Whispered Promises of Love

Chapter 1: Blunder

Aayra's Pov

I was working on my speech for tomorrow, when i heard my little one crying. I put everything aside and went to tend her. My precious baby.

"It's okay, love. Ma's here." I cooed into her ears. And just like that she stopped crying and drifted to sleep.

Erum is two years old. It's crazy how a tiny human has wrapped everyone around her fingers like nobody's business. Growing up, I always wanted a happy family. My husband, my kids, my home. But I don't know what went wrong. I was 22 when I got married and everything went down after I had Erum. It's been a more than a year, but it still hurts the same, like it was just yesterday.
Okay, I need to stop thinking and get back to work. It's an important day at college tomorrow and I need to prepare.

I don't know when i fell asleep, but it was almost time for Fajr when i woke up. I quickly went to washroom and made Wudu to pray.

After praying and reading Quran, I went to finish my pending work.

It was almost 7 by the time I finished my work. I had to be at college by 7:30. Oh God, how am I going to make it. Pushing those thoughts aside i went to get ready. Good thing i kept my outfit for today ready. After taking a quick shower, I wore my saree.

While I was pinning my saree, Erum came rubbing her eyes.

"Good Morning Baby." I said taking her in my arms. She just sat there looking at me. I'll assume that's because I'm looking pretty.

"Let's get you ready, shall we ?" I took her to washroom and changed her nappy. I didn't give her a bath as I'm already late and ready. I quickly changed her into a cute dungaree.

"Oh my baby. You are so beautiful, Allahumma Barik." I say pinching her chubby cheeks.
"You too" She said in her baby voice putting her chubby hands on my face. Oh she is so adorable. What would my life be if I didn't have her after my divorce ?

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I was nervous maxx for the speech I had to give in front of hundreds of students, lecturers, chief guests etc. I left Erum with Misbah, my colleague and went backstage. I know nobody is going to listen to the speeches that are going to take place now, because come on, let's be real. Nobody cares.

"Good morning maam." Prashvi from 4th year, who is the EmCee for todays program greeted me cheerfully.  
                                                                                      "Morning Prashvi. Whats gotten you in such cheerful mood?" I asked smiling at her. She was really nice and bubbly. I loved her and her gang. They reminded me of college days with my bunch. Ah, I really needed to catch up with the girls. Anways thats for some other day.

"I'm just very excited about todays event mam, I heard some hot guy is coming in today as a chief guest." Prashvi said with the same enthusiasm, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Oh. That. Yeah even I heard he is really hot. Now you got me excited as well." I said forgetting about my nervousness that I was feeling a minute ago. This girl has that charm.

"Okay ma'am. Time to go. All the best for your speech." She said laughing. I waved her a bye and glanced at my speech for the last time. And breathed out.

"Now I call Ms. Aayra from the Computer Science department to speak a few words." I heard Prashvi calling my name.

"Also, she is our favourite." I heard her saying again. The audience erupted in a light laugh.

I shook my head at her antics and got going.

I went on the stage and saw my baby sitting with Misbah, chewing her dupatta. Mental note: thank her later and say sorry. One look at my baby and i forgot everything. Her big brown eyes reminding me of her father, and about what he did to us. How dirty he did us.

"Ma'am." I felt someone touching my shoulder and saw Prashvi looking at me with concern. I gave her a reassuring nod.

"Good morning everybody." I said addressing the people in the audience. Oh they were a lot.

I saw the guest panel, and saw a man staring at me. Pretty sure he is hot dude Prashvi and me were gushing about back there.

I saw the man wink at me. Okay, What was that about ?

I went on with my speech about how we, as an institute, can make teaching better. What changes we need to bring. And why education is important in this generation. And throughout the speech, I saw that dude making faces at me or smiling or winking like a mad man who has never seen a woman. Seriously, what in the heavens was his issue ?

I was almost at the end of the speech when he winked at me. Again. And showed me thumbs down sneakily and stuck his tongue out like a kid. And I lost it.

"What the hell is your problem, Mr. ?" I asked almost shouting. Well, Who Am I kidding, I legit shouted. I shouted in the mic in front of hundreds of people. At the supposed "chief guest".

"Ive been seeing you make faces at me, winking at me through out. Is there something wrong ? Ya aapka dimaag waise hi kharaab hai ?" I asked shouting. Again.

The audacity of him. Sitting there, acting clueless. As if he wasn't just mocking me. Iski toh mein. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Prashvi and gang stifling their laughs. Inko toh baad mein I'll see.

And then, I saw our dean, shooting daggers at me. If looks could kill, I'd be down bad. Very bad.         
By the looks of it, the person sitting there is an important asset to our college. And I feel I've messed up big time. Khair, ab kya hi ho saktha hai.
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Hi, my cutus. Hope y'all are doing well. And I really hope you guys like the first chapter.      
If I'm being honest, i have zero idea about writing. I don't know why I took this impulse decision of writing a story out of the blue. But i hope you enjoyed this one.🫶🏼

PS: It's not your job to be everything to everyone. 💗