The Parking Warden

"This is ridiculous!"

Yasmin waved her ticket at the warden who'd just ruined her day. "I was gone for five minutes!"

"You were gone for twenty-three." He didn't look apologetic. "The rules apply to everyone."

"Do you enjoy this? Ruining people's days?"

"I enjoy paying my rent." He pocketed his machine. "Appeal it if you think you're innocent. The council address is on the back."

She appealed. And lost.

But somehow, she kept running into him—at the grocery store, at the mosque, at her cousin's dholki where he turned out to be the groom's friend.

"You're stalking me," she accused.

"I live in this neighborhood too." Tariq smiled. "Small world."

"Small, annoying world."

"Annoying that you keep seeing me? Or annoying that you don't mind?"

She minded. And didn't mind. And couldn't stop thinking about him.

"Why parking warden?" she asked at their third accidental meeting.

"It's honest work. Consistent hours. Lets me study at night." He shrugged. "I'm finishing my law degree."

"You're becoming a lawyer? And you gave me a ticket?"

"The law is the law." His eyes sparkled. "Even future lawyers don't get parking privileges."

They had dinner. Then coffee. Then his flat, where books covered every surface.

"This is so weird," Yasmin said. "Dating the man who ticketed me."

"Life is weird." He kissed her. "The best parts especially."

He made love to her surrounded by law textbooks—ironic and fitting.

"Meri jaan," Tariq breathed, moving inside her. "Worth every ticket."

"I'm never paying another one."

"Then don't park illegally." He grinned. "Simple."

"My family will never understand how we met," Yasmin said afterward.

"Tell them fate." He pulled her close. "Or parking karma."

"That's not a thing."

"It is now." He kissed her forehead. "Say yes to me, Yasmin. Let me annoy you forever."

He passed the bar exam a year later.

She never got another ticket—he made sure of it.

Best £60 she ever spent.