Enjoy the reading!

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     I hold the hot cup of tea in both of my hands, warming my cold hands with its heat.
The first rain of winter with the message of cold frosty days and nights, plays its music on the big glass windows of the café and the evening is drenched in its magic.

My eyes gaze on the young couples on the mall road, almost running under shades of shops and cafés, for sheltering themselves from rain.
I take out a pen and paper from my bag and write something on it.

I have passion for writing and whenever I am alone, I dive into the world of thoughts and then bring them into my world in the form of words and sentences.

A group of kids jumping in the puddle of rain, singing and dancing brings the joy in the air and I feel myself smiling the kind of smile which actually reaches my eyes.

Someone steps in the café and with it a gust of wind enters, blowing away my hair and the paper from the table, in front of me.

I put the pen down and jolt up from my seat to catch the paper but it flies away and lands a few steps away from me in the feet of someone else.
Without looking up I hurriedly take a few steps forward and bend down to pick it up but before I can do so, water droplets fall on the paper and a big masculine hand holds it and picks it up. I straighten up from my bending position and find a stranger with wet hair and clothes, looking down at the paper.

“ Oh! It's soaked.”
He holds the paper in front of his face and all that I can see are his head with some wet black hair strands touching his forehead and eyes looking down at the paper.

“ What's written on it? What is love?” His left eyebrow lifts, as he reads the words  from which now ink was spreading, spoiling their structure.

“ Love is a promise.” The words that are heard are uttered by me and it is just then that those eyes trace the paper, look up and finally land on my face. A crease is formed on his forehead, but he doesn't take the paper down, and I am still unable to see his whole face.

“ This paper is mine.” I shift in my place when his eyes are fixed on me and my eyes dart here and there, avoiding to look into his eyes.

He neither removes the paper from his face nor says something. I wait for a few seconds and then reach out to take the paper from his hand which unfortunately  slips and lands on the floor. I grit my teeth, don't wait for him to pick it up for me and bend myself to pick up the almost soaked paper, without looking at his face.

When I stand up from the previous position, I don't find him in front of me. I don't know why but my eyes desperately search for that stranger in the café among the people but don't find him.

His gun-metal eyes devoid of any emotion were deep, so deep that I shuddered for a while, just looking in them.

I roll the paper into a ball and throw it in the trash bin, kept near a wall because now it was of no use. I take a hair tie out of my purse and tie my hair into a low ponytail then I take my scarf and wrap it around my head.

“ Azru. Should we leave? The rain has stopped.” Sumbul says taking out her phone from her bag.
She scrolls down something on its screen and then slips it back into her bag.
She had gone to use washroom so that she could clean the coffee that someone had spilled on her dress accidentally.
Sumbul is my cousin, and we both have been in the café  for an hour as it was raining when we were coming back from shopping and took shelter in the café.

“ OK.” I take my purse with one hand and hang it down my shoulder, with the other hand I hold two shopping bags.

“ I hope you had good time, writing down your imagination.” She pulls the door of the café and the cold wind tingles our cheeks.

“ Yes, I did get a new idea even though it got soaked.”

“ Soaked?”

“ Oh it was an accident.” I pat her arm, and she nods, forming her lips into an 'O'.

“ Rickshaw.” She waves her hand in the air and a rickshaw stops in front of us.

“ Brother, we have to reach defence.” I tell the rickshaw driver about our destination before we both hop into it.

Within a nanosecond, the rickshaw with its roar speeds away on the mall road and cold wind sends shivers through our body, but we both don't mind it as the beginning of winter with rain and cold wind is something to enjoy after a long hot summer in Lahore.

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  "Arzu, wake up hurriedly or you will get late for college." I hear my mother shouting from the kitchen the same sentence for the 7th time, as I stretch out of my bed with semi closed eyes.
I yawn and throw a quick glance at the wall clock staring back at me while striking 8.30am.

"Oh my God! Not again." I yell, the moment it dawns on me that I have been sleeping for so long and now I am late for my first class.

