Chaos in the Canvas √

22 | dinner

But after her marriage, the whole family moved to another city and Hemayal had to say goodbye to her childhood friend. Although she had remained in touch with him, the childhood days were long gone and the closeness they once shared could never come back. Not that she minded though. After her sudden marriage and Baba's behavior that followed, trust issues grew in her heart and no one except Mehmal and Arsala could befriend her.

"Yeah, kind of." Hemayal replied.

"Talking of personal, I met your husband a few days ago." Danyal smiled at her and Hemayal lost control over her eyes as they widened in sheer shock.

"Why?" She breathed but luckily, Danyal wasn't paying much attention to her expressions, busy looking at the food the waiter was placing in front of them now.

"It was a coincidence; he had some work in my office and we sort of bumped into each other." Danyal raised his head to look at her after the waiter had retreated and by then, Hemayal had normalized her expressions.

"What work?" The tone of hers made Danyal halt for a second as he regarded her face with slight apprehension.

"I don't know, he didn't mention," he replied in a daze. "Hami, are you guys not on good terms?"

"We are on no terms at all, Danyal, good or bad is a debate for some other time. Besides, what made you think we'll be on good terms?" Hemayal questioned, dying to know the conversation Danyal had with Ibrahim.

The nerves of that man unsettled her.

"I don't know, when we talked about you, he seemed quite smitten. And he talked a lot about you, asking random questions here and there. I thought you guys were back together." Danyal said, confused and shocked, and Hemayal only sighed as her eyes rolled heavenward.

She had no idea what Ibrahim Yazdani was planning; maybe he wasn't and it really was an accident but the chances of that were thin, especially when Hemayal knew that the man was looking for her forgiveness.

"No, Danyal, we're not together and that is what I wanted to talk to you about." Hemayal shook her head as she said and the shocked lift of Danyal's eyebrow was an alibi that he didn't expect these words.

"What-what do you mean by that?" Danyal asked the question and Hemayal had absolutely no idea what to answer; how to do that.

Too many emotions were on the line; too high honor to look after.

But she knew even then that she had no choice; Ibrahim Yazdani had left her none. Danyal might not be too close to her but she knew he always had goodness in his heart for her. They might not be the best of friends; hell, they were meeting after good two months but she knew for a fact that he wouldn't betray her trust like Ibrahim had.

And so she told him.

She narrated the whole story to him right from the start - from that Sunday afternoon where same clouds poured over their heads for the first time, to the Monday evening where he parted through the comfortable walls around her and entered her life again - all the while eating her food in intervals too. The action delayed the story and by the time she was done with telling him everything, her food had finished too.

Danyal's food, however, remained untouched.

Aghast expressions filled his face as he regarded Hemayal who narrated her story like it was someone else's. She had, somehow, become a pro at this. She told the whole story to Mehmal once with every tiny bit of detail she could remember, so telling it to Danyal didn't tear her up like the first time.

"Hami...I'm so sorry-" Danyal began but Hemayal shook her head quickly.

"There's absolutely no need of it, honestly. What's done is done; we can't change that." Hemayal said with a tight smile.