Pound of Love - by Aysha Afrin

Chapter 1

Sunshine need not always mean happiness but sometimes give us severe tan and brutal burns. Eventually, we will run away from it, and we did.

"Taliyah look at this, is this not your childhood best friend? Wow so dreamy! The new music video is out now," Mira kept nagging Taliyah while she was filling the pots with mud planting the coleus heartbreaker. "See this, he is so good, we all are twenty-three but look at our differences, I feel like am a grand mother already," she was drooling looking at this particular video being a fangirl.

"Will you take that phone off my face Mira, please?" Taliyah asked her colleague who also is her classmate from college.

"God this looks so yu..." Mira couldn't find words to explain the song.

"I have told you a million time to not do this to me, talking about useless stuff, and people while am working, go back to finding the missing seeds, we have to give the tally to the government authority by next week, don’t you know that?" Taliyah spoke too fast and pretty rudely to her best friend and sent her off. She returned to work but the legs slipped on slimy ground and fell right on top of the semi-dried cow dung heap covered with earthworms used as fertilizers and dropped the plant along.

"Miraaaaaa why the hell did you show that video to me," Taliyah screamed her lungs out of frustration for getting distracted. Mira came running towards her and stood there laughing out loud and giving Taliyaha hand.

"One of these days I am going to fire you, my child, and it will be nasty" Taliyah said and walked away taking her apron off, taking off her glove after wiping the dung from her dress.

“You are nasty now,” Mira said and giggled.

"Just take the hose and water on me," Taliyah commanded and waited for Mira.

"I will do it," Mira did as instructed and Taliayh cleaned herself. She took her car keys from her office and asked Mira to take care of their nursery.

"You have the meeting with that rambutan orchard guy tomorrow don't forget it," Mira reminded her friend before she took off and went back to planting the heartbreakers.

Drenched in water, Taliyah drove back home to get changed and prepare for the meeting. It was an anonymous call but with proof of the farm from the customer consulting them from a faraway place from the west village town she resides in.

"What happened to you?" Nihala, Taliyah's mother asked her the moment she opened the door and saw her daughter. "Ew you smell bad," she said and covered her nose moving away from her daughter.

"Cow dung," Taliyah rolled her eyes and walked straight into her washroom.

"How did this happen?"

"I slipped and fell on top of the heap," she said and closed the doors. She opened the shower and squeezed the body jell out of the bottle. All she could remember was seeing the alluring smile on that face of his Mira showed her on her phone. "Why? Why did you have to do this to me?" she questioned. “I am not forgiving you ever,” There were tears in her eyes. Taliyah quickly showered and changed into an old pair of blue jeans and a pink turtle neck top.

"Umma I will leave now, tell uppa that I will be out of town tomorrow,"

"That meeting? mother asked her.

"Yes the Rambutan meeting," Taliyah said as she took some files.

"Will there be benefits this time or just working hard as usual?"

"I will try my best to sign the contract this time and take care of the orchard," she promised. Her mother fed her some egg rice in between as she worked.

"Keep this for me, it's yum, I will come to have it at night," she said and left.

Half an hour later, she got out and was on her way to meet the seed supplier in the government office when a mishap occurred.

“Oh no,” she said and shut her eyes tight, clutching on to her bag and the seeds in her hand. Instead of running away from the site, she panicked and stood right under the billboard as it kept falling. A large black thing falling down making loud noises and the flex flying away from it. She remembered nothing but was pulled away by somebody suddenly.

“Hey, hey are you okay?” he asked her who stood with her eyes shut tight and going numb and cold. She did not answer him nor anybody who surrounded her. The billboard fell on the ground three feet away from her. “She is fine, she is,” he informed the tiny crowd and they dispersed. “It’s fine,” he said and turned towards her again but she was gone just like that. He looked around and saw her walking away quickly. He ran behind her and pulled her arms once again and she fell on him, her face against his chest. “Hey stop, Taliyah,” he said. Taliyah’s heart exploded in the meanwhile, listening to the familiar voice and seeing the tall figure before her. She stopped struggling and gathered all of the courage left in her to face him. ‘What sin did commit in the previous life to meet with a person like him in my life?’ she thought, taking a deep breath.

“Hello, surprise,” she said.

“Why did you run away?” he took off his shades and the cap he had on his head that hid his identity well.

“I didn’t know it was you, Derek, I thought that it’s somebody else, great shades,” she blabbered. He did not let go of her hand and dragged her along with him.

“it’s been a while, let’s get some coffee,” he said walking out of the building.

“No really, am fine, am a little busy with work,” she rejected his idea straight.

“What? He stopped walking and looked at her. He looked disappointed. “I just wanted to spend some time with you, catch up with our lives, you know,”

“Catch up,” she laughed. “Oh there is nothing to catch up with our lives, am just leading a simple life and doing works, I know you are busy, with work, concerts, girlfriend, tours,” but he stopped her.

