Loving a Princess

11. How quickly time had flown.

3 years later

I can't believe how quickly time had flown! 3 years had passed, and I was in my second-last year of university. Alhamdulillah, everything was good so far. Well, except for the fact that I hadn't gotten over my crush on Farshad. And to make things worse, Umniyah would constantly tease me with him. But apart from that, everything else had gone well for me Alhamdulillah.

Umniyah and I had gone to a diner near the hostel, and we were both engrossed in conversation. But somehow, Umniyah strayed off the topic at hand and started talking about her brother.

"You know, it's Farshad's last year before he gets his degree in engineering," she said.

"Uh huh," I replied in what I hoped sounded like a bored tone, although just the mention of his name made my heart beat faster and got my ears perked up.

"But he called me yesterday, told me that GVU decided to offer him another scholarship. For a PhD in engineering. And that's an extra three years!" Umniyah said.

That caught my attention even more. "Wow! That's great!"

"You seem really happy about it, don't you?" Umniyah said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh come on! It's just good, right, that he got a scholarship again?" I muttered.

"Mum was also glad about it. Thing is, I'm on my fourth year of Med. I have one more year to go, and after that, one year if internship. So I have two years to go in total, while Farshad has three. So mum is especially glad that the extra year Farshad is spending here would mean that Muhammad will not be alone here for his own final year!" Umniyah said. Apparently, her other brother Muhammad had also started studying in this town, at GVU, just like Farshad.

"That's nice," I said.

Umniyah scrutinised me closely. Then she spoke up, "Aliyah. You know, you're my best friend and he's my brother. I feel so bad that you like him yet I've not been able to do anything for you. Do you want me to speak to him, maybe he can ask for your hand in marriage? Don't worry, I won't tell him that you like him, but I can just suggest you to him? Farshad trusts me, and if I suggest my best friend to him, he won't decline!"

I looked at Umniyah, horrified. "No! Umniyah, please don't do anything of that sort! He has to become a PhD, he's got an extra three years to go once he's done with his final year! I don't want to be the reason behind him getting distracted! Besides, I might get over him," I said.

"Well, if you say so. But there was something else I forgot to tell you," Umniyah said.

"What?" I asked, not wanting to hear anything else to do with Farshad.

"I told you he called me yesterday, right? For the first time, I just happened to mention your name to him. I told him 'I'm going out for dinner tomorrow night with Aliyah'. Then he was like 'Aliyah? Who?' and I was like 'My roommate, my best friend' and you won't believe what he said. He was like 'Does this Aliyah happen to be Aliyah Hamid, by any chance?' and I was so shocked, I was like 'Yes! How in the world do you know her?' and he told me 'She left the orientation at GVU, like three years ago. Apart from her and another student, everyone else was present, with their names ticked in the list. The two unticked names were Aliyah Hamid and Kelsey Johnson, so I figured out this hijabi girl would be Aliyah Hamid' and I was just so astonished!" Umniyah rambled.

My eyes widened, and my eyebrows shot up! I was flabbergasted. For three whole years, I was under the impression that Farshad didn't even know my name. And all along, he did know my name! When I was finally able to find my tongue, I managed to say, "So he knows," I paused to lick my suddenly dry lips. "He finally knows that your best friend and the girl whose foot he stepped on are actually the same person now? And all along, he knew that this girl whom he stepped on's name was Aliyah Hamid?"