"RUN AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!"the staff yelled at them. They ran with all their might. It was their second mile of the training. 'Mile' is a part of training where you have to cover 1.6 km within a slot of six minutes and thirty seconds as first years. Asher and Ahmed were on their feet, running with all that they had. Asher was a fast runner since childhood. He had a way of concentrating his energy on his feet and legs that made it easier to continue the same speed for at least 6 minutes straight. He did his mile in 4 minutes. Ahmed was good as well. He did his mile in 4 minutes and 20 seconds.

        Both the boys didn't have any problem with physical exercises, it was the studies that scared them. Ahmed was a naturally talented kid and Asher knew of his talents since childhood. Back in class, when they were kids, Ahmed never had problem in memorizing stuff. He read a thing once and he would remember it for as long as he liked, Asher on the other hand was excellent in sports but his spirit gave up when it came to studies.

        In PMA to achieve a goal, you should be vigilant in your studies and your physical outcomes. Ahmed was the eye catcher in their course. His exceptional brain couldn't stay hidden from the eyes of his supervisors. They saw it during a problem that was being discussed in class. 

        The teacher gave them a situation where they had to advise and supervise an enemy base. "You're supposed to watch over them and how will you do it in case of high security,"the captain asked them.

        Ahmed rose his hand,"It's a very easy case if we consider all consequences and possible situations. First in case of assigning the watch task. There should be three teams, one should be at the base, the second should be at the target's closest watch and for that I believe we can go in the local's disguise like any other intelligence would, and never send the same man to the same place twice. Thirdly, a back up team in close proximity should be there."

        "One situation is when the mission is accomplished without the enemy knowing about any sort of interferences in their base. Second in case of being caught, we can actually use a fake trail. Make it look like that our men went into hiding at a certain and obvious place whereas it's actually a wild goose chase for them."

        This was their very first task of case scenarios, the Captain who was teaching them stood in his place surprised by this seventeen years old kid. He was too young to be spouting this nonsense but it made sense and he had liked Ahmed's response so much that it made him the hot topic off charts.

        Ahmed was in Ghaznavi company, Asher was in Salahuddin. PMA is divided into Battalions. For the sake of training the Gentlemen Cadets are organized in battalions and then further into companies. There are 16 companies in Pakistan Military Academy, all of them are named after famous Muslim warriors and commanders. 

        Ahmed went back to his room, he was worn out. His eyes fell on his reflection in the mirror, he looked horrifying. His skin looked like it had been burnt under the sunlight, his zero cut made his ears look exceptionally big and his finger nails were filled with mud. He laid on his bed, today was a rough day. He had to do pull ups as a senior caught his roommate and him laughing too loud in the corridor. Wali Khan, Ahmed's roommate was the son of an aristocrat. He was a spoiled guy who had been given everything as a kid and now when he actually did manage to enroll in PMA, he couldn't figure his life out. 

        Surprisingly Ahmed and he got along pretty well. They weren't close but they tried to maintain a healthy friendship. Wali came from Swat valley in Khyber Pakhtun Khwa. The main effort came from Ahmed's side since he was someone with a bigger brain and knew how to handle the situation whenever they got into trouble. Wali's accent gave him away, it was much more like the British version of Urdu and the seniors enjoyed teasing him more.

        Ahmed stared at the ceiling as he laid in his bed, he was tired but he didn't share his tiredness with anyone else. He wasn't used to sharing his inner thoughts and troubles with people. There was only one exception in his life, his mom. That women knew all about him without him even trying to talk to her about it. She knew all the girls in his life who had come and gone, his likes and dislikes, how he was doing in life and how he should opt for himself. Obviously she gave him an open approach to make his own decisions but somehow came up with the best suggestions.

        Ahmed missed her. He tried not to think too much about it but couldn't bring himself to. Wali entered the room. "Brother I think these people are totally off the roof! Laka I can make all of them disappear but they should be thankful I haven't called Baba (Wali's father) and told him about it. Or what if my Agha Jaan (grandfather) finds out...THEY WILL BLOW THIS PLACE UP!"he complained. Ahmed didn't bother, he was too busy in his own thoughts. He had the obvious accent of Pathans and used this slang word 'Laka' that meant something Ahmed never understood.

        "Ahmadi?"Wali called out to him. "I told you not to call me that,"Ahmed groaned,"you should know how much I hate that word!"

