Chapter 7: Question Bank. 

*

"Howard: I thought you didn't like Facebook any more. 

Sheldon: Don't be silly, I'm a fan of anything that tries to replace actual human contact."

-Big Bang Theory-

*

Yazdan found the nearest library in town and soon he was headed there. There was no way he was spending a Saturday in the same house as Zul and Zaiha. The two were in a constant battle of who can be the loudest.

"Good morning, dearie. How may I help you?" He was startled by the old woman at the counter. He shook his head and forced a smile at her before walking away quickly. The library smelt of pine trees and old books. He loved books. Anything to increase him in knowledge is a must.

He read the titles of sections as he walked past them. One particular section caught his attention so he walked over to the shelves there. It was the literature section of the library. Yazdan liked literature. It was art and he was a man who knew how to appreciate art. His eyes passed over the spine of books as he read the titles of it. He smiled at the poetic titles and frowned at the confusing ones. Who knew what poets thought?

He was scanning the books when he heard hums. The hums were of an old Hindi song that he recognized immediately. It was a beautiful sound in the eerie silence of the library. He looked up from the books and across the shelf to see Aanabia. There was a dupatta over her head and a few strays of dark hair had managed to escape and fall over her face. He did not realize he was staring until he met her onyx eyes. He watched her face turned into a cheerful one and she began waving frantically.

He ignored her and began scanning the books and when he looked up, she was gone. He was glad that the disaster was gone. After what he saw last night, it was clear to him that this girl was a walking-talking disaster.

"As salaam alaikum" Yazdan almost, almost jumped when she spoke. He thought she was gone. He turned around and faced Aanabia Sadaf with a neutral expression.

"Wa alaikum mus salaam" he replied in a monotone, hoping she would catch on and move away. But she didn't. Instead she continued to talk.

"What brings you here?" she asked him and he heaved a deep sigh.

"Books"

"You like literature" Yazdan looked at her as if she were crazy. He was standing in a Literature section of a library, browsing through Literature books. It was a statement that Yazdan did not catch. He grabbed a random book and walked over to the corner of the library and took a seat at the table.

Aanabia smiled at him. He was beautiful. His hair was tied in a bun again and he wore a Gray cardigan that said 'Fila' in bold letters paired with dark jeans. She glanced at his shoes and grinned when she saw it were Puma. Much like hers.

Aanabia walked over this desk and took a seat in front of him. He glanced up before going back to his book. She let out a sigh and leaned down on the table, placing her head on her hands. She looked at him with a smile.

Beautiful.

"What is it?" he said, looking at her after a while. She grinned him, sitting up straight.

"So you noticed" she stated and he looked at her, burning holes. The look did nothing but amuse Aanabia. She clasped her hands and leaned ahead, smirking at him.

"If you are going to look at me in the eye, then by all means do it" she said causing Yazdan's eyes to widen. He frowned at her before going back to his book. He figured that if he kept to his book, she would leave.

-

Aanabia stared at him. The way his brows furrowed when he read something and then his expression would change to a smiling one. It was a slight smile and she found that she would miss it by a fraction if she wasn't careful. His gray eyes sparkled with something, happiness maybe? Seeing him, poetry formed in her head and she itched to write.

To write about the beautiful man in front of her, who does not speak much. She did not understand why he didn't speak much. A past trauma maybe? No, Aanabia. This is not one of your books where the protagonist has some trauma. Stop. Okay so that is ruled out. Maybe he is arrogant? But handsome. True. She agreed with herself that he may be arrogant, but it didn't seem like it. Maybe he hated talking itself? Yes, that has to be-

"Don't you have work?" his voice pulled her out of her trance. She blinked at him and shook her head before remembering that she had given the girls notes to revise. She smiled brightly at him.

"It was nice meeting you, Yazdan. I hope we meet again. Allah Hafiz" with that, she stood up and walked away, toward the girls at the other side of the library. I will uncover you later, Mr. Yazdan. For now, duty calls.

*

Yazdan was confused. He did not understand what she wanted. Who would stare at you read? Who?! He let out a frustrated sigh and stood up. I need to leave the library now, he thought before walking over to the book desk. He gave the book to be issued and walked out of the library into the chilly air of Middleton.

Clutching the clear umbrella in one hand and the book in the other, Yazdan walked to the nearest crosswalk. He waited for the light to turn green so that he could cross. The rain was pelting down on his umbrella and everything screamed slow to him.

"Fancy seeing you here, stranger"

Yazdan looked over his shoulder to the right to see Aanabia smiling brightly at him from under the bright blue umbrella. There were a few drops of rain over her but she could care less.

Without a word, Yazdan turned back to the crosswalk. The lights turned green and he began walking. Much to his displeasure, Aanabia walked right beside him. Her shoes squeaked over the wet road much like his did, giving him an indication that she was right beside him. He had no intention to talk to her. It was not that he did not like her, or maybe it was exactly that.

"You are heading home?" she asked him and he ignored her. He was in no mood to talk. Then he realized he was coming off as a rude person to someone who has done him no harm. He then shook his head at her.

"Then where are you heading?" she asked him again and he shrugged.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

No, Miss. Sadaf, I don't. Not like that matters since you talk enough for the two of us anyway. He thought but refused to say it out loud. Silence is the best sass.

"So where exactly are you guys from?" she asked him, as he rounded up the corner towards the small cafe that Yahyah and him had visited quite often. He closed his wet umbrella and hung it by the stand before heading to the door. He turned to see her right behind him. Avoiding the urge to roll his eyes, he answered.

