If I Take a Chance

The silence was comforting to Noorul-Huda as she sat atop the window bench, sketchbook on her lap and a pencil caught between her index and pointer finger, staring intently at the boy on the paper. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, wondering what to make of the sketch.His grey eyes stared back at her with such intensity she wondered if he was real and could see through the protective layers she had enacted to hide away her scars. Those grey eyes haunted what little dreams she got, recurring every single time she let her inhibitions down. She wondered if somewhere out there, the owner of said eyes also had dreams of her. It was a foolish thought but a thought nevertheless. Nothing of such could happen but still, a girl could hope. And hope, she did every day of her life.The dreams had begun last month when she had taken a vacation together with Nadia and her brother. They were good dreams so she never made a fuss of them.

Noor hated nights like this. She had a strong distaste for the charade, the fakery lying thick in the air beneath fraudulent smiles and pompous conversations as everyone bathed in the same pool of self-importance. Her fingers curled on the railings as she looked around the room which was buzzing with excitement, trying to find the reason to be as excited as they were but couldn't. She stood in a corner of the room in her black dress looking as regal and beautiful as she'd always been, isolated but not totally isolated as she turned heads towards her men and women alike. She didn't notice the stares and if she did, she was trying her best to not look affected by them, her poker face set in place. "Try not to look so miserable," Nadia teased, nudging Noor's shoulder as she took in the vibrant colors decorating the hall. "I am miserable," she replied nonchalantly, raising her Chapman flute in mock

Noor smiled as she slipped into the warm bubbly waters of her bath, piling her long locks at the top of her head, inhaling the scented bath beads as they fizzled and foamed into a turquoise blue lather. Hearing the commotion outside her bedroom door, she smiled and picked up the remote, increasing the volume of the TV as she soaked and relaxed, ignoring her aunt who was at the other side of the door. She closed her eyes and leaned into the tub, allowing the water to sooth the ache in her muscles but instead of the darkness that she sorted, whiskey brown eyes stared back at her. She gasped, her eyes flying open as a tingle ran down her spine when she remembered the man from the night before. She remembered what it felt like as he stared into her eyes with his bottomless, rich tawny wood-like and expressive eyes before he had retched on the floor, missing her foot by mere inches. Of course, the inapprop

The house was eerily silent as Noor crept in, looking sideways to make sure no one was there to meet her. She wasn't ready to see either of her family members, wasn't ready to hear her Baba's reprimand against her.She had ran off and missed the barbeque which she had never done, it was an unspoken law in the Belko family to never miss the family barbeque that occurred twice a year. And now, she was sure that she wasn't only going to get a reprimand from her father but from her grandmama also.She wasn't ready to let go of the high she had felt when she was with her savior, it was the first moment she had felt alive like she truly mattered in months and she was definitely not going to let anyone put a damper on her mood which was next to impossible, facing her father was inevitable. Whatever the outcome was going to be, meeting the guy for the second time was definitely worth it. And she would gladly run off again if it meant she would mee

The slow ambiance of the coffee shop, the low lights topped off with the fact that she was alone suited Nadia's mind, well as alone as one could be with only the staff present.When the bells jingled, alerting them of a new arrival, Nadia's brows furrowed, heart beating wildly, wishing and praying that it wasn't who she thought it was. Though her phone was off and at 4 a.m he was supposed to still be asleep, she didn't put it past him to be awake, trying to track her whereabout.The little coffee shop was hidden behind the shops lining the streets of her community and if one didn't look enough or didn't know where to look, it'd be lost to him.This place had been her safe haven for as long as she could remember. She had stumbled across it one night when they were out looking for Noor.Why she hadn't mentioned it to either of her cousin still surprised her but perhaps, she wanted a place that she coul