“Hey Affan! Wait,” called Arham as soon as he left the mosque after the prayer.
“As-salaamu alaikum! How are you, friend?” Arham answered when he turned and saw Affan running behind him.
“Alhamdulillah! I am fine, but I have a problem and I wondered if you or anyone you know could help me out?” Affan said.
“Yeah, why not? Tell me what happened?” Arham replied.
“The problem is I have a maths test tomorrow and my geometry box is missing. It is the end of the month, so asking my parents for money doesn’t seem right either,” Affan presented his case in detail.
“Oh! Is that all? Don’t worry. Come, I’ll give you my geometry box for a day,” Arham replied generously.
Affan was grateful to get such a generous response.
“But ...!” Arham raised his finger and said.
“But what?” Affan was confused.
“But you must return it to me by tomorrow evening, because I have my maths paper the day after tomorrow,” Arham replied with a smile.
“Of course, of course! Don’t worry. I’ll return it tomorrow afternoon as soon as I get home from school. Anyway, tomorrow is the last paper, so no worries,” Affan sighed in relief and promised Arham.
Arham held his geometry box out to Affan.
The next day in the afternoon, Arham waited for Affan to return his geometry box. As the afternoon turned into evening and Affan still hadn’t shown up, Arham became anxious. He decided to go to Affan’s house, which was a bit far. So after telling his mother, he left for Affan’s house.
Arham walked for a long time and he finally reached Affan’s house, there was a big lock on the door. Arham was very tired and thirsty. He asked around the neighbourhood and found out that Affan had gone to his grandmother’s house with his mother for two days. It came as a blow to Arham. He couldn’t believe how Affan could do that, even though he told him clearly that he also had a paper the next day.
Arham returned home feeling sad. His mother asked him what had happened. With tears in his eyes, he told her everything. She patted his back and comforted him, then gave him money to buy a new geometry box for his text the next day.
Dear friends, always return things you borrow and don’t lose others’ trust. Keep your promises.
Published in Dawn, Young World, July 27th, 2024
