Chapter 15 #2
‘That he would have. He’s a king mischief-maker but great fun to be around.
Everyone loves him.’ Zafar couldn’t stop the pride he felt when he spoke about his youngest brother.
Harry was nine years younger and at times Zafar felt more like an indulgent parent than older brother.
Maybe because Harry had tended to come to him with anything and everything when he’d been a little boy and the others had no patience with him, while he had all the time Harry needed, much to his grandfather’s displeasure.
‘ Let the boy go to his mother. You must stop babying him, Junior, and concentrate on your own responsibilities .’ Funnily enough, that was one of the areas in which Zafar had always gone with his instinct and taken care of his brother.
‘Not as much as you do though. Anyone can see how much you dote on him and he on you.’ He turned and looked at Reshma, her voice pulling him away from his thoughts, which had been swinging more and more towards the nuggets of advice his grandfather had given him, seeing some of them in a new light.
‘I do. But so do you.’
She agreed readily. ‘Absolutely. He’s the little brother I never had. He welcomed me into your family with open arms and zero judgement or expectations.’
Zafar’s smile slipped as her words hit him. His baby brother seemed to have more wisdom and maturity when it came to Reshma than he did. And yet most people thought he was the smarter Saeed. Just went to show.
‘I didn’t mean anything by that, I just—’
‘It’s OK, Reshma. You don’t have to justify anything.’ He tried to smile reassuringly, even though he felt dreadful. But if he wanted to make his way towards a better place for them, then he had to face his failures and shortcomings head on. It was all part of the process, was it not?
Movement beyond her shoulder caught his attention and he alerted her to it.
‘Turn and look behind you. I think those are waterbucks.’ He looked at the leaflet Saleema had given him, which had a map and descriptions and pictures of the different animals at the sanctuary.
Sure enough, up ahead was a small herd of waterbucks, and not too far beyond that, he could see oryx, their long horns looking like majestic crowns.
It was a unique experience and something completely out of the ordinary for him, if a little daunting, given that these weren’t exactly domestic animals one was used to walking around.
Reshma took her phone out and took pictures, as did he, both of them momentarily forgetting their conversation and soaking in the atmosphere and beauty around them.
The animals, as they’d been told, didn’t mind humans in their space and calmly moved around, some stopping to have water or munch on the grass. It was both awe-inspiring and humbling, being around such animals in their habitat.
They moved along the trail taking pictures when Zafar’s gaze landed on Reshma’s side profile just ahead of him as she avidly watched animals walking in the distance.
The sun shone on her hair, making it shimmer like a dark jewel.
Her cheeks were flushed and loose tendrils of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail framed her face.
He trained his camera on her and took a few snaps and then sent her one.
He heard her notification chime and when she looked at the message, she turned to look at him, her nose slightly wrinkled but the beginning of a smile on her lips.
He closed the distance between them, slowly walking towards her, her phone gripped in her hand.
Her lips were parted. Her tongue poked out and ran along her lower lip before coating her top lip with a sheen of moisture, making his spine and fingers tingle.
He wanted to touch her, see for himself if she felt as soft and warm as she looked.
Bizarre really, because he knew what she felt like, but he’d not felt such a deep-rooted need to just touch her before, with nothing else to it. It had always been a functional element of their relationship. But the need, the desire he felt coursing through him now felt different.
Her gaze moved from left to right across his face before slowly lowering to his mouth, her lashes fanning out across her cheeks, their darkness in sharp contrast to her skin.
She slowly lifted her eyes to his again and Zafar raised his right hand, his fingers hovering around the left side of her jaw, where tendrils of hair danced in the soft breeze.
His eyes were lasered in on Reshma’s, looking for the smallest sign for him to close the gap between his hand and her face.
Or, better yet, for her to close the distance between her lips and his.
And then she gasped, ‘Oh my God! Zafar, look!’ Her loud exclamation had him jerking back to attention, finding her gaze fixed over his shoulder. He turned his head, trying to bring all his faculties to order while his brain tried to comprehend the sight in the distance.
A tower of giraffes was gathered not too far away from them and there was a pair of uniformed staff members emptying bags of something into large buckets.
