It's been 2 hours since Mrs. Asad said Selena will arrive at two. And it's been one hour since Amelia corrected her that she comes around 4. The initial plan of Mrs. Asad dropping her kids to the expo and Aariz and his siblings reaching there have been out of the window a while ago. And now they all are sitting in Mrs. Asad's apartment with both Mr. Asad and Mr. Hafeez, unaware of it, busy at their work.

If Aariz has to explain Mr. Asad's apartment in one word, that would be a garden. Waiting for Selena to come home he is done counting all the plants present in their living room. The two maroon big pots sitting together in the living room on the right of the beige two-seater sofa. Across the two-seater sofa, there are two more two-seater sofas sitting side by side on the khaki, beige, and red-colored thick carpet with floral patterns. Besides the two sofas in the corner near the balcony door is a side table holding a white plant pot with green-purple leaves growing in it. On the same table is a big jute water hyacinth vase with pink, red, and white fake flowers.

Across the two sofas is the TV and below that is the TV table standing to the left of the two-seater beige sofa. The TV table also holds plants. A black pot from Homes R Us has fake red and white roses with dark green velvety leaves. A bigger clear glass vase holding more fake red and white flowers with light green leaves. While the smaller clear glass textured vase has fresh red roses cut in slant soaking in water filling the half of the vase.

He sighs opening his Instagram. He scrolls down to find her name. Staph Aureus. Yes. The first time she messaged him last year he couldn't believe his eyes. After all those years of ignoring his existence, she comes around to say hello just because he got into medicine and to promote a website she is a member of.

He runs his hands through his hair as he scrolls up the chats. The time when they shared voice notes. The phase where she spammed him with reels. Medical reels. He looks up lost in his tangled thoughts.

His last message, "Relax!" to her long paragraph of freaking out because of exam anxiety. She does seem to paint a good drama. He rolls his eyes. But how dare she leave him on seen. She should at least have liked his reply.

Now is not the time to contemplate the past. Just message her to come home. Everyone is waiting for her.

Come home. He types but then deletes it recalling how she removed him from her followers' list. How he could one day suddenly not see her stories. She won't see my message. He thinks and gets up.

He peeps into the kids' bedroom where Amelia was pacing around with handouts in her hand and a blue chalk in the other. He walks further into the room to see the dark brown wardrobe door covered with organic chemistry equations.

Nuha who had been engrossed in her phone looks up. "Who gave you permission to enter the room?"

"I -" Aariz is dumbfounded by the question. "I was just searching for Mrs. Asad." he points his thumb toward the closed door opposite the room and retrace his footsteps out of the room.

Nuha gets back to her phone with her teeth sink in her lower lips chewing it to hide the smirk.

Her to Muzamil:
We are going to the expo today. Any plans?

Muzamil to her:
Alone? Or with friends?

Her to Muzamil:
With fam

Muzamil to her:
They chill about you talking to me?

Her to Muzamil:
Haven't told them. But yeah they maybe. Still... You know we can always get lost in there. No one's gonna know.

Muzamil to her:
Aren't you sneaky ma'am? It's tempting but  I must refuse. I have to stay home for the assignment.

Her to Muzamil:
Aww man. That sucks. Anyways your loss.

Muzamil to her:
Come on, I'll see you at the uni tomorrow.

Her to Muzamil:
You better be.

Muzamil to her:
I promise you, princess.

Princess? She looks up and exits the chat. Princess. Her heart flutters with the thought of hearing it from his own mouth tomorrow.  Feeling blood being pumped in her cheeks she feels obliged that Amelia doesn't get the hint. She gets out of her comfort zone. Her shadows falls against the door Amelia is busy writing on.

"Mrs. Asad.", Aariz knocks before walking into the bedroom where Mrs. Hafeez and Mrs. Asad are sitting in Abaya and masks pulled down, "You can all go in your car. I'll pick her up from the university and come to the expo."

"She will probably be on the bus by now.", Mrs. Asad glances at the wall clock.

"She is at the library.", Amelia bursts in almost toppling over the ceramic white-orange pot sitting outside in the corner. When she enters she wipes her dusty blue fingers across her black jeans soiling them blue.

Aariz's jaw almost drops. He almost turns red in fury, "We can't just wait for her to take her sweet time to study out there."

"I didn't complete my sentence, Mr. Doctor.", Amelia hisses adjusting the pot into the niche at the end of the corridor with her foot with her jeans brushing against the faux leaves. Aariz looks away, "She says she is not coming."

"It's just for one day. Can't she make time out?", Mrs. Hafeez turns to look at Mrs. Asad who pursues her lips.

"Aariz beta, get her from the library. While I'll drive us all to the expo". Amelia's jaw drops upon hearing her mom say that.

His knitted eyes beg his mom to plead his case, two mortal enemies in a car will lead to nothing but a car crash, but her glares make him gulp and nod. Amelia opens her mouth to say something but her mom's tight squeeze on her hand stops her from spewing her thoughts from her mouth.

Amelia walks out of the room with a smirk, "Let's just not tell that rude ass bitch about what about the storm she chose to hit herself. But kinda cute. Low-key ship them together."

Amelia walks out of the room with her mask pulled up and slips into her abaya. She snatches the tablet out of Saad's hand who almost raises his hand to fight back.

"Heyyy. We don't hit sisters.", Aariz walks in with keys in his hand. The mask that had been dangling on one ear is now back in place on the face.

"Big words!" Amelia raises her voice to which he replies by slamming the door shut as he leaves.

