Alluring Masquerade

          When Hira had reached home she didn't let her younger sister see her sadness, and just smiled as she entered into the kitchen. She was wearing a pair of slippers for the inside of the house and had left her snow trodden boots back onto the shoe stand before entering. "Hi, Hiba," she greeted. "I'm back."

          "Hi, to you, too, sis!" Hiba said, looking back over her shoulder. "Where have you been, Hira?" She added some seasoning into the pan that she was cooking something in.

          "Just ... around ... the local restaurant," Hira replied, stepping around her sister to get a better look at the continents of the metal tool. "Pasta? Great." She nodded approvingly after a quick testing taste.

          "It's perfectly fine, isn't it?" Hiba grinned, while mixing the tomato sauce around with a wooden spoon. She was giggling triumphantly.

          Hira laughed. "Yeah, yeah, like my taste-buds are exploding!" She walked back around to where the fridge was standing, next to the kitchen doorframe. Opening it, she grabbed a can of fizzy pop and began to sip.

          "I told you not to drink so much fizzy pop," Hiba expressed disapproval. "It's not good for the skin."

          "Let me have my moment," Hira smiled.

          "Whatever," Hiba giggled. She took a step to the right and opened a unit above her and browsed around. She apparently couldn't find whatever she was looking for and moved onto the next unit.

          Hira gulped down the fizzy liquid, and asked, "What you looking for?"

          "I need more salt, but there's none left," Hiba replied, shaking the salt container in front of her. "Need to be filled up again."

          "Oh," Hira nodded. She set her can onto a random space on the worktop, knelt down to a lower unit next to her and brought out a clear, packaged packet. She passed it to her sister.

          "Oh, there it was!"

          "Yes," Hira nodded, and was about to grab her can again when she saw how close to spilling the whole salt her younger sister was. "Here, I'll help you with that!" She'd caught the bag just in time and guided the already snipped open packet into the salt container, carefully, and let it pour out.

          Hiba watched her sister do the work and went back to taking care of the cooking.

          Hira returned the package to its original place, and finished her fizzy pop.

          "Just two more minutes, and the pasta's ready," Hiba announced, reading Hira's mind. "Oh, before you go-!" she cried, before her elder sister was about to turn away.

          "Yeah?" Hira asked helpfully.

          "The hospital called and they said that mum's going to be discharged tomorrow," Hiba grinned. "We can go and pick her up soon!"

          "When?!" Hira asked. She was feeling glad for the first time in days.

          "Around..." Hiba muttered thoughtfully. "The Afternoon."

          "OK," Hira smiled. "I'll go and pick her up, since you've got school."

          "Why can't I just take a day off?" she whined.

          "You've got your GCSE's to prepare for!"

          "It's only half a school day; I'll attend the morning periods and come home in the afternoon!"

          "I don't think mum would like it," Hira said, shaking her head. "She would see to you later, but first, she'll run after with a slipper for letting you off."

          Hiba gave out a heavy sigh. "I take the responsibility," she said, sticking her tongue out.

          "Have you ever known mum give up that easily?" Hira asked, trying not to smile.

          Hiba stopped whatever she was doing, realising that her sister was right. "You're right," she muttered. She went back to stirring the sauce, and added, "Mummy would still kill you. I'd love to see that!"

          "Hey, stop cackling," Hira retorted. "Hey, listen ... come with me to pick up mum, then."

          "What the heck?" Hiba exclaimed, throwing up her free hand and turning round halfway to stare at her. "Make up your mind, will you, sis?" she continued.

          "I just realised..." Hira said apologised, tilting her head. "Mum might like you being there as well."

          "Even if she might scream at you for letting me off from school?" Hiba asked.

          "Even if that," Hire nodded. "Plus, there's ... news." She paced left and right a few times and ended over at where the sink was, about a half a metre away from the stove where her sister was pouring the pasta sauce onto a plate.

          "Yeah, what is it?" Hiba asked, looking at her after turning of the cooker, the sauce and pasta made.

          Hira couldn't make herself to say it all at once. She brought a plastic, white colander and put it in the sink. Holding onto the handle of the medium sized, that was filled nearly up to the brim with boiling water and twisted pasta and she tilted the contents over the sink, into the colander. After running warm water over the boiled pasta, so they wouldn't stick together as much, she poured the pasta back into the cooling pan.

          "Daniel is back," she said, trying not to let the hurt express in her tone. She didn't know if had worked, but she hope d it did. "I saw him ... in the restaurant just before I came home."

          Hiba nearly coughed out the glass of cold water she was drinking. "What?" she shrilled.

          "Yes," Hira nodded, and rinsed the colander and left it to dry on the flat side of the sink.

          "That fuckin' arse!" Hiba swore. "What the fuck does he want, now?!"

          "Hiba..." Hiba she whispered, and laughed sadly. "I don't know what to do. I mean, what with mum being all sick ... I'm if scared if he bumps into her any day and ... how would she take it...?"

          "I know, but if I see him, my friends and I will to beat him up into goo!" Hiba said, trying to be helpful.

          Hira snickered. "I'd love to see that," she said. "But you have to be careful if you ever see him. He's not all that nice of a man as he used to be. I – I don't think he ... ever ... truly ... was."

          "Damn right, he wasn't, after how he had left you!" Hira shouted, getting angry.

          "There's no point getting all upset," Hira said comfortingly. "Let bygones be bygones. I just want us to be left alone by him and get on with our lives. He's moved on, and ... we're, too."

          Hiba calmed down and looked at her elder sister carefully. "Are you over him, sis?" she asked, curiously.

          "Of course, I am!" Hira said defensively. "I'm just not over what he did."

          "Who would be?" Hiba murmured, looking away. She looked back, and said, "You can always talk to me, you know, about all kinds of stuff. You know that we can talk about anything, right?"

          "Hiba, you rock!" Hira teased, but sadness still lingered in her voice. She hugged her sister. "I know. You know as well, don't you?"

          Hiba laughed in return, and broke the embrace. "Let's eat!" she smiled.

          "Yep!" Hira agreed, helping her sister carry the plates and drinks. I know that I can talk to you, Hiba, she thought silently, But I'm afraid to tell you, or anyone, about my deepest feelings and thoughts. I don't want to make you worried. That's much I care, but maybe in a way I might be selfish, keeping all this to myself. However, it'll keep you safe from all my own worries. I want you to grow up without my thinking about my fears and do well in receiving your results in school.