Re: Online Saga
....continued from the previous
Plane took off en route to New York. Ali was all saddened and had started missing Irrum already. He called her as soon as he had reached home. Life had become more interesting and meaningful for Ali. He could not go to sleep without talking to Irrum on a daily basis. Time was flying so fast. Two months later, Ali made another trip to Florida to meet his shehzadi again. This fall was Irrum’s last semester at the community college she was going to. She had gotten admission to go to Arizona State University at Phoenix staring from spring 1993. By the end of December, she had to relocate to Phoenix that was about two thousands miles away from her home and she did not know anybody there. She asked Ali if he could help her relocating there. Ali gladly accepted it and planned to fly from NYC to Jacksonville, drive with Irrum from Jacksonville to Phoenix and then fly back from Phoenix to NYC. As planned, Ali flew from NYC to Jacksonville and Irrum received him at the airport. They had planned to leave for Phoenix the same day. Irrum’s mom had made so much food for them to take along for their long road trip. When they were leaving, her mom put Quran over their head and asked Ali to promise not to do anything unethical with Irrum. He felt a bit weird but then understood her position of being a caring mother. Ali was 25 years old at that time while Irrum was only 20.
During past five months, they both had spent a lot of time talking on the phone. While talking to Irrum, Ali sometimes raised doubts on certain things that Irrum told him simply for the reason that they did not make logical sense. He occasionally questioned her on things that did not make sense to him but she did not appreciate that. She rather became mad on him for asking those questions. He would then trust her because he loved her. She never doubted him and wasn’t aware of the fact that Ali had a girl friend from school for the past 3 years. Ali was in his last semester of junior year at school and had met his girlfriend Bebe when he was a freshman. He did not love Bebe and never planned to marry her for the reason of her being non-Muslim. His family would have not approved her. He was having this relationship in convenience with her. They both were working together at the same office while going to school together. In fact Bebe had gotten him this nice job as a data analyst at Columbia University where she was already working as a data manager for a research department.
Ali and Bebe both had realized by now that their destination was not the same yet they were together probably because they had gotten used to each other. This fact that they were leading to different routes had caused some bitterness in their relationship lately. They were arguing with each other almost every week but then would get back to each other the same week. They had a very strange relationship that none of their friends could understand. Even they did not know what kept them together for all these years. They did have few common things though. They were both smart, missed their classes together yet got good grades. Bebe did not know that Ali had fallen in love with some other girl but sensed that he was getting distant from her. She in fact had tried to meet other guys too but still had not let go off him.
Ali had not told Irrum about Bebe at all. She never asked him about his past and he did not feel like volunteering the information. He had his full focus on Irrum. He had this magical pull towards her and never once felt any physical desire towards her. He was more than satisfied to know her, to talk to her, to see her those few times he was able to meet her. He was already seeing her to be his life partner. The fact that she was a Muslim and could speak fluent Urdu was a real attraction for him. Once in a while she talked to him in Urdu and he would have been blown away on that.
They had packed her the car with all the stuff she was to carry to Phoenix and left Jacksonville late afternoon. They had planned their entire road trip well. They knew where to stop and how far drive before taking the rest break. Ali started driving while holding her hand firmly. This was probably the best road trip of his entire life. Irrum would sing along the tapes they were playing in the car. She was playing with him and he was enjoying the every move she was making. They drove like 600 miles and then decided to spend the night at the motel. Ali got a room with two beds and they spent the night sleeping on their separate beds. Next morning they started early after having their coffee. They had enough food like chicken patties, samosas etc. to eat in the car. They were really enjoying this road trip. In about 50 hours they finally reached Phoenix at about noon. They went straight to the registrar’s office and did the basic paperwork. Then they went to the private housing complex across from the campus, she had done some communication with. This housing complex was dormitory style but private and catered ASU students only. After doing the necessary paper work and paying deposit, they got the key to the unit. This unit had two bedrooms and was to be shared by two other girls. Because school was off during Christmas break so there were no other students present at the unit. Ali was able to stay with Irrum for two nights, sleeping on the couch though. After spending two nights there, it was time for Ali to leave for New York. This was sad time again but surprisingly Irrum wasn’t much sad this time. She was really excited to be away from her home.
[RIGHT].....to be continued[/RIGHT]