Love.. against all the odds

Untitled Part 10

The roads were more rushy that usual, resultantly Aleena arrived just five minutes before Sir Zaheer's lecture on forensics. He was big on punctuality thing. so much so that if you reach even just a minute late, the doors of the lecture theatre were already locked, and the lecture was missed.

Aleena was hurrying taking two steps at a time on the stair case when her foot slipped on the shiny steps. she would have been on the floor face down if she hadn't slammed into the person behind her, who stumbled but luckily didn't fall, two strong arms shot forward to steady her. She was thoroughly embarrassed at the unexpected accident. Her heart was galloping at full speed. She steadied herself, quickly moved away and then turned back to thank the person who had saved her. Her face turned even red as she saw Ali behind her, she thought he would be amused at her expense, and would be laughing. But was surprised at the look of concern in his eyes.

'are you okay, did you hurt yourself?'

'no I am fine, but thank you, for not falling with me, or both of us would be on floor right now.' she was very embarrassed and therefore was babbling. He saw through that and smiled to put her at ease.

'lets go then, or the lecture theatre would be locked' she nodded and took a step forward. A sharp pain shot through her ankle and an almost cry escaped her lips. She had a very low threshold for the pain. her ankle was throbbing. Ali looked at her , worried. 'you twisted your ankle?'

She nodded, her teeth tightly clamped on her lips. 'its fine, I'll go put something on it, I don't think I'll be able to attend the lecture anyway. You should hurry there's just a minute before the doors will be locked. '

He looked at her ankle and then shook his head. 'I don't think you can walk without support, and I don't feel like attending today's lecture anyway. Lets go get you some ice'

She knew it was an important lecture, she tried again to convince him because she didn't want him to leave it because of her. 'I can definitely walk on my own, you should go on, thank you'

'its fine' his tone was serious and didn't leave any room for argument or comment. He took her arm by the elbow and helped her as she walked towards the dispensary. As they walked she tried her best to ignore the gentle pressure of his hand, she was walking as far away as possible while he was still holding her arm. Still her cheeks were scarlet, and she knew her ears, though hidden by the scarf, would be blood red too. As they reached the dispensary, the nurse took a hold of her other arm and ali released her. She breathed a sigh of relief.

After the nurse had given her the ice pack, she wrapped it around her ankle. She took out her phone to text maha, she didn't want Ali to wait on her any longer. He was standing by the door. She typed quickly 'maha come to the dispensary asap. Twisted my ankle :'( '

Waiting for her to text back she rested her back against the wall. The nurse came back with the pain killer, 'here, take these pills dear, and walk carefully'

She nodded her head smiling. And took the pills.

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Ali was standing outside the door, he wanted to go in and see if she was fine but he had seen how uncomfortable she was. He smiled with amazement, what was she?. brave enough to go against a hulk of a man, waving fists and challenging. And so modest and shy that she was blushing to the tip of her toes just at accepting a man's aid in walking because she had twisted her ankle.

He waited a few more minutes to give her time. He then entered the room, she was sitting with her back resting against the wall and her eyes were closed. Her hand was resting on her cell phone, he just looked at her for a few moments. She really was so very beautiful. He would have continued to gawk if she hadn't opened her eyes suddenly. She was looking at her phone, so he wasn't caught staring. he pulled himself together quickly and asked her 'how is the ankle now?'

'its fine, thanks' she replied

. And then added with an apology in her voice 'I am so sorry.. You missed the lecture because of me' she looked sorry.

He smiled 'I told you its fine. Don't apologize please, I am glad I was there to help.'

'I am really becoming a nuisance for you, first you got extra ward days because of me and now.' she bowed her head. Definitely feeling bad.

He moved closer, as if he couldn't help himself. 'hey I told you, no apology is required. The reason we got extra ward days was because I was about to hit sultan, not you. So technically its my fault. If you said sorry one more time, I will.. '

He couldn't think of what to say, seeing that she bit her lip to stop her smile from showing.

'what?' she asked innocently.

'I will... I will tell maha and umer that you promised us all dinner'

He smiled triumphantly. Maha and umer were both foodies. They were the kind of people who extracted treats from all their class mates. Last week there was treat at lunch from ahmer because Aleena knew he had a point so she smiled back, 'well I wont be apologizing any time soon then'

Seeing her smile did strange things to Ali's heart.

At that time Maha entered the room, looking slightly worried. She stopped for a moment and looked at the scene before her eyes. Ali was standing near the bed and ali and aleena both had identical smiles on their faces. They hadnt noticed her coming in. She was a little surprised and was thinking something.

Maha cleared her throat. Ali jumped a little. Aleena looked at her and breathed in relief, 'thanks to Allah you are here. Or Ali would have had to stay here for the sake of courtesy'

Maha smiled with a little mischief. 'yeah, I can see. I will take this damsel in distress , you can leave now ali. '

Ali smiled looking at her, he murmured 'take care'

She nodded and he left. ____________________

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Maha's eyes were glinting with mischief, she dropped her bag on the floor and plopped on the bed beside her.

'so what was Mr. Gallant handsome gentleman was saying just now, I didn't hear.'

'nothing you idiot!' lets go now. Aleena was completely ignoring her meaningful smile.

'I am your best friend missy, I know whats in your heart before you know it' maha said in a patronizing tone.

'before you lecture me more on your magical powers, there's nothing in my heart. Now take me to the lecture hall,'

Aleena said trying to stand up.

Maha dragged her dowwn again. 'ma'm nusrat's on leave, it's a free period'

'oh good, then write down my application for the wards, I cant go today.'