Nura

Nura’s P.O.V.

If there were one thing that made me cringe so badly, I would rather bite thick, hard ice than watch it, would be the sight of couples on the street with their hands and mouths all over each other. No offense to anyone who is dating and/or has lovers but please, for goodness’ sake not on the streets. Do us all a favor and keep the love for the indoors.

For instance, I was on a walk earlier today and accidentally made eye contact with a man who had his whole hand sticking in the pants of the lady next to him. Honestly, I wanted to wash my eyes with soap after that, but what can I say nowadays people take anything and everything as love, even when it is anything but.

The walk was fun and all but now I need to get back home and get ready for the day. I was walking up the stairs when my phone started ringing, I looked at the screen before answering, it was my mom.

"Hey mom, how are you doing?” I said, “Hey baby, I’m good, thanks, how are you? Are you home yet?” she asked, “I’m doing alright, I’m almost home. Why? Is something wrong?” I answered a little worried.

“No, no, everything’s fine, I just wanted to come over and talk for a bit, if that is alright with you, of course.” She said a little embarrassed. "No, Mom, it is alright with me, you are always welcome,” I said, “Ok then, I’m coming over and we are going to eat lunch together, then we are going to have a heartfelt conversation about life, alright?“, she explained, “Yeah, sure, I would love that," I said and with that, she said she needed to get ready and we said our bye’s and I love you’s just as I opened the front door to my house.

I tidied the place up a little, so Mom wouldn’t complain about my “messy and depressing” environment. I love my place and it might look like a mess on the outside but for me, it is very neat and clean, maybe not so clean, but I know exactly where everything is, and that is all that matters to me.

Funny to think that I was living the exact opposite of this less than 2 years ago. City life had its advantages and disadvantages, it’s good and bad, it took me a while to understand that I was not built for city life. It gave me more pain than pleasure living there, so I decided to do want my heart was aching for.

I left the city that my parents and siblings love so much and moved to the countryside, bought an apartment in the village that was the greenest and was closest to my parents’ house. By close, I mean almost a 2-hour drive. Not that bad, right? it’s far enough to have an independent and private life from my family but close enough in case I miss them.

I looked at the clock, it was almost 10 in the morning, so I decided to bake something for Mom so she can take back with her and share it with our family. Mom loves the bread I make, and Dad likes the homemade cinnamon rolls. So I made both and by the time I was done, Mom’s car rolled into the driveway.

I quickly sat down the hot tray of newly baked bread on the countertop, after making sure it won’t accidentally trip over, I rushed to the door and opened it just in time to see her getting out of the car.

Her beautiful brown eyes shore with happiness and delight as she saw me, and opened her arms for a hug. I embraced her and very quietly said, “Hi, Mom, how was the drive?", “It was very good, in fact, it was so beautiful outside that I was considering moving here and living somewhere close to you all within the first 10 minutes.” she laughed as she said that.

I stepped out of her arms and smiled at her. She cupped my shoulders and kissed my forehead, “I miss you so much, even though we see each other almost every week, It still feels like I don’t see you as much as I should,” she said looking a little upset, I understand where she is coming from.

Being the eldest of the siblings, I’m sure they all can feel my absence, but then again, It was about time I moved out and started living on my own. You might think ′ok silly, maybe 18 is not old enough to move out and live on your own ′ Well you would’ve been right if I were 18, but I’m not, I just turned 30 a few weeks ago, so not a teenager, fortunately.

I always hated being a teenager, it was so painful for me, especially when I was shy and introverted, I only had a few close friends, but surprisingly had a mutual friendship with almost everyone in my school. it was fun while it lasted. but never again.

I went straight to college after I graduated high school, the 4 years that followed were the best years of my life, it had its ups and downs, but I loved every bit of it. Majoring in Biology was not the easiest, but at least I enjoyed doing it.

And just like that I graduated college with a Bachelor’s Degree, and then shit hit the fan and things went downhill. I decided to take a break from everything and get my shit together before going back to school.

Surprisingly, the break helped and I was able to get back to school a year later. and Finally, 4 years after that, I was able to graduate from med school with an MD degree. I was 25 back then and then I did my residency for 4 years, and then I moved here and did 2 years of fellowship. and now I’m doing my thing and enjoying it, becoming a dentist was my childhood dream come true.

Now I work at the local hospital here, and honestly, I love it, it’s not a very big hospital, but it’s nice and surprisingly I have a lot of patients. I only work 4 days a week, and I also run a bakery, hence my love for baking. that is what keeps me busy and happy most of the time.

