Part 175- Pancakes & Heartaches

As narrated by Aara:

I awoke to the welcoming aroma of Cinnamon pancakes and hot waffles. ..mmmm it was enough to make me spring out of my bed and hurry off into the bathroom. I almost forgot about how I felt for a few seconds. …until I saw my reflection staring back at me in the mirror and it all came tumbling back. ..

I had cried myself to sleep last night so much so that my eyes were red and puffy and made me look like a lizard on a high!. I quickly washed my face and put my glasses on. A little bit of a camouflage..I hope.

I reached for my phone hoping that he had messaged…and he did.

Zoheb : (1:53am)I am so sorry that you feel this way. ..I am so sorry that I hurt you

Zoheb : ( 2:45am) I wish that I didn’t have to go. ..but when I come back everything will be clearer I promise. ..

What does that mean anyway? I tossed my phone onto my bed without replying and walked into the lounge.

“Mummy I wish I could have your breakfasts everyday”, I said as I plonked myself onto a barstool

“Join the club”, he said as he put a platter full of pancakes in front of me

“Aah, here for the free breakfast are we?”,I said as I chuckled to myself

“Aara!”,my mother said putting on her “disappointed” voice

” Sorry to burst your bubble but mummy invited me over”,Nemo replied as he took a seat next to me

” It’s still my ingredients you know”,I said as I gobbled a pancake

“Aww sweetheart you did NOT just say that! “,Nemo said pretending to be mortified

“I did, so now you have to pay me for the pancakes sooo just tell me how many you ate”,I grinned as I waved the fork in front of his face

“I’ll show you”,he said

And before I could reply I felt a sticky trickle across my left arm. ..

“What is….” ..I didn’t even finish my sentence and looked at the number 4 dribbled onto my arm with golden syrup in total shock!

“What is wrong with you Nemo!”, I shouted

“Everything”,he said as he laughed to himself

“Ugh”, I pretended to groan to myself as I wiped my arm on the back of his shirt before he could react.

You see payback doesn’t always have to be bitter. ..it can also be rather sticky:-D

Nemo’s bickering actually made me laugh. .and it felt good to laugh again.

“You both are going to finish all the pancakes! ! Go and call Zoheb from outside..
Becharo he said he’d wait and eat with both of you but you two forget everything else once you see food! “,my mother said sternly

He was here too????

“What is he doing here? “,I asked slightly irritated

“Young lady you have clearly woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! I will not tolerate this rude behavior”…My mother was angry. She was right though, I was being rude. But how would she know why??

”He’s downstairs with Pappa…they are changing the lights on your car”, Nemo said trying to divert my mother’s new found anger

”What’s wrong with my lights?”, I asked, sounding even more irritated

”Pappa bought you the new xenon lights that you wanted woman!”, Nemo said as he ‘made eyes at me’

I felt like the biggest fool. Not very long ago I had taken Zoheb to my favorite spot in Durban. I hadn’t even included it in The Amazing Race because this was my place, not to be shared with anyone. But i shared it with him.
And not many days before that I had shouted on the top of a mountain that I loved him and now look…
Now we barely talk yet he changes the lights on my car and comes to my house for breakfast!

Who would ever say that we were a couple, or were we I had no idea, as we sat in silence across each other. I squeezed the syrup bottle a little harder and banged my coffee mug onto the table purposely…and carried on eating as though I had not a single care in the world.

”Why are you going to New Zealand Zoheb?”, my mother asked him

” There’s a building that my company is constructing in Auckland and there are some technical issues that have come up…I’ve sent my manager over last week but the owners are insisting that I come personally”, Zoheb said as he sneaked a glance at me

I rolled my eyes and carried on eating…

”And I’ll also get to see my family”, he said softly

”How nice! that’s lovely…do you have a big family?”, my mother prodded on

My mother always did love to know the finer details in everyone’s lives….

” Well, my immediate family is just my parents and my sister, but my extended family also live in New Zealand…my mother’s family and my father’s family and well, it’s a huge bunch”, he said with a smile

” So a long overdue family get together”, my mother said with an even bigger smile

”Not really…”, and he paused for a few seconds before he continued ” everyone sort of just worries about themselves it’s nothing like how it is here…what you have is what I never had”

A tear fell from my eye and I quickly brought my mug to my lips to avoid anyone noticing. Whatever he was saying here, he told me on that day…where did we ever go wrong???? It seemed so unbelievable..can life really change that quickly??? Or maybe I’m just losing the plot….

” Well you are always welcome in our home and family”, my mother said reassuringly

Be careful of what you say mother….be careful

”Thank you Aunty Salma”, he smiled back…. and it was the flip flop smile that showed those deep dimples…ugh right now I wish I could just smear all this golden syrup all over his face!

”I wonder if he takes us as family”, I said as candidly as i possibly could

Silence. My mother gave me that look that she would give me when I was 5 and I had done something wrong.

” From the very second that I met all of you”, he said softly

The air was thick with something that I couldn’t put my finger on. Even Nemo was quiet. I rolled up yet another pancake..yep…my 9th one so far. Pancakes and heart aches went together so well. Your heart ached…you eat a pancake. If it aches some more, you eat another…and another…and another…

”That’s 9”, Nemo whispered

”You shouldn’t talk, you’re on number 7”, I whispered back

” How can you count how many I’m eating?”, Nemo whispered again

”The same way that you’re counting how many I’m eating”, I whispered back

”It’s different…you’re a girl you shouldn’t be eating so much”, he whispered

So I rolled another pancake and stuffed it with extra cheese and golden syrup and dipped it into my coffee, causing the reaction that I wanted.

“Aara!!””….that was my mother, father and Nemo

”You cannot dip everything into your coffee darling!”, my father said as he tried to suppress his laughter

”I’ll even do it at my in-laws daddy’, I said with a grin….and if only a grin could hide everything…

”I wouldn’t put it past you!”, Nemo laughed

I just smiled…finished my pancake and reached for a nice oily mince samoosa and dipped that into my coffee too.

Everyone laughed…even Zoheb. So funny. So very funny.

But my mother knew better….as she looked at me smiling to myself, practicing the tactic that I always did when I was hiding something in my heart…but maybe I wanted her to know. Maybe i wanted her to know that my heart was bleeding, maybe I wanted her to know that I was slowly starting to fall….maybe I wanted her to know that I felt that I was slowly going insane…

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Author’s Note:

So, out of curiosity…do we have any dippers out there? 😉

Like to dip some really ridiculous eats into your tea, coffee, cooldrink?…lol share it with us please:)

Much Love,

Shazia