it! It’s really you!

I was very excited to see him after so many years. He had come to London for an Art Exhibition and we had met up a few times during his stay.

Riza: happy here?

Zoheb: not really…doesn’t quite feel like home

Riza: why don’t you move back to New Zealand?

Zoheb: even worse!

Riza: how about South Africa then? It’s home bru!

And I smiled silently….and 2 months later I was on a plane to South Africa

A few days after settling into my new place and sorting out my office..I sent Riza an email with my contact details

“Moved back to S.A bru 😉 ”

Within seconds Riza had called me

Riza: you have to join us tonight…meet my crew

Me: I don’t think that’s such a good idea…

Riza: why not?

Me: they are your friends man Reez

Riza: so?

And I already knew that I was fighting a losing battle…

I had a hectic day and I didn’t concentrate when I parked my car that night outside the bakery…South Africa and its right hand drive…*sigh*…and I didn’t realise that I parked almost into another car’s drivers side door…ℓ☺ℓ…I came back to find two tomatoes taped onto my backglass…in my irritation I didn’t know that that was the night that I was going to meet my destiny…

I still remembered her grand late entry…I tried to avoid looking at her…but I couldn’t…there was something about her yet there were other girls in the room…

I still remembered the way she barged into my apartment with the envelope on Riza’s first “task”…her bubbly laughter as we made dessert together….the way she looked as she walked down the stairs when I fetched her that night…when she unknowingly held my hand at the supper table…the fight within myself when I made her walk barefeet on that hot road…she was getting too close…I couldn’t shut her out from my mind…whenever I closed my eyes all I could see was her…my impulsiveness in making her walk on my feet…my lifes best moment…her hands in mine…her hair gently blowing across my face…her soft smile…the look on her face when I had given her the white,yellow and red roses…I closed my eyes as I remembered her sitting on the beach…her jumping over sandcastles…her sitting with me past midnight on the garden swing…her excitement over the “beach in the bottle”…her first gift to me…the way she laughed at mine and Nemo’s baking attempt….making me watch Kuch Kuch Hota Hai…the way she trembled when I kissed her hand….the look in her eyes at the florist in Cape Town…the way in which she let herself go while driving that purple BMW…the innocence in her eyes upon seeing the candy bracelets….her looking so beautiful as she walked towards us at Riza’s engagement…my heart stopped and I could see her and only her…the shock and wonder in her eyes as I sang for her…something that I’ve never done for anyone but her…baring my soul…putting my heart and my feelings forward….the night that she hugged me for the first time….accepting me…giving me the chance of a lifetime…her confiding in me…her hugging me with her doughy hands…I looked at the daffodil plant that I had given her…and there was already signs of life as tiny green shoots poked through the soil…Aara was nurturing it…she had hope in us…

She fell asleep clutching onto me…and I carried her to her bed…took off her sandals and tucked her in…as I closed her bedroom door I picked up my phone…

Me: Riza…my Aara is going to need her brother tonight

——————————————————————————————————————
As narrated by Riza:

What was wrong? Zoheb sounded worried over the phone and I rushed to Aara’s as fast as I could.

Zoheb: thanks for coming bro…she’s asleep

And he filled me in on what had happend and played the recording for me again.

I was shocked beyond my wits…we knew that Mari had a thing for Nemo on campus…I also knew that she didn’t like Aara much when we were on campus and I heard her confessing to Nemo in Cape Town that she had read Aara’s diary and knew that Aara was in love with Nemo then…

I had to see her. I walked into Aara’s room and watched her sleeping. How much more heart ache was written for her?

Me: (sitting across Zoheb) she’s been through too much…Aara’s had a very rough and tough few years…I wonder when it will end for her…(And I held my head in my hands)

Zoheb: I wish I knew how to help her…

I looked at him, he was genuinely concerned…

Me: I know something is going on between you two even though both of you are keeping mum but let me warn you-friendship aside-i will F*** you up if you ever hurt her…she’s more dear to me than my own sister

Zoheb: (his head down) I would never hurt her bro….I love her…

Me: sorry…sorry Zoheb…it’s just…my blood is literally boiling right now…what I’m about to tell you stays between us…only Arshad,Aara and I know about this…

And I proceeded to tell him what happened all those years ago with Nemo…

Me: I’m telling you this…because…you saw what she saw now…I want you to know where Aara is coming from…why she is the way she is….she puts up a very brave front but she has a lot of sadness in her heart….I have never seen the kind of courage that she displayed…Nemo went off track completely…even he doesn’t know how much he hurt her…bro his own parents didn’t look after him…she looked after him…she gave Nemo a new lease on life…if you look at them now you would never say that they had this much turmoil in their lives not so long ago..and Aara never ever reminds him of it…this girl…she truly has a heart of gold…now (shaking my head)…this whole thing with Maariah and Aadil…

And then we heard Aara screaming from her room…

Zoheb: (reaching her before me…wiping her face and holding her) shhhhh…it’s going to be okay shhhh

And she clung onto him as he sat down beside her and calmed her back to sleep.

