The world stopped revolving around her.
The earth shook from her feet.
Her heart stopped beating.
She was sinking. Sinking too deep.
To the extent that, she could never climb up and out.

There was only one thing holding her - a series of Alhamdulillaah.
She kept on muttering it and she never knew how her lips turned upwards into a smile while unshed tears pierced her eyes as sharp as the sharpest of needles as she embraced her friend sana.

Asmi was not the best muslim out there, there were so many instances where she had disobeyed her creator.
But that day, as sana sat there telling all about the guy and his family, asmi couldnt help but notice how strong she was.
And how could she not know who the guy was, when she had spent the better half of her life stalking him or trying to know about him in every possible way.

Saim.

Now that mere four lettered name felt so heavy on her tongue and even heavier on her heart.

She sat there listening to her best friend pour out dreams built fresh from her heart.
Oh, how she wished she could do the same. How she wished she could walk hand in hand with him through the gardens of paradise.

This was the toughest battle of her life. She had never felt so broken in  her life.
She was shattered into shreds.
And her friend was oblivious to all the turmoil she was facing.
But who was to blame her?
Saim was a guy of such modesty, he never raised his gaze to look at another girl. And knowing that she alone had caught his interest somehow was a fact beyond amazing to be perceived.

With the excuse of  a very bad headache, asmi fled out of the classroom as it was getting more and more difficult for her to breathe without screaming out loud.

She ran. And ran. And ran. Until the chilling air and the scent of roses hit her.
She let out all pain as she started sobbing out loudly for her destiny.

She was happy for her friend.  Very happy.
But she was heartbroken for herself. At one point she felt she never deserved such happiness, but a beautiful saying popped up into her mind

When Allah tests you it is never to destroy you. When He removes something in your possession it is only in order to empty your hands for an even greater gift!.
Ibn al-Qayyim

Smiling bitterly at her misery, she sat there in the park, for what felt like a lifetime.
She never knew how her heart will ever be mended again.

Saim

Shoot himself. Thats what he wanted to do.
The constant talks of wedding only proved how big an idiot he was.

He always knew and he was aware. The way she looked at him.
The way his heart would pause beating everytime he passed her bench.
Only he was too foolish
And too ignorant.
And too oblivious.
To the extent that he did not even know the names of his female classmates.

And wasn't that the only reason, that he had mistaken her name to be sana and had somehow sneaked in the office to get her contact details?
Oh! That and the fact that asmi and sana were so close to each other and were like one soul trapped in twp bodies.
He did not even know her name and look what he had gotten himself into!

saim and his family visited sana's home for the bethrothal after both the families were quite satisfied over the details they exchanged on the phone, and that saim was not even asking to see the picture of the girl, (whose image had already been engraved into his heart). He blushed at how his family teased him about lowering his gaze but ending up with a crush on a girl.

All went well, he was happy that he had taken the right decision amd respected that girl.
Only when the girl was shown to him did he experience the worst shock of his life.
There, in front of him stood the best friend of the girl he loved.

At first he was confused. But later when reality and his stupidness dawned upon him did he feel like jumping off a cliff.
He couldn't  come up with any emotion or idea except that of stabbing himslef with a sharp pointed knife.

People around him thought that the ever modest boy was only being shy.

Oh what had he done.
Not only did he ruin both their lives, but he had also put such a beautiful friendship at stake.

Only if he had known her name instead of the colour of her eyes.
Only if he had known her name instead of every note of her voice.

Asmi wasn't her best friend. Asmi was SHE. The girl who he fell for.

Now he couldn't spoil another girls life and say no to her after all his stupid actions.
He did the only thing possible, acted as if Sana was His ASMI.

And was ready to give it a shot.
Ready to make her his queen.

And the next day, in college, when he had directly looked at asmi, he realized how  he had turned his life upside down, as he moved his gaze away from her he could hear the shattering of not one, but two hearts.
His heart needed some good stitching now.

....

The essence of love unrequited ,
The role of destiny
And
The fragrance of friendship had quite a different meaning that fateful day.