REMARKABLE

13

'I hope this project turns out to be a major success, Hamza.' Daniyal said with a small smile, patting Hamza's back rising to his feet and dropping the currency notes on the round table as he called out for a waiter.

'It's a miracle that I found you here today as I did. Now, don't you forget me. You hear me?' Daniyal muttered in earnest, taking in Hamza who didn't even bother to break his silence except a few words utterred here and there as his long lost friend bid him good bye, drowned in thoughts of unknown, nodding, absentmindedly.

'Hamza! You have got my number, keep in contact, okay?' Daniyal extended his hand for a shake when Hamza clasped his clamy ones in his own tightly, acknowledging his words.

'See you around.' Hamza said, glancing at the once aquaintance- now stranger's drenched shirt. He wiped the sweat off his palms with his handkerchief as he turned on his heels without an another word leaving behind a frowning aquaintance who scoffed at his arrogance.

Hamza had been walking down the 27th street, his cane tapping against pavement as stones crunched underneath his polished shoes. He turned his head to the side, looking for his driver and his car when he saw her. Every other thought flew out of his mind, a blank slate when he fixed his eyes on her. Hamza felt as if someone had punched him in the gut and knocked out the oxygen in his lungs. His feet glued to the Earth beneath him as a wave of shock spiralled down his spine.

He ran an unsteady hand down his wrinkled face, placing it on his beard and blinked his eyes, maybe he's just hallucinating. He had spent days, months, years thinking about this moment, when he'd see her and to see her like this, here- now, he could barely believe his eyes, barely believe that the unthinkable was happening.

He breathed deep, holding his cane with both hands until his knuckles had turned white. Sure, he knew what he had done- what he played at when he got his son married but seeing her like this after all these years with his daughter in law, Hamza set his jaw in a hard line. His eyes fixed on her gait as she walked, not knowing towards him with soft steps and his heart picked it's beat, thundering in his chest.

She was ever graceful, the dupatta draped over her head as the white strands on her temple glistened silver in the sunlight, dressed in peach that suited her fair complexion. She dabbed at the sweat coating her forehead with a tissue and adjusted the bag on her arm, flushed pink under the scorching heat of the sun, indulging in a small talk with the young woman by her side, once again.

Hamza's lips upturned in a bitter smile as he affectiontely gazed with soft eyes at someone else's widow but could he think that she had been his- He saw as she nodded when Armineh pointed to the car parked at the curb, standing a few feet away from Hamza and he stepped back, hiding behind the newspaper aisle, clenching his hands in a fist before he could reach out to catch her arm, stopping her before he could try again to keep her beside him like all those years ago.

He ducked his head as they passed by him, watching her from under his eye lashes, hidden behind the sunglasses perched on his aristocratic nose as they hid his steely gaze. He wallowed in misery for a few moments, a few seconds that he could afford, forgetting everything that had passed between them- just admiring her. The woman he had loved and lost.

'Excuse me, Sir! May I help you?' The little boy with shaggy hair asked looking at the sad old man with curious eyes and just like that Hamza came back to his senses, wiping that stray tear that had rolled down his cheek without his permission, his eyes hardened as the frost settled around his heart, welcoming the ice of vengeance that returned in full force with open arms.

Hamza dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand, stepping out of the shadows as he beckoned his car. Despite chanting in his head, I won't look back, again and again, he found himself doing just that and the creases on his forehead increased at his own stupidity. Hamza couldn't help but look as Armineh helped her inside the car, depositing the shopping bags she had been carrying in the back seat before taking her seat behind the wheel.