        "Oh okay, my fault, but do you mind telling me about why the long face my brother?"he sat on his bed. Ahmed sat up straight and sighed. 

/* for those who do not know, Ahmadi and Ahmed are two different terms. Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims since they consider  Ahmad Mirza Ghulam, the founder of the movement, to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah awaited by the Muslims. While Ahmed is a simple name meaning 'Most praised, commendable'.*/

        "I was missing my mom."

        Wali raised his brows,"Mom as in your birth mother?"

        Ahmed frowned,"Obviously?"

        "Oh I forgot you people only have one mom, we usually have two or more,"Wali said in the most normal and undisturbed manner as if it was totally agreeable. Ahmed shook his head, he knew he couldn't help this man regarding the life style he had lived in his hometown. 

        "I know,"Ahmed whispered. "So uh...do you feel like crying?"he asked. Ahmed swayed his head in denial,"I don't."

        "That's good I couldn't comfort you if you cried...cause I don't think it's nice seeing a grown man cry,"Wali nodded his head and went up to his table to collect his books. 

        Ahmed went back to laying on his bed. He found it amusing how straight forward and different Wali was, also he considered this guy to be extremely dumb. He chuckled out of nowhere in his own thoughts. Wali glanced at him. 'Poor man...thinking of his mom so much that he is starting to chuckle like a fool,' he thought to himself as he swayed his head in dismay and started jolting down notes for science. 

        Ahmed fell asleep. He didn't realize it but he felt enough tired to fall asleep on his bed. This was not going to turn out good if a senior saw him. He dreamt about a girl, she was smiling at him as her eyes made crescents through her glasses. She was his lover and he knew it. He felt her warmth as she embraced him in a hug. If this were real life he would have pushed her away. This was haram and he would never touch a girl for no reason unless necessary. But in his dream he burst into tears for no reason and got embraced by this mysterious girl. She felt warm and safe. 

        Ahmed woke up, his eyes were red cause he only had a thirty minutes nap. "Hey wake up!"Wali called out to him. "You're falling asleep! it's time for P.T!"Wali was rushing through the room as if he had his rent due. Ahmed nodded at him in sleep. "I know...I just had a good dream after so long,"he spoke in his drowsy voice.

        "Yeah and any moment now you would become an old dream for all of us if you get caught! MAN I DON'T WANNA DO PUSH UPS ANYMORE! THEY TIRE ME TO DEATH!"he whined. Ahmed laughed put loud,"Okay okay!Sir! let's get down before we're summoned by our names!"he grabbed Wali by his neck and messed his non-existent hair up.

        "MAN DON'T MESS UP MY 1 MILIMETER HAIR!"Wali whined sarcastically making them both burst into laughed. They ran down to join the others as Ahmed thought about the mysterious girl he had in his dream. He wanted her to be real, but the weird part was that he felt like he had met her before somehow but just couldn't figure out who was she.

~
        "She needs some rest for now,"the doctors told Mrs.Tariq over the phone. "Thank you so much, I'll take care of her."

        "No problem. I'll be hanging up then, good evening, Mrs.Tariq." The doc hung up.         

        Emel was sick for the past three days, she had a very high fever. Her parents were worried about her. Mrs.Tariq had been taking her to the hospital but today Emel couldn't get out of bed. She felt her bones breaking whenever she tried moving. 

        Her mom gave her painkillers of all sort to help her. "It's going to be fine,"she kissed her forehead and went out, letting the door of her room to stay slightly open in case Emel did call out for her.

        Emel fell asleep again. She had an odd dream. A young flower bloomed in her garden and when she thought of plucking it, her heart began to ache. Even the slightest thought pf plucking it out from the garden made her heart ache. She woke up all of a sudden. It had been more than thirty minutes and she already felt like her fever was down. She was sweating but the fever was going down.

        She pulled herself up. There was some milk and apples by her side. She took a slice of apple and chewed it slowly. Her heart was beating faster than before, she had fallen in love with that purple rose she had seen in her dream. It seemed really relaxing. She smiled to herself as she thought about it.

        The rays of mid-day sun fell upon her. It had been raining all day. The sun came out out of nowhere as a singly and warm ray of sun came inside her window. she looked out of it, it was 3 pm. She could see kids cycling out in the streets. "I wish it was real,"she thought to herself as she silently and deeply pondered over the outside world.

~

♡"I'll wait for you. And I'll keep on waiting for you, even if it takes forever. I'll be here, right here...till you let me be the one."♡