The Imperfect Masterpiece

9.

Our conversation started with a small debate on feminism but we became friends within a few days. He was taking interest in Talia Zia, without knowing my real identity. Each text from him was enough to make me smile, I was in the ditch of sorrow but his presence in my life started fading away the darkness. I didn't realise when did I forget that Good Girls stay away from Boys. I was not a Good Girl anymore. This boy was doing some kind of magic on me, and I was going towards him like a lifeless puppet. My days began with texting him Good Morning, followed by the afternoon routine for asking him if he had his lunch or not and ended with a Good Night text as well as a secret prayer.

Yes, I did pray for him every night. The teenager Urooj never included any boy in her prayer other than Khizr. Even, the 28 year old Urooj still prays for him every night.

I was a girl who never thought about a boy but when khizr came to my life I forgot everything. I didn't know the reason behind him becoming special for me. But he became one for sure. Slowly I realised that maybe the emotion I felt for him was love. I wasn't sure but maybe!

Once, in a random chat I tried to give him a hint about my feelings for him and he understood my hint. However he clearly told me that I was just a friend of him and he already liked someone else. The confession was no less than a dagger for me. That was the first time when I cried for a boy. I cried for many hours and promised myself to not talk to him again but... My heart wasn't in my control. I tried my best to stop chasing him however couldn't. We still talked almost every night. All the questions were from my side, and all the answers were from him. He was the one to motivate me to write articles for college magazine, That was the first time when Talia Zia's words reached to public, all credits goes to him. He wasn't an stranger for anymore. Or maybe he was... Because he never shared anything about himself, I was the one who was talking to him crazily. I was the one holding the open end of the rope of this relationship, he had nothing to do with me or my emotions.

Everything was constant. No change occurred. He texted rarely and I avoided texting him rarely. But one day suddenly he stopped replying to my texts. In the beginning I was not really affected as I thought he might be busy but minutes converted into hours, and hours into days. There was no text and no reply from his side for three days. I heart was pounding fast with numerous unpleasant thoughts. I missed college on the third day of his no response because I was unable to get my mind off from him. If he wanted to get rid of me then tell me directly, what was the need of this ignorance? I felt insulted but... My heart was not ready to believe that khizr could ignore me. He could never. He never did. Then why didn't he respond?

My sixth sense was telling that he was in some kind of trouble but I didn't want to believe it. I constantly prayed for his well-being when a text message appeared on my mobile phone.

'I'm sorry for the late reply but three days ago I met an accident, still in the hospital with a fractured hand.' I could reply to him with a small text reading 'Take Care' but I cried out hard. He managed to reach that stage in my life where his pain was killing me.

'which hospital?' I asked and waited for him to reply. As soon as he told me the name of the hospital I took the bravest step of my life. I went to the said hospital. Alone. Without informing the warden. After asking the receptionist about Khizr I reached his room and I was shocked while stepping in the room. Not only on his hand but Khizr had a bandage on his head too.

"Khizr..." I muttered. He saw me without blinking. His friend was sitting next to him, he saw me with questioning eyes and I realised that they didn't know me by face. I was a faceless figure on facebook. A girl who never uploaded her pics to look cool.

"I... I'm..." I tried to introduce myself, "Talia Zia-" I muttered but it seems khizr didn't hear me, he blinked blankly and I saw a little smile crawling to his lips.