Let’s Dance To Our Tune

Ruqsana sat on her bed, crying into her pillow. She couldn’t take her mind off her mother’s slap and her father’s accusing eyes. What stung more than the slap was their harsh words. She had always feared that her parents valued their image more than her and today’s events had proven it. So when someone knocked on her door, she had a natural reaction.

“Go away!” She said.

“Roxy, it’s me,” Ahmer called out from the door, “I just want to talk.”

Ruqsana didn’t respond. She didn’t let him in but didn’t chase him away either. Ahmer took that as a sign that she was willing to listen and started speaking.

“I didn’t mean to deceive you. I was going to tell you about my real identity if you had said yes. In many ways, Prince is my real identity rather than Ahmer. Because when I’m Prince, I get to be my real self without pressure from my parents. I found out about your real identity today from the news. But my feelings for you have not changed. Whether you are Roxy or Ruqsana, you are still the girl who gives me the courage to fight the world. I know you don’t feel the same about me, so if you’d rather not go through with our wedding, I’ll find a way to get it cancelled. However, if you give me a chance, I will do everything in my power to give you the kind of life you want, no matter what my father or your parents say.”

Ahmer stayed silent for a while, waiting for Ruqsana’s response. He was about to give up and turn away when Ruqsana opened the door and invited him in. They took seats on the sofa.

“I am not angry with you,” Ruqsana started speaking, “I have no right to be after all, I hid my real identity too. I understand what you mean by Prince being your real identity, it’s the same for me as Roxy. I was lying when I said that I didn’t feel the same about you. The truth is that I love you too. Even though it’s been only a week, this week has been the most special in my life. All because of you.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why did you reject me if you love me?” Ahmer asked, curious.

“It was my way of protecting you,” She answered.

“From your parents?” He guessed.

“Yes,” she confirmed, “They can go to any length to get what they want. You can’t imagine how terrified I was when you first showed up here as Prince. I am sure that if you weren’t Ahmer, they had something terrible planned for you.”

“What exactly would they do?”

“Something that would make you wish you had never met me,” Ruqsana said with a wry smile, thinking of a boy with shaggy sandy blonde hair.

“Have they done something like this before?”

Ruqsana nodded, “There was a boy named Qasim in my middle school. He used to stick out because he was from a backward-class quota, while most students were from upper class families. Kids used to pick on him, so I became friends with him and put a stop to it. I ended up upsetting some of the rich kids because of it. My parents didn’t like that I was sticking up for a poor nobody and making enemies with people of our level. They tried talking me into breaking my friendship with him but when I didn’t budge, they went after Qasim and his family. They got his parents fired from their jobs on some bullshit excuse and talked the school administration into expelling him. His family had to shift to a different city because of all the harassment. When I asked them why they did it, they said Don’t be sad. They are not like us.”

“That’s messed up,” Ahmer admitted, “My father isn’t fond of the friends I’ve made but he hasn’t gone out of his way to ruin our friendship.”

“Your father is just an angry polar bear in front of my parents,” Ruqsana quipped.

“Sounds right,” Ahmer chuckled at the mental image.

“Ever since that incident, I’ve been scared to go against my parents,” Ruqsana teared up, looking down, “I’m not the brave girl you think I am. I am a hypocrite who expects everyone to fight but can’t put one up for herself.”

Ahmer pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to Ruqsana, who used it to wipe her tears before handing it back to him.

“A coward wouldn’t face off thugs armed with sticks,” Ahmer said, “You experienced something terrible and acted based on it. I don’t think this makes you a coward or a hypocrite. It’s just that you didn’t know a better way to fight back.”

“You wouldn’t have taken this lying down,” Ruqsana retorted, “You’ve proved it time and time again.”

“Well, you can start now. Let’s take back our lives from our parents.”

“What do you mean?” Ruqsana asked, though she had an idea.

“You want to work after graduation and I want to be an animator. Let’s tell them that this is exactly what we’re doing.”

“Our parents will never agree to it,” Ruqsana shook her head.

“They will have to if they love us.”

“My parents’ idea of love is to sabotage me for my own good,” Ruqsana tried to make him see reason, “And your father might finally make good on his threat to disown you.”

“If that happens, we always have the option to leave home.”

“I told you before,” Ruqsana sighed, “Despite everything they’ve done, I still love them. I don’t want to cut them off.”

“But do they love us enough to keep us?” Ahmer asked, “I think it’s time we tested that.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Then that makes things simpler, doesn’t it?”

Ruqsana remained quiet. What Ahmer said made sense to her but she was still hesitant to go through something so big. Ahmer pressed on to get his point across.

“Loving someone doesn’t mean destroying yourself until there’s nothing left of us. We love our parents but we can’t sacrifice our dreams, our peace of mind for them. Otherwise, we’re just existing, not living.”

“I’m not strong enough to do this,” Ruqsana whispered.

Ahmer sat closer to Ruqsana, looking her in the eyes to convey his sincerity, “These past few days, I’ve fought battles I never would’ve and you inspired me to do that. It’s my turn to be your strength.” He raised his hand, holding it out to her, “Shall we?”

Ruqsana gave it more thought, looking at Ahmer’s hand. After some internal debate, she finally took Ahmer’s hand and nodded. They went downstairs to face whatever may come together.