Walking into college the first day after the summer holidays, Kanwal takes off her wristwatch and stretched out to Mahnoor.
"Ya Allah! It's beautiful! Mahnoor exclaimed, taking the watch in her hands. It was the gift Abdul Rafay gave Kanwal on Eid night.
"Thanks."
"Where did you buy it? I want one too." Mahnoor asked excitedly.
"Um ... Actually Mano, it was a gift."
"From?"
"Listen, Mano... There is something I need to tell you." Kanwal's flustered and reluctant voice caught Mahnoor's attention and she turned to face her.
"Hm?"
"Yar... Do you remember Saima Bhabi? My cousin's wife?"
"Yes."
"Her brother gave this to me." Mahnoor's tracks stopped in the middle as she turns to her friend, wide eyes.
"Don't give me that look and keep walking, I will tell you everything." Kanwal holds Mahnoor's arm and starts dragging her towards college.
"You overheard your parents' and Phuppo's conversation, Maaz came to discuss with you about all this, the person that gave you an Eid gift is Abdul Rafay and you are only telling me now?" Mahnoor questioned Kanwal once she finished telling her the whole story.
"Mano, I didn't take it seriously before, but since he gave it to me, I thought I better tell you." Kanwal gave Mahnoor puppy dog eyes.
"Ary, why did you tell me now? You still have plenty of time on your hands. You could tell me a few hours before your Nikah to him." Mahnoor said in a sarcastic tone.
"Mano, I am not marrying him." Kanwal said firmly.
"Then why do you accept his gift?" Mahnoor asked, returning the watch to Kanwal.
"I couldn't say no to him. I mean, it's bad manners."
"You could say no to him if you want to. He could have easily gotten the idea that you don't like him how he sees you, but you didn't." Mahnoor carefully continues after a pause, "Means a part of you didn't dislike the idea of your parents."
What Mahnoor said was enough to make Kanwal confused, she never thought this way. Kanwal tried to question herself and the rest of their path went into complete silence between them.
~*~
Kanwal was finally free, from the long stress of final examinations and now studying hard for the aptitude test of LLB. On the other hand, Mahnoor has been behaving like a lost puppy since her classes started. She texts Kanwal several times a day, telling her how much she is missing her. She also calls her daily, while walking home after college and doesn't end the call until she has stepped inside her house. On the other hand, Kanwal who has also gotten so used to her for the past few years, tried her best not to let her feel the difference between now and before.
Mahnoor knows that with having her nearby, Kanwal wouldn't be focusing on anything else and in those moments, the real Kanwal would only surface up again in her mind, when she's in deep sleep after leaving Ahad.
Ahad never contacted Kanwal after the last mail he sent when she was at her Khala's house. She thought about what others said about Ahad, what her parents said about him, that he will marry someone from the same wealthy background.
Who wouldn't?
Now whatever they say about him seems true. To be happy or not to be, Kanwal doesn't know how to feel about the fact that Ahad has moved on. The only thing she could do is try, try to forget him and move on. Some things aren't meant to be, perhaps her and Ahad's relationship was one of those.
~*~
As the time of Kanwal's convocation is coming closer, everyone got more and tenser. But Kanwal was a bit relaxed, unlike every other girl in her class. She was always a completely average student. From the start, she didn't think of herself as anything special, except for her passion for volleyball and she is quite sure that the Black Eagles wouldn't be interested in it and according to Mahnoor, if Ahad wishes to do anything, he would've done already. But since he didn't even try to contact her throughout the past year, it means he is over her, so she shouldn't be worried about it. Kanwal believed Mahnoor and her own logical explanation, ignoring the feelings her instinct was giving her.
Finally, when the day of her convocation ceremony arrived, Kanwal found herself in a strange mental turmoil. Her intuition was screaming 'danger', yet her mind keeps refusing it. But her fear of the unknown grew stronger when she saw the same restlessness in her mother's eyes.
Her mother suggested her a night before the ceremony to leave Shareefabad with her father and travel out of the city. But Kanwal rejected the idea. She has seen how the senior class girls were brought back to college by the Blacks Eagles on convocation day. What chance does she have to escape?
What is meant to happen will always happen...
Was the last thought Kanwal had when she left home.
On reaching college, she found a pool of students in the same uniform as hers. Today, she is wearing a college uniform for the last time.
Glancing down at her spotless white uniform, Kanwal starts walking towards the same tree where her group used to gather. But she frowned when she found Mahnoor there with her classmates.
"Sorry seniors, your place is taken." A girl with a black scarf from Mahnoor's group said with a smile when she saw Kanwal coming towards them.
"Is this how you behave towards your elders, especially the guests?" Kanwal answered with a fake glare while folding her arms.
She laughed and left her place, "Ghustakhi Maaf Hazoor (I apologize). Assalam o Alaikum." She said in a very thick Urdu accent.
"Ghustakhi Maaf (Apology accepted)" Kanwal answered, holding her chin up in a very proud manner and on the seat under the tree, next to Mahnoor.
"Have you seen the others?" Kanwal asked as her eyes scanned the ground.
"No." They answered and Kanwal only nodded and continued on searching for her friends.
No one said anything after it and slowly, one by one, they all left, leaving Kanwal and Mahnoor alone.
"Hey, are you alright?" Mahnoor whispered to Kanwal, who was nervously playing with the strap of her wristwatch while gazing at the entrance.
"Hm? Yeah. I am fine." Kanwal replied awkwardly and took out her phone, "Are they all late?" She asked herself as she checked her phone.
"They are here." Mahnoor said and Kanwal heard snaps towards her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Kanwal abruptly got up.
"I don't want you to get upset. Mehak was crying and everyone else also looked troubled." Mahnoor explained in a low voice.
"Take me to them, yar." Kanwal sighed. Mahnoor nodded and got up. But before they could reach them, the announcement of the opening ceremony caught their attention and they turned to the auditorium.
Holding the Mahnoor's hand, Kanwal walks inside, "Come to me when the ceremony ends." Kanwal said to Mahnoor when she was about to go in another direction.
"I will not worry." Mahnoor quickly gives her a hug and leaves towards where her classmates were sitting.
Kanwal also made her way to her classmates, clenching the strap of her small hand-embroidered bag.
