Love, is it real?

Ameerah sat down on the bed with a sigh, and looked at the mess in front of her, with dismay. She had spring holidays for a week, but it felt more like summer. She was unpacking her summer clothes and had stacked them in front of her in a dirty mess. After counting sixty five dresses, she had thrown her hands in the air and said, “I really need to go shopping," to herself.

Her phone began ringing, and a slow smile crept to her lips. Of course, she had a different ringtone set for Zarak.

She got up and locked the door of her room.

"It's been four days since i last saw you. I miss you," his voice, loving and affectionate as always made her sigh in bliss. She couldn't help but adore him crazily, whenever he showed even a shred of love or concern for her. Sometimes, she even questioned her own sanity, but then again, what is love, if not an intense emotion, filled with insane happiness, and augmented feelings of all kind. Even anger in love is heightened greatly.

She laughed with joy at his words. "I miss you too silly. I was just about to call you after unpacking my clothes."

"Oh, so now clothes are more important than me?" he joked.

"Always were," she teased him.

“Are you trying to say that I should take you shopping, to make you value me more?”

“I value you, Zarak. A lot. You know that,” Ameerah replied. He was her most valued possession, she thought, if only he knew.

“I know, love. I was just messing around, but with your birthday coming up, I do need to take you shopping. What about next week? Umm, Tuesday?” he said straightforwardly.

“And here I thought, you would surprise me with something,” she said laughing lightly. She knew Zarak too well to expect a surprise from him. He was the most direct person she had ever met, never big on fancy stuff. If you knew him, you wouldn’t expect grand birthday surprises, or even too many compliments for that matter. His compliments were few and limited, and delivered with a rather straight face. These attributes had made Ameerah fall more strongly for him. She believed he was one of a kind, made only for her.

“You know me too well, Ameerah. Also, I don’t know what you will like, so I want you to select your gift yourself,” he justified.

“A very valid excuse indeed. And yes, I would love to go shopping with you on Tuesday. Yay!” She replied with great enthusiasm.

Even thinking about it, made her roll with joy. He laughed at her excitement. After talking about a few other things, she hung up. Now she really needed to go shopping for a new dress, to go shopping with Zarak, she thought and laughed at her own ironic statement.

Suddenly, she heard yelling and shouting from outside. Not again, she thought sadly. She unlocked her door, and went out. The voices were coming from the room opposite hers. It was her parents’ room. Her elder sister, Aabira was already standing outside the closed doors. The looked at each other with worry. Aabira had tears in her eyes and was just about to burst. Ameerah quickly moved towards her and hugged her. There was a sudden bolting, crashing noise which startled them both, and then the door burst open. Their dad emerged out, and hurriedly moved past them. They went in and found their mom sitting on the edge of the bed, crying hysterically.

“Your dad is having an affair,” she stated, and burst with fresh tears. Ameerah’s heart sank deeper than she ever thought was possible.