Reshma put her hand on his forearm and moved in that direction and Zafar let her lead him.
They made their way closer to the giraffes, watching as one of the team members placed the empty sack to the side under a small boulder, and then hefting the bucket, he held it out.
One of the giraffes slowly ambled over – said amble covering a few metres in one step.
It looked absolutely magnificent as it covered the distance between itself and the bucket of feed, gently lowering its head and taking a mouthful before rising once more to chew it.
Zafar paused a few metres away from where the feeding was taking place and watched as another giraffe made its way towards the second team member and did the same.
Although she’d led them closer, Reshma now stood just behind him, as though she were wary of getting any nearer.
She had a hand on his right shoulder as she peered at the giraffes over it.
‘How beautiful are they?’ She whispered the words in his ear and all his nerve endings went on high alert, his hair standing on end.
Warmth emanated from her, permeating through the fabric of his T-shirt and making him feel like the right side of his body was glowing red.
He couldn’t do more than nod in agreement as he swallowed to ease the dryness in his throat.
‘Oh, Zafar, look. There’s a baby giraffe.
Aww.’ Her delight was palpable as she stepped out from behind him slightly to take a closer look and Zafar couldn’t help the genuine smile that took over his face.
The calf stayed close to the mother as staff members continued to hold out buckets of feed for the giraffes.
One of the staff members spotted Zafar and Reshma watching from a distance and beckoned them over.
‘Come. Come and try. They will eat with you holding the bucket if you would like to feed them. They are very friendly animals.’
They moved closer, towards the feeding area, but as they neared, Reshma moved behind him again.
He felt her hands hovering around his biceps, as though ready to grab it.
As Zafar took another step closer, a giraffe loomed over them, making Reshma squeak and circle his arm with her hands, ready to pull him back.
He placed his hand over hers and looked over his shoulder at her, smiling in reassurance. ‘It’s fine. I think it’s just being friendly. Wants to say hello to the lady and her handsome husband.’
She scoffed and Zafar was reassured that she wasn’t terrified, just nervous.
Zafar stepped forward and took the proffered bucket of feed from the staff member and held it out to the giraffe like he was instructed to, Reshma staying behind him, her hands now firmly grasping the fabric of his T-shirt at his waist as she peeked around him at the giraffe.
‘It’s actually eating.’ She whispered the words in wonder, the warmth of her breath tickling his ear as the giraffe lowered its head and took a mouthful of feed.
One couldn’t appreciate how large an animal it was until you were standing at a mere six feet and four inches beside its impressive height of almost eighteen feet. Zafar felt a sense of reverence at the wonder that was nature and their place as humans in it.
‘Why don’t you try it? They’re really gentle and happy,’ the staff member addressed Reshma, who was still ducked behind him and observing proceedings over his shoulder.
Her grip had moved to his shoulder and was tight, making him aware of their positions.
She had bunched his T-shirt under her fingers and now that he was focusing on her touch, he felt her other hand around his arm as though it were a source of heat, slowly warming him, one degree at a time.
Her touch elicited an awareness in him and he nearly lost his hold on the bucket.
He adjusted his grip just as the giraffe lowered its head for more.
Another giraffe ambled towards them and the staff member beside them held out a bucket for Reshma. ‘Let me hold it with you. You’ll see how friendly they are. They love all this attention.’
She came and stood beside him, still tucked away a bit, and held the bucket with assistance as the second giraffe lowered its head and took a mouthful of feed.
‘That’s it. See?’
Reshma turned and looked at Zafar, her eyes wide and her smile the broadest he’d ever seen, before she mouthed an ‘oh my God’ to him.
The experience was truly mesmerising and Zafar couldn’t think of another time when he’d felt this relaxed in the last seven years at least. His life had been a series of twists and turns, and while he had some major regrets, coming out here wasn’t one of them, even if the lead-up to it and how it had happened was.
He was glad that he’d come, he just wished he had done so of his own accord.
The buckets emptied and the giraffes ambled away when there was no more food to be had, losing interest in hanging around.
Zafar watched them with Reshma as they regally made their way across the wilderness.
He turned and found her staring at the giraffes with a serene smile on her face before she turned that smile on him.