“What?” he asked again. He was shocked.

“How long are you going to stay this time? Ten days?” she changed the topic.

“Two months,” he said.

“What? Why?”

“You’re asking me why?” he laughed standing with his hands on his hip. “You are strange today.” She smiled at him.

“Ok bye-bye, am in a hurry,” she said and ran away quickly before he got hold of her. She got into the car, locked the doors kept her hands on her heart which pounded loud. She was not ready to meet him. She panted hard and she had no idea why, but she had tears again whelming in her eyes for the second time in a day. “Stop it, stop it Taliyah,” she kept telling herself. A few minutes later Taliyah jumped up when someone knocked on the window.

“Gosh you scared me,” she said rubbing her tears.

“Open the door,” Derek ordered her. She did as he said quickly before people noticed him.

“What the hell are you doing? This is…” but he stopped her, keeping his hand over her mouth asking her to drive. She looked at him. His melted chocolate brown eyes were glistening as the sunrays entered through the glasses, reflecting.

Friendship never changes no matter how many years pass, you just have to meet them to connect and continue like you were never apart. You will never be able to put up with the fight the moment you see them before you. Neither was Taliyah able to run away with the history and memories they had written together when Derek approached her this time. But this time, it all depended on her.

“Let’s go shall we?” he asked her.

CHAPTER II

There is a saying that goes like this, “Everything happening under the sun becomes a part of history, but whatever that happens under the moonlight becomes a myth.”

Taliyah often wondered to which category her life falls. And reach one conclusion, “My life is a level 100 calculus problem, which I cannot solve myself,” but what exactly her problem is, only she knew it.She could not believe what just happened an hour ago, running into Derek like that. Meeting her childhood best friend, who now is a famous singer, stirred her life. She felt excited but wanted to run away at the same time.

Derek got her latte.“I only ordered coffee. I don’t remember asking for humans,” she joked, seeing two people walking towards her.

“Can’t avoid free stuff,” he said and corrected his cap on his head.

“I knew it when I saw him order two flavoured lattes that it is for you old habits never die,” Jenny said and laughed out loud in excitement seeing two of her best friends since high school.

“Huh, you girls don’t meet?” Derek was surprised.

“For every two days, for hours,” Jenny’s boyfriend Sam informed Derek.

Derek rolled his eyes and smiled. “Still the same old drama queen,”

“We just talked about you two days back,” Jenny told Derek.

“Me?” Derek raised his brows and looked at Taliyah. Taliyah began to shake her head and show actions to stop talking about it. It’s a dangerous thing to let him know.

“Yeah, we were talking about your ret….,” Jenny looked at Taliyah.“What? I don’t get it,” she said.

“We were talking about your newly released song. It’s popular, and everybody loves it here,” Taliyah lied.But Sam shook his head in disagreement, looking at the singer. Jenny snared and warned him with her big eyes beautified with kajal.

Taliyah was receiving calls from her mother. She looked at the time her curfew was nearing.

“Mom?” Derek noticed it. She nodded.

“Let’s hang out,” Jenny suggested.

“Sure, yes,” Derek said asked them to get in the car. The girls got on the back and kept chatting while Derek often watched Taliyah through the mirror. She did not notice it. He drove them to the riverside away from the town. Jenny and Sam carried on with taking selfies while Derek and Taliyah stood watching them.

“How is your business running?” he wished to know about her life,but she was tight-lipped and answered only to his questions.

“What do you think the business would be like for the horticulturist who has just entered this field?” she said, sipping her coffee looking far away. He gazed at her often.

“You will be fine,” he consoled her. The dark circle under her eyes and her weight loss was proof for him to understand her stress.

“How are you?” she wanted to know about him while watching the mist covering the mountains on the riverside.

“Like the usual, happy, busy, tired,” he smiled.

“Do you never visit her?” she slowly mentioned his matter.

“No, never,”

“But she is your mother. She will always expect your return and keep the doors open for you,”

He smirked and looked into her eyes. “Divorce is a little hard to accept for children. And I will take time so let me be.”

To that,Taliyah had nothing to say. Instead, she smiled. “Boys usually have father issues and girls with mothers, but why is it opposite for the two of us?”

“Boy?”

“Man,” she corrected instantly. But her heart skipped a beat, seeing his alluring eyes.

“You better see me that way and not as a boy,” he warned her.

‘That’s the problem, seeing you as a man,’ she thought. ‘But I keep choosing that trouble,’ her phone kept ringing, and she answered it. “Mom,”

“No,it’s Mira,” the lady voice from the other end said.

“Mira, what are you doing at my house?”

“I came to meet you after closing the nursey. I thought you would be home,”

“No, Oh my god, Mira, I am going to be in serious trouble,” Taliyah got worried.

“What happened?” Derek interrupted her.

“One minute,” She said to Derek. “Mira, wait till I get home, don’t leave, or why don’t you stay with me and tag along for the business trip,”

“I wanted to tell you something. That’s why I came home,” Mira said.

