Bait-ul Ankabut

Salar took Imama to Karachi once again. Salar was busy, and Imama roamed around with Anita. She was silent, and Salar noticed this. They talked when they reached their car.

Imama asked Salar about his pay. He replied, "No comments."

She asked if Salar owned the place they lived in (the apartment). He replied in negative.

She was in deep thought and he asked if she had any problem. She said that they should also make a home for themselves. Salar understood that it was Anita's home that had influenced her. Anita's home was huge with a swimming pool and a boat - she pointed out, and carried on explaining the details around the house.

When asked about Salar's assets, he replied that he had 2 plots. Their ideas were different when it came to making a house. Her idea of a house was a farmhouse with a wide area and maybe water.

Salar consoled her that getting a land in city was difficult, and his job required staying in the city. Her idea of a home would clearly require retirement and out of city. To console her, by the end of the day, he told her to make a sketch of her dream house.

The next day, Imama was awake before Fajr. She had drawn everything in a sketchbook and was excited to show it to him. She had even coloured the sketch.

Salar was happy to see it but he diverted the direction of their talk to avoid any argument. The house needed minimum of 1 acre land in the city which he could not afford at the moment. He had to be an Arab-pati for it, he joked.

Imama was still in her dreamland about her dream house. She was adamant on her house and he simply promised her to buy her a new home.

Ramadan was almost over. Salar would call her from time to time to check on her. While he was busy with both outside world and home, Imama's world was her home.

They had returned to Islamabad before the Eid. Usman, Salar's brothers and families had come home. While the brothers' got something from their respective in-laws, Imama noticed that Salar wouldn't get them due to her past. She assumed that even he thought the same. Her upset behavior by noticed by Salar.

"You should not have married me," Imama said.

"Good decision but it is too late now," Salar joked.

Imama was silent for a while and then teared up. While she was upset over such a trivial thing, Salar had not even given it a second thought. Moreover, it was not the gifts that made her upset, it was the emptiness she felt, sitting in the lounge with everyone.

-

They left their home, the next day, and Salar told her not to think about her past, and to accept it the way it was. Imama was silent for a while.

They went to see the school that Salar built with his hard-earned money. There was also a huge lawn with some plants and vegetables. There was the open ground with chairs, and also a dispensary. They went out to check out the entire area.

Imama noticed how Salar knew everyone's names there. He added "Sahab" in front of everyone's names while acknowledging them. They spent around 2 hours there. She had some feelings towards him, and confused as to why and how he had begun all this.

Salar narrated the entire tale as to how he had met Furqan and others. She silently listened and said how difficult it must have been. He said that it was not. Rather it was difficult to leave his old lifestyle. If his life had not changed, he would have been waiting to receive clothes from his sasural - he joked.

Imama did not mind him. Rather she agreed,  "I know I'm a typical person."

"No. You have not seen life yet." Salar said.

"At least don't say that. Life has taught me a lot of things." Imama defended.

He smiled and she really liked him a lot that day.

-

It was Eid the next day, and Usman Sikandar asked Imama and Salar to shop from the local shops soon and return home. The danger from Imama's family was still there.

Imama was bored and she had called everyone for Eid. They went to the kitchen, he made coffee for both of them, and watched a film together. He pointed out how much he liked the actress, and how he had gotten the same actress movie CDs a few hours ago. She told about her dislike towards the actress and turned off the TV.

She went to wash off her mehendi clad hands. She wore the bangles that he had gotten her for Eid. He was close to her, and she felt like his hand on her shoulder was like a wall, a safety net. It was their relationship that had added that feeling inside her.

After a while, he cheekily requested her to allow him to watch the movie. When she asked if he liked the actress, he said the negative. He repeated the phrases that she had said before. They were constantly talking, so he refused to watch the movie anyway.

-

Salar did not give any gift to Imama. It was again some money and she refrained herself from complaining. She was highly grateful to be there with his family as they treated her with so much respect. She needed that.

Salar came towards her when she sat far away from the family with a plate of kebabs. They were listening to a ghazal from a singer, live in their canopied backyard.

Finally, Salar took out a gift and gave it to her. It was a pair of pearled earrings. He asked if he could put them on her. She nodded and he confessed his love for her.

"I'm blessed." Salar ended his confession with that sentence.

They were making memories of the time that was never to return.

-

In their apartment, the farmhouse photo was the first one to go on the wall. They were truly happy and smiling in the photo.

Salar was making Imama to meet everyone. The women in the occasion could be a wife, girlfriend or a friend - nobody knew. Imama judged herself as she seemed to be the odd one out in her outfit. The women in the hall were too fashionable and stylish.

Salar was tip-top in his crisp outfit and she felt like they were an odd couple. The occasion was for Mrs. Salar Sikandar, not for Imama Hashim - she felt. She took an apple drink offered from a waiter. Salar took away the glass and returned it, asking for soft drinks. When offered again, he offered a glass for her, and then took one for himself.

There was a lady who approached Salar and was surprised to hear about his marriage. The woman invited him over and he accepted gracefully. This is what he had been doing at the occasion that day.

After a while, another lady approached them. It was Ramsha, who joked that he would have married Salar if she met him first. Even when Ramsha left them, Imama could not take her eyes off her. It was something odd and Salar noticed.

"Do you like women dressed like that, doing all this?" Imama asked, referring to the women who were not covered entirely, and judging their actions of hugging everyone around them

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Jazaki Allahu Khair.