I quickly run into the bathroom, after an immediate mini morning skincare routine I get changed into my college uniform. And within 10 minutes with a little bit of tinted lip balm, sunscreen and a high pony tail securing my black hair,I am ready to go.

I grab the glass of juice from my mother's hands in a hurry and gulp it down.

" I am tired of telling you to wakeup early and have your breakfast in time, but you never listen to me.What am I gonna do with you?" She scolds me and I just take a skin shawl and wrap it around me in order to cover my head and upper body.

" Bye mother" I peck her on the cheek and smooth the creases on her forehead with my thumb.
She instantly smiles at me with a fake glare. And I make way towards the main door.

Hearing the horn of my college van which was going crazy I run out of the house main gate waving my hand at my mother one last time and hop into the van.

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I was terribly late for my first class and obviously the professor didn't let me in so I had to go to library and dive into my favorite world - the world of books.

"Arzu Shahid , Madam Arfa Ahmad is calling you in the staff room." A girl of short height with fair skin and curly hair secured in a clip tells me.

Closing the book of Chronicles of Narnia, I node at her and get up from the chair. Putting the book on the shelf I follow her the way out of the library.

*knock, knock*

" May I come in Madam?" I ask politely standing at the door of the staff room.

"Come in Arzu, I have a good news for you." Miss Arfa tells me with a smile and I can't help the grin.

" Our college is participating in a story writing competition and it is going to be held by an international story publishing organization."

" That's such a good news".

"Well! I have a wonderful news for you in particular, Arzu." She says while keeping the suspense.

" Means?" I asked in confusion.

"You are going to represent our college in this competition. And guess what.. the winner will get a chance to participate in the final round to be held in USA." She grins at me.

And I am in utter shock.
' I am going to participate in this big competition which means my dreams are soon to come true. But.....'

"Arzu". I come out of the trance when I hear my name.
Miss Arfa looks at me with smiling face but questioning eyes. She's definitely waiting for my answer.

"But what if I lose ?" I mentally smack myself for being awkward and hopeless coward.

" Don't quit before you even start it, Arzu." She laughs a little.

" This is the form you have to fill in and submit. You have four days to decide." She hands it over to me and I take it.

" Take your time for the decision. I hope you will decide what you makes you happy." She gives me one of her warmest smiles.

After thanking her I come out of the staff room with the form in my hands.

I stare at the piece of paper-holding the promise of my dreams to shine and glow.

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" Aye! I am so excited. I know you are gonna win. I know it. I know it." Maheen jumps up several times with excitement and I smile at her.

"What?" She shouts.

"W.. What?" I am confused by the fact that she was excited few minutes ago and now she is shouting at me.

" I am asking you that what is it? Why are you lost in some other world? You don't look happy or excited at all?"

She looks at me skeptically pushing up her slipping down glasses.

" Ah. Ha... I am excited and happy. But..." I laugh nervously.

"What's with the buts?" She leans forward forcing me to utter the answer, I might be hiding from her,which I am not.

"Why are you being so pushy? I am just nervous because it'll be a big competition and I am not an awesome story writer... Not a well trained one at least." My shoulders are slumped down.

" Wakeup Arzu.Wake up from dreams of hopelessness." She shakes my shoulders with so much force that I feel like my whole body is on vibration.

" Stop it!" I push her away a little with irritation.

" You know it is not as easy as it seems." I fidel with my fingers as I try to avoid an eye contact with her.

She looks at me in confusion.

"I have not written since my father died. It's.... It's not that easy." I try to hold back the tears pooling in my eyes but they slip down and begin to land on my cheeks.

"Hey! Arzu.. I am so sorry. Please don't cry." Maheen instantly hugs me and trys to comfort me.
I sob in her arms as my tears soak my face and neck.

"Shsh.....take a deep breath." She smooths my hair on my head with her hand.

After few minutes, my tears are dried and I look up at her. Before she can say anything, the echo of next period bell strikes with our ears and without any further discussion on this topic we get up from the bench and head over to the class.

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To Be Continued..........
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