Crispy

Chapter 27

“ it’s not easy trying to forget her, she was perfect…reminded me of Arylan, but we both know that it's wrong of me to compare my lover to my best friend. She left me after being signed by this huge company…”

“you felt betrayed?”

“Beyond that, I felt empty.”

“ it’s better than following someone throughout your life just because you can’t let them go.”

“you do have a good point, it’s been so many years, I still don’t know why she hasn’t returned home.”

“shell return soon, just be patient…wait for her, pray for her…”

“you're right, I just want her uncle Tim. I mean since I got home I’ve had a few girlfriends…played around a bit, but no one comforted me the way she did, she was almost as good as Arylan.”

“ I guess you fell for her cause you didn’t have Arylan beside you over those years to help cover those emotions, that’s why you’ve been a player all your life. You knew that emotionally Arylan carried you but now with her married and focusing on her own misery, you feel lost…different.”

“you're right, I never thought of Arylan in a romantic way, but I also hated it when guys would get closer to her. I knew that if she noticed that I needed her more than anything, she would have left ages ago.”

“Shes not like that, but. You need to learn how to carry yourself emotionally isn’t that what this unemployment break is all about, I know you have money, status, and power and it’ll take you seconds to make more…”

“you really do know everything uncle Tim, and your right. I haven’t fallen for someone, I just dump my issues onto them and call it love, or give them a ride playing around with their emotions. Im a disgusting person.”

Tim smiled patting him on his shoulder as he left him with the watering can in the garden, with a note on it. “ water yourself enough to grow without artificial standards, give way to your heart to see the light…so you can step out of peoples lamp. I know you can grow the new seed you’ve planted within you”

He smiled walking to the masjid after so many years, making his ablution before setting his head down for prayer. Sometimes a little wiring with reality is all we need to run back to our lord. That’s the order of life.

“ Who are you?” Tim asks searching his pockets, “why do you have this picture with you?”

“I need answers okay, who killed them.”

“you're asking the wrong person.”

“I grew up without them, I only heard stories of them. If I don’t find answers I’ll never live in peace.” the man said shaking

“ stay out of it, if he finds out you’ll be dead too, ”Tim says leaving the bar.

Abdullah’s day was getting closer.

Arylan’s was called back to the hospital for the result of her grandmothers death…poisoning, grandmother died at the hands of someone else. She took the report rushing over to the police station reporting the incident, with a copy of the evidence handed over to Tim….that day was the worst of all days since her life started falling apart. She spent the day flipping through pages of an old album. She didn’t know what was the reason behind someone hating such a homely and lovely soul, hating her enough to poison her. Was it out of a selfish motive or the desire to get rid of everything around her that made her happy…slowly she saw everything around her become something she was not prepared for, something she could not see coming…it was extremely overwhelming.

“ it’s you, how did you know I’m here?”

“How wouldn’t I know, ” Eric says passing her a soda.

“True.”

“ Do you want to go fishing, we can do it the old fashioned way…with sharp sticks barefoot in the pond.”

“were adults why would we want to get ourselves dirty?”

“cause it's fun… let's go?”

Arylan broke a branch of a tree following Eric, surely the inner child within them still existed. After grabbing a few fishes they rinsed off taking a seat in the shade.

“Now we have something to braai for us…”

She laughed gathering up their stuff as Eric walked with their shoes in her handbag. They arrived at his house starting the fire and Aiden got off work to assist them…a night spent eating a home-cooked meal as the ash from the fire covered their clothing, a sky full of stars with millions of insects dancing in the darkness of the night.

“ I wouldn’t expect that the billionaire Eric would catch his own food.”

“'l'll never forget where I came from. Besides, slowly my status is dropping.”

“ I’m sure you’ll pick up soon, Arylan is still waiting to see you on a magazine cover.”

Arylan smiled dishing and handing them roasted marshmallows... that right there is the life they would choose for themselves any day. Arylans mother knew she was not a major contributor to Arylan, she didn’t raise her into who she was. She wasn’t there to pick her up when she fell into the mud messing up her jeans, she wasn’t there holding her hand when she felt like she couldn’t walk into something on her own. Yasmin knew her place and even if now she’s easily near her daughter, having meals with her…she will never have the majority of the space in her heart She did not occupy her mind, her memories…she did not know who Arylan white was…for a mother that’s a very devastating thing to go through and even if she tried getting into her space they were boundaries things she did not understand…stuff that made her take a few steps back. To her, she never understood why she was pushed aside from her child’s life.