I felt a sudden calmness in my heart….I didn’t have to worry anymore. She would be fine….

We fell asleep and eventually I woke up and saw her sitting outside and I stared at her through the glass as my mind drifted off…

Me: and now?

Aara:( acting as though she were dancing) Dunya mein yuhi hotha hai…kyun thu aise pal khotha hai….dil aakhir thu kyu rotha hai…

Me: I don’t understand you really…not even a few days ago you were questioning yourself and look at you now…are you feeling okay?

Aara: you know…my mother gave me a piece of advice and I decided to use it…surprisingly I feel a whole lot lighter…I feel a bit like my old self again…AND Nemo seems to be responding to the happy and jovial Aara!

Me: so are you changing for you or are you changing for him?

Aara: both of us

Me: he’s damn lucky you know that

Aara: Nemo and Aara…a relationship that no one will understand…not even Nemo and Aara (and she stuck her tongue out at me)

Me: (chuckling to myself) if you say so

Aara: but seriously Reez…did you see…yesterday he ate, he took his meds, he was so well behaved…maybe he just needed to be with his carefree best friend…not his overbearing best friend

Me: (serious look) you do realise that you’re destroying a part of yourself little by little Aara?

Aara: I’ll destroy myself completely in order to save him Reez…

And I sat next to Aara and stared ahead while our hearts conversed with each other…

I knew her pain..
She knew mine…

If I went with her to all those forsaken places to look for Nemo…then she also sat with me for hours and hours on end at the hospital…

If I helped her…then she also helped me….

There was no payback between us…I’m a dreamer…an optimist…I always told Aara that our souls are like two old friends who were probably friends back then when we were just souls without bodies…and she looked at me as though I’d just lost my last braincell..

Aara was my partner in class…she became my Laeeka’s best friend…she became a better sister than my own sister…she became my inspiration for her dedication and loyalty towards a friend who at the time did nothing except ridicule her and degrade her…but she stayed. It was through her sheer dedication and courage…through her love for Nemo..that she fought against the world to help him stand on his feet again. She would come home from work drained and tired and still put up with Nemo’s tantrums, clean up after him and listen to all his ramblings without complaining. He would throw up all over at all odd hours…she would silently clean it up.
He would shake her out of her sleep if he was hungry or couldn’t sleep…she would wake up silently and see to him.
I watched quietly as she sacrificed her love..a love that had become the biggest hurdle on her road to rehabilitating him, a love that made her weak, a love that stopped her from being firm with him. She realised it then, that her love would have to die, a part of her would have to die if he were to live again.
My heart ached as I watched her silent tears as she put up a brave face infront of Nemo, as she sat with him and cracked silly jokes, as she became Nemo’s friend again and she was right~that was what he needed~because he let go, he too was free again~he grew in the sunshine of Aara’s undeterring friendship…stronger and stronger with each passing day. She pushed him, she motivated him and slowly Nemo was out of his addiction and on his road to recovery. Aara was more focused, she was doing well at work, eventually she allowed him to live on his own again, to live his life independently again…but that’s when irony kicked in. As she realised that she was best being a friend to him, as she recovered from her own heartache, as she took her steps towards moving on…that’s when Nemo started falling in love with her.
Nemo I’m sure, was also uncertain…and scared to confess his feelings to her because he knew what he had put her through.
And now fate brought in someone who could fulfil all of Aara’s dreams, who could be to Aara what I was to Laeeka…someone who would always catch her before she fell, someone who could love her the way she always yearned to be loved and she was feeling it. It was a completely new feeling for her because when she loved Nemo it was always one sided. Nemo can’t be blamed though..because he didn’t know.

Can Aara be blamed then?

All these things popping up meant one thing and one thing only -and I dreaded it-A storm was coming…and fast too..