No funny captions this time. Shoo! Go away!
It was a long day, but different. The strikingly harsh sunlight had tanned his skin a bit. The back of his shirt had gotten wet from all the sweating. “Finally,” he thought, “I can brag about myself.”
The bus was not so crowded and he didn’t have to struggle much with his eyes to find an empty seat. The bus conductor gave him an unpleasant look, as if he was expecting more people to board the bus than just him. But it didn’t matter to him. As he slowly advanced to the seat he had his eyes locked on, he realized that it was the first time he had actually seen an empty spot in a bus. Then he realized it was the first time in five years he had been on a bus.
“Ashfaq?” He heard a familiar voice from the back. He turned around to see who it was, and soon, his entire teenage life flashed before his eyes. In all his hardships, only one person had stood by him, and he was looking at her now. He stood there, desperately trying to recover his original self from such an untimely surprise. “Ashfaq, ten long years, and you… you are still the same!”
Bismah’s loud voice had alluringly stolen all the attention from the surroundings. Ashfaq walked closer to her. He had a lot to say, and nothing to say. “Where have you been, my man? Say something!” But he was struggling, trying to figure out what it was that he wanted to say first. He wasn’t out of words; he was out of sentences. The friend, who had stood by him during what was the worst time of his life, was right in front of his eyes, and he was speechless. He had never returned to her what she gave to him. During all these years, there hadn’t been a single moment he had even recalled her face. And there she was, radiating positivity with her smile, like she always did.
“I’m sorry,” he finally managed to speak.
“What for?”
He went silent again, thinking of how he had spent his last ten years, from being a poor student on financial aid, to a highly paid professional. He would have killed himself long ago, had she not been there for him. How could he not remember her all these years? How could he plan his future and not include her in it? He felt guilty. He felt as if he would break into tears any second. “I shouldn’t have given the car keys to Asma,” he thought. The next stop was near. It was not his stop, but he had decided what to do to save himself from the embarrassment.
“I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you,” he said as he rushed through the exit doors. His appointment as the company’s CEO now meant nothing to him. It was a long day, but different.
This is my first attempt at story writing, so never mind the lack of attractiveness in details. Oh, and, this.
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