If there is one person that I don't want in my life, it's her. Selena Asad. I don't hate her. I simply can't stand her. The aura around her is too strong. Not a single party at our place had been uneventful thanks to her. Locking her horns with anyone with the slightest inconvenience but never with Ihsan because he is a gift of gab. It's surprising how she has also not spared Nooran from her wrath. A casual question on why she started wearing Abaya. Was it too much to ask? "Why do you wear clothes?" Jeez. Calm the hell down!

In a nick of time, Aariz arrives. Not knowing where to search for her, he decides to give the café a try.

Selena smiles looking confidently at the screen. Done with the speech and the presentation. Yes, she is ready to tell her story. It feels good to write it down and to cut it out leaving behind just a subtle hint of the matter. She stretches her arms silently and cracks her fingers. Maybe she does hate parks anymore. Maybe. She looks down at her white coat which is no longer anything near white because of two days of wearing it. But she can't take it off because she usually wears Abaya in public. And this coat is the only escape out of the Abaya.

Deciding to take a break she leaves her laptop on the table and moves out to the nearby café. Tapping her notes app open she reviews her to-do list ticking the speech. She makes a mental note to start working on the Instagram post for the upcoming Thursday event to post on the college page. A smile spread on her face beneath the mask as she imagines herself calmly working on Canva trying out different techniques she discovered on Pinterest. Then of course comes the revision of the important lectures of the day. And finally back home.

She has planned her evening out till the last minute of the day within a few minutes walk to the cafe. Satisfied with excellent her strategy to cope with the pending work and leave the rest for the weekend she decides to reward herself with something as soar and bitter as the taste of truth. Orange juice.

As she landed her hand on the door handle another hand landed slightly above hers. They both jump back. She shoots an eye at the person ready to pounce at him and devour the soul.

"YOU.", she hisses, narrowing her eyes at him.

Aariz rolls his eyes at her, "Yes, me."
She pulls the door open but he slams his hand on it closing it, "Get in the car. Everyone has been waiting for you. Thanks a lot for wasting our time."

"What can I say, people can't just move on without me.", she flips her hijab on her shoulder and pushes him to one side. He glances at his shoulder and then at the door. Aariz is about to say something but someone pulls the door open from the other side to make their way out of the café.

"Aariz!", a guy almost bumps into her. She moves backward.
"Hello there.", he smiles at her, "so good to see my man!"
"Don't worry he is completely yours. Do whatever you like.", she turns around to walk away, "Some much for getting an orange juice."

"Woah! Lady. You ain't getting anywhere.", Aariz grabs the grab handle of her backpack. She stops closing her eyes not facing him. The curling fists open as she calms herself down.

"I'll give you 10 seconds to let go of my backpack or else-"

"or else what? Do you even know how much we all waited for you?"

"Hawwwwww! Check him out!". She turns around and swats his hand away. Her eyebrows raise as she puffs the air in her mouth jesting him with her hand pointing in his direction. "Look who is blabbering".

"Han tou! God forbid! Paralysis hasn't met my tongue". His lips curl into a frown. His eyes gawking at her in disgust.

"Dunno about paralysis but..." she pauses and folds her arms leaning back with a smile. "You have definitely met hyperthyroidism. All this irritability for nothing!". Her hand moves up and down in his direction with her brows arched.

"All this irritability for NOTHING! Hun!" the people around them turn to look in their direction when he mimics her with his lips twisted in a scowl. "By the grace of Allah, every other person has this hyperthyroidism when a noble irritation like YOU is left to roam around on this earth".

"Oye!" she folds her fingers and points at him rolling her sleeves up.

"Tum na-". he pauses to think.

She raises her eyebrows. "Mein Kia? Hun!"

"You will look better if you slip into a ketoacidosis coma".

"My dear walking talking hyperthyroidism, must I remind you that by the grace of ALLAH, your family is the one having diabetes as their heirloom". She grinds her teeth while speaking. "Feels like with insulin resistance you have also gotten wisdom resistance for free. Eik ticket mein do mazay!"

"A little advice. Hmm?" he pinches his thumb and index finger together with a demonic smile. "why don't you try opening-your-mouth resistance. It will save you a lot of energy".

"Now the thing is I don't have diabetes so I can consume and reserve energy on my own accord without slipping into a coma" she smiles. "Albeit, you must be careful. Hyperthyroidism can lead to diabetes as well". She flips the hijab on her shoulder after shoving his friend to a side and proceeds to walk into the café. 

Aariz dropped jaw closes with his hand instantly rushing to his face to check for sweat. No, he isn't sweaty. He can't have hyperthyroidism. He fans himself by grasping the front of his shirt.

Is it just hot or is he really having hyperthyroidism?

But he jumps back out of his thoughts. Aariz grabs her hand, "I am not letting you go."

Her eyes widened. This triggers her lava to surge, boiling in her veins. This time when she turns around she is red and before Aariz can comprehend anything his nose crashes into her fist.

The tinnitus makes him lightheaded. He reels backward, his vision blurry. When he snaps out of it he sees her massaging her knuckles, "Don't you ever dare do that to anyone.", she jabs a finger at him, "Just don't."

His friend who has been dreaming to ship them together is so dumbfounded that he leaves abandoning Aariz to tackle his problems alone. But before he leaves, "You messed up, bro.", he mumbles, "You did."

---
Guys who else lives in Dubai or any other state of UAE?

Selena and Amelia might be eager to know you.