What Rida Wants

When Rida came from work, she commanded Zaki, “I want a wallet in a suspicious package wrapped in brown paper, by tomorrow.”

Zaki looked at her and groaned in his head, ‘What is her problem?!’

“The wallet should be for gents and make it black.”

Zaki stared across the dining table, wondering, ‘Why on planet earth would she need a new wallet again? What happened to the other on I got her 2 weeks ago? Should I ask her what is she up to?’ He decides to get in to what she was doing.

Rida caught him making faces at her and smiled.

“Why are you so creepy?” asked Zaki.

Kicking the question away, Rida looked down at her work bag and pulled out a stamp-sized photo of a seemingly obese man with corn-blond hair, beaver lips, eyes as blue as Rida’s cerulean hair and a double-chinned face rounder than the perfect circle. She looked at the little picture with a stunning, bright grin before sliding it across the dining table to Zaki.

“What the-” was Zaki’s first remark, “Who is this fat f-”

“This is my love. Paul. One-sided,” said Rida with the express of a happy fairy godmother on her face.

Confused and turbulently irritated, Zaki flicked the photo away, navigating all of Rida’s rage his way. With all her force, she kicked Zaki’s chair, knocking him off on the kitchen floor.

“You are gonna be so dead,” snarled Zaki.

“Shut your darn mouth and listen!” barked Rida.

Zaki got off the ground and sat back up while saying, “Who is that anyway?”

“Good question. He is Paul, my love, one-sided,” said Rida with gleaming eyes.

Zaki sneered and said, “That’s his name? Paul One-sided?”

“No. My love is one-sided.”

Smirking with narrow eyes, he fought back a bust of laughter and two drops of tear. Rida stared at him, possibly in hope of a good response which she certainly didn’t get.

“Wait, no. It is April?” asked Zaki seriously.

“No.”

“Is it my birthday?”

“No, dumbass. Your birthday was yesterday. Now that you’re 22, you should start acting like one,” answered Rida.

“Wait! So, you liKE this guy?” asked Zaki, emphasizing on the word ‘like’.

“No. I love him,” was Rida’s straight reply.

Eyes wide opened and jaw dropping down, Zaki chortled and banged the table with his fist. He wanted to ask her if the guy had known but his lungs were short of air and his throat was Sahara-dry which made him sound inaudibly guttural. Still snorting, he clawed his way to the kitchen sink and drank some water before finding Rida to be gone from her spot.

He joked around in his head for a while about Rida and the guy until he remembered the soft glint in his sister’s eyes whenever she said ‘Paul’. ‘She must be really in love,’ Zaki thought to himself. He texted her, seen but didn’t reply. He called her; she didn’t pick up. He then decided to meet Rida tomorrow with what she wanted.

*****

Ringing the bell, Zaki waited on the door step. He knew that Rida won’t stop by for her usual post-work-free-hours visit at his house today so he went over to deliver what she ordered. While he waited, he wondered how different the place looked since his last visit, 7 or 8 months ago.

The door was answered by the guy.

“Paul?”

“Yes, who are you?” said the guy.

As flustered as ever, Zaki began to introduce himself, “I am Zakariya, Rida’s younger brother. The late college guy?”

The guy looked jumbled but still waited for Zaki to finish.

“You don’t know about Ri-, I mean Farida?” asked Zaki with a troubled expression.

The guy said, “Sorry man, don’t know her.”

“Wait, but this is her house,” excused Zaki.

“Excuse me?”

Zaki, bewildered and upset, excused himself and left while holding what he had in his arms. As he tottered his way down to his car, he heard his name. He turned his entire body to the direction of the voice. He saw her. Rida was waving her arm behind the window he cracked a long time ago. He was so relieved to see her. Running up to the right house, he knocked and found the door open. Just as he entered, Rida snatched the order, stapled a folded piece of paper and ran out of the house; she didn’t even blink on Zaki’s existence there.

At this point, Zaki was not puzzled but satisfied for being thanked so intensely for all he could provide. He thought, ‘Finding the brand of shoes which gave their products on brown shoeboxes from the trash was the easiest part but buying those shoes in a damned budget was way easier. And then getting the wallet was so not difficult at all. I almost gave up searching for a good leather one. I wrapped the brown box with brown paper which was kinda hard. I did all that and didn’t even get a thank you smile, that means it’s a whole week of dinner on her.’

As he strolled outside, he saw Rida talking to the guy next door on his cleaner than Windex lawn. Zaki couldn’t hear them but he was sure of one thing. After a short while, Rida returned in and immediately hugged Zaki, slapping his back and thanking him.

Zaki looked at her and asked, “Was that the first time you spoke to him?”

Rida answered the question after entering the kitchen where she directed Zaki to follow her, “I first saw him in the local supermarket; we both exited at the same time. Clearly, he never noticed me there so I had the advantage to creep behind him, just to see where he lived. I was following him but then it shook me that this is my area and as I saw him getting out of the car and into his house, the happiest bomb bust in my head. I was so darn delighted; I couldn’t even speak to myself,” she talked while arranging a homely meal for two, “Since then, I spied on him and checked whatever he was a fan of and all the obvious things he hated. After that period was over, a new time of sending letters begun. It was kinda weird in the beginning but that is the rule of a new start, isn’t it? So yeah, soon after that, Paul wrote back! I was so freaked out! He asked for my name and all sorts basic things, it was like being on a date with a letter. I’ll tell you; I didn’t instantly write back but I did tell him I liked him, you know. He was so sweet with everything and- He last wrote about his wallet getting stole with all the things inside, that was bad. So, I just wanted to give him something he needed, you see.”

“Where did you get that little photo from?”

Rida looked up and said, “We decided to send each other a formal picture of ourselves because we just wanted to see each other.”

Zaki lifted a drinking glass from the drainboard and drank up plenty of water after saying, “I bet you two will make one good looking couple.”

“After I told him who I am today, he said he…uh…he said,” spoke and sighed Rida.

Zaki patiently waited for her to get it out since he was used to her being herself.

“He said he kinda knew.”

“Did you ask him how?”

“No. I said OK and came back. I saw he didn’t need any explanation.”

Zaki could tell how suddenly the air in the room turned from radiant to resoundingly disappointing. Deeply signed, she set up the dining table slowly and looked saddened. Zaki asked, “Are you going to meet him again?”

“He is my neighbor and my pen pal. Of course, I am gonna continue to spy on him until he writes or whatever,” exclaimed Rida, “anyway, diner’s alright?”

Zaki nodded as they began eating.

*

Thank you! Thank you very much for taking the time to read my story. If you liked it, please leave a heart. Tips are always appreciated. And thank you once again.

Here are some other stories where the following characters were featured:

Paul: What Rida Gets AND At the Meadows

Zaki: What Rida Gets AND At the Meadows

Rida: What Rida Gets AND At the Meadows

*

The immediate continuation of What Rida Wants: What Rida Gets