"Australia"

The cafe was small and warm. Yazdan walked to his usual seat by the windows. The same teen waiter walked to them with a smile.

"Miss. Sadaf! Your usual?" he said with familiarity and Aanabia nodded. Yazdan watched the rain with fascination.

"And you sir?" He looked back to the waiter.

"Two plain glazed donuts and lemonade. No sugars" he replied and the waiter nodded before taking off.

"You don't take sugar?!" he looked over to the girl who was seated, without his permission by the way, in front of him. Her eyes were widened and her mouth hung open. Yazdan shrugged.

She rolled her eyes, leaning onto the table before looking right into his eyes.

"You should try talking. It feels nice" she said and he continued to look at her with a neutral expression. She heaved a sigh and leaned back on her chair, very unladylike though.

"I don't get why you don't talk"

Yazdan let out a small smile. She hasn't seen me with my family yet, he thought with familiarity. He missed them. He looked around and realized that the cafe was almost empty. A few people were scattered here and there but that was it. Slow music played in the background and he found it hard to concentrate on it, especially when Miss.Talkative was right in front of him going on and on about lord knows what.

"What books do you like?" she asked him and Yazdan raised an eyebrow. The waiter placed their orders on the table and walked away. He looked up from his tray to Aanabia's. His eyes widened as he watched her bite off a donut with strawberry, chocolate and Oreo topping and munch happily. What is wrong with this woman?!

Aanabia seemed to realize that the person in front of her was not eating so she looked over to him and caught him staring at her with an incredulous expression.

"What?" she asked him, putting her donut on the plate and wiping her mouth. Just in case.

"That is too much sugar" he told her and she shrugged, picking up the plate. She shoved the plate towards him and grinned.

"Try it. It is amazing" she exclaimed giddily and Yazdan waved the plate away, shaking his head.

"No thank you. I'd rather not die"

"You cannot die from sugar rush" Yazdan looked at her as if she was crazy. Did this girl know anything about this world? When Aanabia realized he was looking at her as if she were crazy, she let out a smile.

"I am not crazy, my mother had me tested" Yazdan stared at her for a moment before bursting into fits of small chuckles.

Aanabia stared at him laugh. His usual tanned skin turned to faint shades of pink and he flashed his pearly whites. She was enchanted by his laugh, so much that she did not realize he had stopped laughing. It was like nothing else mattered, except him. And she was surprised by that herself.

"What?" he asked her, picking up his lemonade and sipping it.

"You have a beautiful laugh" she said.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"When you laugh, it reminds of me of poetry"

"That is new"

"Its me. Its not new" she replied with a grin, finally snapping out of her trance.

He rolled his eyes at her.

"Big bang theory?" he questioned and she nodded, eating the donuts left in front of her.

"I watch it when I am bored. I am more of a reader" she replied and Yazdan nodded before silence fell around them. The silence was not really uncomfortable but it felt awkward to Yazdan.

"Movies?" Aanabia asked him, breaking the silence. He looked up to her and shrugged, retreating into his shy shell again.

"Come on, speak up" she joked and he let out a small smile.

"Not much actually" he replied and she nodded before firing another question. She wanted to know more about him. He was intriguing.

"You always wanted to be an architect?" she asked him and he looked up at her with raised eyebrows. She remembered him saying he was an architect. He took his sweet time to answer and so she waited for him to answer with a small smile. 

"Yes" he finally answered and went back to the half eaten donuts. 

"You read for pleasure I take it?" she said, again making conversation and Yazdan nodded, taking a bite off his donut.

"Nice. I read for entertainment. No internet required, no commercials and endless pages" she replied and he shrugged. Aanabia found his shrugging habit a little too annoying. Then she remembered something she had been curious about for a while now. (Not that she had known him for more than two days now)

"Oh, if Yahyah is older than you, why do you call him Yahyah?" she asked him and Yazdan met her onyx eyes once again.

"Why do you question so much?" he asked her, taking her by surprise. She never thought he would ask her anything. She figured he was the silent types.

"Why don't you question so much?" she shot back with a smirk and he rolled his eyes before continuing to eat.

"I am a curious person" she said, sipping on her lemonade. It was nice and refreshing. Yazdan did not bother replying as he silently finished his donuts. He checked the time and this caused Aanabia to check the time too. Her eyes widened when she realized it was past 1pm.

"How long have we been here anyway?!" she muttered, pulling out her phone from her jeans pocket. She dialed Nahal's number and waited for her sister to pick up the call.

"What is it now?"

"If mom asks where I am, tell her I am heading home in a while. Okay?"

"Fine" Aanabia let out a grin before hanging up.

Unknown to her, Yazdan was looking at her as if she had two heads. He could not understand why she didn't tell her mother directly. But he was no one to pry into others business so he did not ask. Instead, he finished his donuts and picked up his lemonade before standing up. Aanabia looked up to him.

"It was nice meeting you, Miss. Sadaf. I must get going" he said and proceeded to walk towards the counter. He handed the waiter his card to pay before taking it and walking outside, into the now cleared weather. Aanabia called the waiter to pay. Instead, she was met with a surprise when he told her that Yazdan had paid for hers too.

Maybe he was a gentleman with a dark past?

Aanabia, STOP!

She let out a small laugh before waving at the teen and walking out of the cafe into the cloudy and breezy weather of the town. Something about the place seemed changed.

But what? 

***** 

Yay. Update. :) 

Tell me how it was! :) 

Anyway, so I am starting the second half of the first semester from tomorrow so....... do expect irregular updates. :) 

| R - C - V |

xx, 

-aalihha.