“What is it?”But Nihala grabbed the phone from Mira.

“Taliyah, it’s going to be seven. Your father is home already. Don’t you know the curfew has passed?”

“Mom, I m a little busy,” she shut her eyes and lied.

“Ask her which guy she is with,” Taliyah heard her father’s voice in the background.

“Taliyah, I will be staying,” Mira said and hung up the phone. Making Mira stay is the regular strategy she uses when she breaks the rules and gets scolded. Taliyah rubbed her head.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I don’t know,” She looked into his eyes and quickly looked away, unable to handle it. He took a step closer and lifted his arms, but before he took action, he realized the kind of reality they were living in. He withdrew his hands and patted her shoulders instead. “I told mom am with Mira, but now they know I lied, am going to be dead meat, dad’s already home,” Taliyah’s phone kept ringing once again. It was from an unknown number. Derek took the phone from her hands and picked the call.

“Hello, Taliyah?” the husky male voice asked.

“No, I am her assistant. May I know what this is about?”

“Oh,” it sounded like a disappointment. “Can you give her?” he asked. Derek did not like that.

“No, she is busy with work. Pass me the message if it’s work-related, or she will call you back,” he said rudely. Taliyah tried to stop him and get the phone from her hand. But he was too tall to grab it from him.

“I want to let her know that there is a meeting tomorrow, and it has been moved up,” he said as if he has some rights on her.

“I will let her know,” Derek said and hung up.

“Oh my, who was that?” Taliyah asked, took the phone back, and locked it.

“Some guy with a good voice, he said you have a meeting with him tomorrow,”

“Oh, the rambutan farm, it's fine,” Taliyah said. “Okay, let’s go back,” She opened the door of her car. “Jenny,”

“I guess we will stay for some more time. You leave Liya,” Jenny said and stood there, lost in her world of romance. Taliyahsmiled.

“Why did you avoid me?” suddenly Derek asked her.

“It’s getting late,” Taliyah found an excuse, refusing to answer him.

“It’s not. You are just running away from me again,”

“Fine. Then let it be that way,” she turned away. Derek took her hands and pulled her back. He caught her off guard. “No, I won’t. What’s happening?”

“Nothing,” Taliyah took a step back while he still held on to her.

The moon had risen, spreading its dim light everywhere. It indeed was getting late for a girl of marriageable age to spend time with a guy far away from home. But at that moment, it did not bother her. The scarf around her neck flew away in the wind the stormed past them. He caught the for her and looked at her.Taliyah took her hands back and turned away to calm down her crazy heart. She hated the fact that it is just her who feels all this, one-sided.

“Give me your phone. I have not recharged mine,” Derek said.

She unlocked her phone and handed him. He walked away and pretended to make a call.

“Done?” Taliyah asked when he returned.

“Yes,” he lied. “Let's go, drop me where you picked me up,” he said and got in the car.

“What were you doing there?” she wished to know about his presence in the government seed office.

“Came to meet a guy,” he lied again. She did not ask anything further, understanding that he was lying.

“You still have not changed a bit, Derek,”

“I won’t, for you,” he smiled and looked outside. She had no idea how to take those words. “But you never gave me that,”

Taliyah dropped him off, bid farewell. She went home. Her father was on call, walking in front of the gates. She stepped out and walked towards him. He hung up the moment he set his eyes on her.

“Were you out with boys again?”

“I was out with my friends after the meeting on my way home,”

“Your uncle saw you with boys, don’t you have common sense, making people inform me that you are let loose,” Zahir screamed.

“This is crazy,” she growled. “Why did he not see the girl? We are living in the 21st century. For god’s sake,vappa, socializing is necessary,” she screamed and stormed into the house.

Patriarchy reigning over her family made everythingchallenging, she did not wish to live her life like her mother’s, so she found her path, fighting her best, rebelling, and winning against them. She did not regret anything she did. Not even her previous relationships still trouble her.

Mira and Taliyah changed into their pyjamas, set the alarm, turned the lights off, laptop on, and got into bed, but they did not sleep a bit. One should not sleep during a sleepover, or it does not count as a girl’s night. Taliyah finished her story set the alarm off when it was 5 in the morning,and looked at Mira, who laughed. Mira was excited when she heard about Derek. And it indeed was true. Friends always make life better, rescuing you from the most harrowing fall.

CHAPTER III

“Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” William Shakespeare made Macbeth say this line before he faced his tragic death eventually.

But the meaning it carried could not be ignored. Life is indeed a tale told by an idiot. It may not signify much, but it’s full of ups and down, shocking and bewildering. But that’s what makes life interesting. Don’t you think? Turning the page often and trying to make everything meaningful while we remain hopeful.

Derek laid wide awake at 4 am, looking at his phone, take the display picture of Taaliyah, and staring at her on Whatsapp. He recalled what he did the previous day to Taaliyah. (to be continued)