“Oh, yeah, before I forget,” my mother said as she walked to the back of the car, and opened the trunk, “I bought you some cooking supplies, thought you might need them,” she said as she grabbed the bags from the back of her car and closed the door. “Mom, thank you but you really didn’t have to,” I said as she handed me the bags. she shook her head from side to side, muttering a quiet ‘nonsense’ under her breath.

We both walked back inside, I sat the bags down on the kitchen counter and Mom took a deep breath in, and said: “Wow, it smells so good in here, what did you make?“

“Oh, nothing, just some bread for you and Dad, I still need to let it cool down though,” I said as I took the freshly baked bread off the tray and put it on the countertop to let it cool down. I took my oven gloves off and put them next to the stove, as Mom took a seat at the sofa in the middle of the living room.

“So, how’s life? how’s work?” Mom said loudly from the sofa, “It’s going alright, I feel like I’m finally settling down in this town, I’m starting to know almost all of my neighbors and the shop owners” I said laughing.

Mom looked at me smiling, “yeah that is the thing with small towns, everybody knows everybody, I’m glad you are feeling like you could call this place home, it’s a beautiful town” she said still smiling. I looked back at her and said, “I made lunch, you wanna help me set the table up, and then we can talk as we eat, you know, makes the food taste better,“, “Yup, you are dead right, right there” she said as she got off the sofa and came to the kitchen to help me.

After a good 15 minutes, the table was ready and we finally sat down to have a bite. “How is Dad?” I asked, “Oh, he is doing great, he just closed a really big deal with a new company a few days ago, and he was really happy about it, saying that he really liked the guy,” She said as she chowed on the dumplings I made for lunch.

“Oh my god, these are so good, Nura, anything from your hands is mouthwatering,” she said, humming as she took another one into her mouth. “Oh come on, I’m not that good”, I said, secretly loving her compliment. She gave me a look that screamed ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me’, I laughed and said, “Right, right, my bad, I know I’m good at this whole cooking, baking thing", “Yup, that’s more like it, take a compliment like it meant to be taken” She said, smiling at me.

We finished our food and started cleaning up, I quickly put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and ran back excitedly as Mom got some snacks and put on our favorite show, I sat next to her and we cuddled as we watched the TV.

After some time she spoke, “So, how’s dating going? met anyone you liked yet?“, “Ummm well, I’m not dating anyone as of right now, but there is this guy that I like in the hospital, he’s kinda cute and an excellent gentleman, he is a nurse, I see him almost every day,” I said, taking a moment to think about it. if you couldn’t tell already.

I’m very close with my mother, she is the sweetest person I have ever known, and most importantly, she respects boundaries and loves me and my siblings for who we really are. “Ok, do you think you will ask him on a date or is it just a simple crush that you don’t really want in your way?” she said, sitting up straight and looking at me with seriousness in her eye.

“I think it’s just a simple crush that will go away in a few months, so no, I don’t want to ask him on a date,” I answered honestly, I don’t really care for crushes, they are just first impressions about people that always go away after a while, so unless it's a head over heels crush, it is not going to last very long.

I asked her about her work was going and that got her attention off the crushes topic, she started telling me about her new designs, and her recent works.

I didn’t want her to worry too much about me. time kind of flew away with that, and by the time we were done, it was past 6 in the evening. She looked at the big grandfather clock and got off the sofa.

“Ok sweetie, I need to go home, I’m gonna be late for work tomorrow if I don’t get going right now” she explained as she walked to the front door, “Wait, Mom, take this with you,” I said and rushed to the kitchen, grabbed the containers filled with homemade cinnamon rolls and bread, and rushed back to her.

We hugged goodbye and I told her to text me when she gets home as she rolled out of the driveway, waving. I stayed there, watching, until I couldn't see her car anymore, and then I went back inside.

I decided to take a shower. I love the evening air, so I opened the window in the living room and in my bedroom, letting the cool air in. I hopped into the shower, and let the hot water loosen up all of the tight muscles in my body.

When I got back out, it was almost 8. I usually don't eat dinner, so I decided to skip it today as well. I put my pajamas on and went downstairs, turned on the TV, put The Bad Guys on (yes, I'm talking about the cartoon), and relaxed on the sofa.

I was halfway through the movie when I heard something fall with a heavy thud from my backyard. I was startled and was a little scared to go and see what it was, but still, I gathered all of my emotions and slowly walked towards to back door, I grabbed the first thing I could reach from the kitchen, which happened to be a cleaning broom, I looked down at it and thought 'i really am gonna die a terrible death, ain't I?'