Unconventional friendships - Atif Aslam

The Morning After and Finally Some Caffeine

It was nearly noon by the time Atif managed to open his eyes. He was in the same room he had washed up in the previous night but the rest of his memory was blank. Rubbing the remaining sleep out of his eyes, he tried to recall his meeting with Salman.

It came back to him in a rush. He had NOT met Salman, he had embarrassingly fallen asleep on some steps. That meant somebody carried him to his bed because he absolutely did not remember getting up and walking back. The back of his neck and ears burned red at the thought. Trying to immediately forget his thoughts he rushed inside the shower to get ready for the day.

An hour later he was still sitting, dressed in a simple white tee and jeans, in his room wondering whether getting lost again was worth it or not. He decided the urge for some tea or coffee was too high to wait around for somebody to fetch him. Thankfully he found a sweeper as soon as he exited the room.

"Saabji, Salman Saab asked me to take you to the dining room. He will meet you there."

Atif smiled at him kindly and followed him to the dining room. The entire farmhouse reeked of Salman's tastes. It was both homey but grand. Soft amber lighting, simplicity in the interior designing but elegancy in the details, the warm colors. Atif himself preferred whites, grays and blacks, but Salman obviously had a penchant for sunset colors. He sat himself beside the head seat.

The cook was a motherly woman who smiled a lot and asked him to call him Tai. She fussed over him asking him a bunch of questions regarding why he was sleeping on a staircase. Atif tried to not to blush when he found out that not only had he been carried back, Salman had carried him back. She then lay down a literal feast and told him to eat his fill. Thankfully there was a mug of coffee too, so he just thanked her the best he could while trying to inhale the coffee. Finally some caffeine, he breathed in relief.

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