Lavender Love - Samir and Parisa

Samir's forehead was creased in concentration, making sure to navigate every pothole and bump on the dirt road he was riding his motorcycle on. He could feel Parisa's grip tighten at each jump, and he couldn't help but feel amused.

After all these years she was still scared of going on the bike. But she'd always do it, because she knew it made him happy.

He was taking her to the saffron flower field where they had first met.

Samir had been flying his kite, and it had been cut mid-air, falling gracefully amidst the very saffron field he was taking her to now.

He had rushed into the field to save his prized kite, only to violently knock Parisa down as she was helping her father in the field. Oh what a scolding he had received from both her and her father!

He couldn't remember if he had been able to salvage his kite but all he could remember was looking into Parisa's eyes as she was yelling various curses at him, and not wanting to ever look away. He had fallen for her, fallen hard. It had taken him a long time to make her feel the same (her grudge against him took a while to forget) but finally, she had given in, and he never gave up on her.

He was going to take her to the very spot he had knocked into her, and he was going to teach her how to fly a kite. Perhaps he'd let her knock into him and the score could finally be settled!

In his rearview mirror, he could see glimpses of her lavender chadari fluttering in the wind. He had wanted to gift her something special for Nowruz, and it was tradition to always wear a new pair of clothes on the first day of spring.

He wanted to gift her a chadari, but all the chadaris in Herat were blue. To make it special, he took it to a dye shop to be colored a beautiful lavender hue. He had told the shop owner that he wanted the color to be the color of the saffron flower. Parisa understood the reference the second he gifted it to her that morning. She was delighted.

He couldn't wait to see her smile, lighting up her face, while she laughed amidst the field of saffron flowers in their own special spot.

He sped up, his heart racing with anticipation. 💜

Story and illustration by @rasmorawaj ©