Naila spent the next whole day buried in school work. She sat preparing teaching aids. She drew and wrote on charts everything required for the classes after holidays. She stepped out of room only for lunch.
"Come Naila, spare half an hour," Luke had to plead for it. He understood one thing. Her coping mechanism. She keeps herself distracted with work, locking herself up in a room. 'But that's not healthy,' Luke wondered.
He walked often to check on her. He even walked in with a glass of water to give her, and take a look at what she is doing. "Naila, drink some water."
"Oh, thanks,' she accepted it, drank in a single shot, and gave him the glass back. Luke knelt down on the floor, watching her do the work.
"Are these necessary even in the modern age?" He asked her curiously.
"I ask myself a lot too but yes apparently this is mandatory even in this digital age. The classrooms are filled with it. Even the door is decorated," she explained. "Kids like them too some times," she continued with creating an activity chart.
He watched her write. She had a cursive handwriting that looked really good. "So kids understand cursive?"
"Don't underestimate them," Naila said.
"Kids these days are on different level," Luke agreed.
"Have you ever wondered if you wish to have one? Seeing many at school?" He asked curiously.
Naila dropped the marker and looked up. "What?" She asked surprisingly. 'Did he just ask me if I wanna have kids?'
"I mean, do you have the motivation to?" He repeated.
"You want me to be honest?" She asked. Luke nodded. "Oh god, no!" She said openly.
"Why?" He wanted to know more.
Naila looked at him. "Why don't you baby sit a child one day and try it yourself," she suggested.
"No, thank you," he said. "Continue." Sometime later, he slowly laid down on the floor, scrolling his phone, and then slowly fell asleep.
She watched peacefully sleeping again. She took the extra pillow on her bed and slowly placed it under his head. She smiled. "You should have slept on the bed." She slowly said so that it doesn't wake him.
Naila finished her charts, rolled them, and packed them. She then sent a reminder message on the Christmas celebration groups, reminding everyone to practice and prepare.
Naila then got on the bed and opened a book she picked up from the library. It was a peaceful afternoon. It was cloudy outside. It had gotten colder. Naila picked up the blank and covered while she put on a cardigan. She laid there, with her right hand supporting her head and reading and often glancing at him. With the blanket, he completely settled there.
Naila walked out of the room an hour later. It was already 5.30 PM. It was windy too. "Winter is here" she told herself. She sat on the front steps with a shawl on her lap, covering her legs. She liked thw weather.
Luke got up and his eyes searched the room fir Naila. He then slowly got up. He folded the blanket and placed the pillow back on bed. He then walked to the front, only to find her sit peacefully.
He walked to the kitchen, made some tea and walked to the sitting area. He handed her the mug and settled next to her. He also had a bag of chips with him.
"You know what's the best snack for the cold weather?" She asked him. He nodded, still feeling sleepy.
"Onion pakoda," she suggested.
"What's that? I don't think I have had that," he said the truth. He indeed has asian roots but food he has had as staples were lesser.
"It's just fritters," Naila replied.
In half an hour, shaw returned back with a plate of crispy and hot onion pakodas.
"It smells good," he said the moment the aroma hit the atmosphere.
"It's oily so calories might be high," shw warned him.
"Forget it. This week I'm going to ignore my diet," he decided and atarted digging in.
Naila sipped her tea and took a bite of the fritter, savouring its warmth as the two sat together, enjoying the view before them. The sun was slowly sinking beyond the horizon, painting the vast, open sky in shades of amber and burnt orange. For a while, neither felt the need to speak. The quiet company and the beautiful evening were enough.
Then something delicate drifted past Naila's face.
She paused, her gaze following it as it descended. Another tiny speck floated down, followed by a few more.
"Is this snow?" she asked suddenly, almost as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.
Luke, who sat beside her with his mug cradled in his hands, tilted his head back to look at the sky. A faint smile touched his lips.
"The first snow of the year," he said.
Naila turned to him, her eyes widening with excitement. In an instant, the quiet contentment on her face gave way to unrestrained delight. She carefully placed the plate of fritters on his lap, handed him her mug of tea, and sprang to her feet, barely able to contain her excitement.
Luke watched her, amused, as she stepped out to meet the falling snow, as though the evening had just offered her a little bit of magic.
"It will get colder, wear your scarf," he called out.
"It's the first snow. I have never experienced or seen the first snow. It's beautiful," she screamed back. He smiled.
"These things excite you?" He asked.
"Of course," she looked at him, turning around. "Why would I not get excited about? This is my first."
"And you're watching this first time with me," he corrected her.
"Yes," she agreed.
"Do you know there is a saying, whoever watch the first snow together are bound to end up together in life," he said it, casually, just like that.
"What," she stopped trying to catch the snowflake.
"Yes. Because it is a rare moment. Does it mean, now that we have witnessed it, we will end up together?" He asked, teasing her.
Naila flushed red. "Who said those? There are no such things. If I happen to watch this with a dog or a cat nearby, will it mean the same? Or someone else. Will it mean the same?" She questioned back. He liked how she reacted back.
"Dog?" That's all he could ask back.
"Aish.. come on, don't worry, you won't be stuck with me," she consoled him.
"Well, I don't mind it," he said and waited for her reaction. Naila picked up a tiny pebble from the garden and threw at him. He was defenseless with a plate on his lap and mugs in his hands. She threw couple more, making sure it hits only his legs.
"Ow.. Naila that hurt. Stop, stop, I take it back," he said and compromised, laughing loudly.
Naila wandered around the garden, holding out her palm in an attempt to catch a snowflake and capture a picture before it melted away. Every time one landed on her hand, she hurried to take a photograph, her face lighting up with quiet delight at the fleeting little miracle.
A few steps away, Luke sat with his phone, capturing her instead.
Her off-white floral skirt swayed with every step, complementing her white top and maroon cardigan beautifully. Her hair bounced gently as she moved, occasionally falling across her face as she tilted her head to watch the snowflakes dance around her. There was something effortlessly charming about the way she lost herself in such a simple moment, completely absorbed in the wonder of the falling snow.
And Luke couldn't seem to look away.
He kept his phone trained on her, capturing one picture after another, but it wasn't merely the photographs he was after. It was the way her eyes lit up, the little movements she made, the unguarded smile that appeared whenever she managed to catch a snowflake.
He wanted to remember her just like this.
So, while she tried to capture the snow before it disappeared, he quietly captured her, one fleeting moment at a time.