Part 4

“Riyaz? Are you alright?” a soft voice penetrated his thoughts. As if being lifted from his worst nightmare, he vaguely lifted his head looking for the source of the voice. Why was his vision blurry?

“Riyaz, answer me please.” the voice said again with increasing urgency followed by a gentle gesture on the shoulder. Swiftly Riyaz wiped his eyes; it was tears, tears of pain.

“I am fine.” he replied bluntly, turning his back towards her, not wanting Nasim to see the hurt in his eyes. There was silence, and then he heard a gentle plop behind him. Somehow, her warmth composed him, draining away the terrible memories that engulfed him.

They sat there in silence; she had helped a lot by just being there for him. Not talking nor asking questions; wanting to ease his pain and wishing them away.

“Thank you Nasim.” he finally blurted out. That was all he could say when in his heart he wanted to tell her more but know he would be brushed away. “Thank you for talking to me; thank you for teaching me; thank you for being here for me; thank you for being you.”

“Hey, no more thank you’s, remember?” she said. He nodded with a smile, the most cheerful smile she has ever seen from him; a smile that seemed to cover all his sadness. In as much as she wanted to know, to feel what he was feeling, she would rather give him the time to heal.

“Lookie here you guys, it’s the terrorist boy.” a jeering voice snapped them out of their thoughts. It was the ever-dreaded Yusef. His aura itself blew people off their feet.

“Hey terrorist boy what are you doing with Nasim? Trying to hit on her are ya? Back off boy, he is Yusef’s girl.” snarled a guy with the amount of flab even two people cannot handle.

“No you back off Miguel, he means no harm, just leave him alone ok?” rebutted Nasim as he glared at Miguel.

“You heard my girl, do as she says.” said Yusef as he smirked, throwing Riyaz a loathsome look as they left.