Continued...

"Hanya"

"Hmm?"

"Where were you? I called you like so many time, you didn't even responded to my text or FaceTime???" I could sense the concern in his voice.

"Sorry. My cell was on silent mode, and I was talking with Mama." I replied.

"You alright Na?" He asked.

"Hmm and You?" I asked.

"Yeah"

"When did you reached?"

"Right when I started calling you"

"Did you ate something?"

"No"

"Why???"

"Not hungry"

"Arey, what is this? You have to eat whether you're hungry or not. If you'll not eat then how will you get energy to work?" I said.

"Do you hear yourself?? You're talking as if I'm a three year old" he said laughing.

"I'm not joking" I pouted.

"Who said that you're joking?" He even started laughing more. I wish, I could see him laughing.

"Ha ha ha very funny!!"

"Jokes apart...what is Adeel doing??" He asked.

"Just woke up" I said

"Oohhkkaayyy" he said with a long sigh.

I couldn't come with anything better other than this "How’s the weather today?"

"It's so chilly, I hate winters" he whined. I chuckled.

"Well, I love winter"

"What? I hate getting out of bed during winters, it is horrible!" He said

"How do you not love winter? You know when I was a little girl, I counted the days to winter" I chuckled.

"So you mean now you're grown up?" He was kind of shocked.

"Any doubt?" I asked. He laughed.

"Have you seen yourself? You're still a teen, who gets excited seeing a lollipop" he laughed.

"Haawwww....liar. It's nothing like that" I defended myself.

"Ohh is that so?? Then who was drooling over a varieities of lollipop when we had went for the shopping?" He teased

"Huh...that wasn't me!!" I said playing with my hair.

"Say Wallah"

"Why does everything has to be with Wallah?"

"Caught you" he laughed and with him I also laughed.

“We are quite different.” I remarked.

“That is why we have many things to share.” He added immediately.

“What?” I asked perplexed.

“Umm, think of it this way, don’t you want to look forward for something new in life, I mean imagine a world where all stories had the same start. All movies ever made had same plot and all mysteries had same endings. I believe being similar will make people lonely.” He said.

“But don’t you think if people are different in nature and liking, they will fight all the times?” I asked.

“If you personally ask about me, I’ll take fights over loneliness. No one can play Ludo if all pieces have same colors.” He said.

“Not a bad perception.” I replied.

And soon Adeel started crying.

"Why is he crying? Is he alright? Stomach pain? Take him to the doctor...no wait, I'm calling the doctor and telling him to visit your place like right now." He kept on blabbering.

"Relax, Calm down...Allahamdulilah he's perfectly fine. He's hungry...anyways, I'll call you back, as soon as he quiets down." I said putting him in the rocker.

"Okay. No, don't call me. Just Face Time me"

"Yeah okay. Bye" I said hurriedly and hang up, not waiting for his reply. I quickly got up and made a feeder for him. He stopped crying as soon as he started drinking. After a while, I changed his clothes, and finally when he was ready, I called him.

"So finally you're free" he said.

"Yup and you?" I asked

"About to enter in the conference room."

"Ohh..no issues, I'll send a pic and some videos of Adeel and some other time or day you could video chat!!" I said in a happy tone but in the inside, I was very much disappointed.

"Yeah, okay. As it is I wanted to see Adeel, so whether I see his pic or in video, doesn't matter to me." He said casually, but that hurted me. Oh God....!! I'm soon going to be mad.

"Okay, take care" I tried to sound casual, but it didn't happen.

"Hanya?"

"Allah Hafiz. All the best for your meeting." I said and hang up. Don't know why I behaved like that, something was surely wrong with me.

*********

Dusk was falling, the mosquito's were out, goose bumps were on my arms from the evening chill. The shadows were now twice as long as themselves, the air was damp and cool smelling faintly of a car's exhaust fumes. Under the moonlight the avenue lay still.

The heat of the day had been replaced by a cool breeze as I sauntered under the trees with a sweater dangling from my arm. I moved between the pools of streetlight, feet almost silent of the sidewalk. A pair of headlights came bouncing from the parking lot, blinding me temporarily before passing and disappearing.

The cafe would already be packed with my friends and I was eager to get there.

Till now, this cafe is the colour of red and white with specks of grey in them, it has that shiny look, and the jazz pours out of the open doors along with the aroma of fresh baked lasagne. The frontage is as grey as the smooth concrete sidewalk at my feet. I take in a deep breath, sucking in the air that carries a hint of dampness and lacks the heavy pollution of the day traffic.

The medium sized café huddled despondent among the huge city buildings. Washed out under the overcast sky, it hunched in itself, fighting against the drizzle. Hundreds of people rushed by it, outside on the crowded street. The half a dozen customers glanced up as the door swung open, heralded by a blast of cold wind.

Unlike the outside, the interior of the café was warm and cheery, with bright lights and colourful walls at one side. The customers would always returned to their conversations as the door swung closed behind the new entrant and the cold breeze was forgotten.

Nothing has changed, it was still the same cafe with Square tables, glass tops, menu under glass tops, light classical music, waiters smartly dressed in black and white, large windows, small vases of flowers on each table, daily specials on a chalk board at entrance.

"Hanya, Hanya...this way" Sanjh was shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Salaam girls" I said taking a seat.

"Walekumasalam, how are you?" Ada and Alia asked.

"Allahamdulilah and you both?" I asked.

"Allahamdulilah" they replied.

"Excuse me, even I'm here" Sanjh said dramatically. And we all rolled our eyes. We quickly ordered our food and I called mama.

"Hello" she said.

"Hi..How's Adeel Mama?" I asked.

"He's playing..." She said.

"Did he cried or troubling you. I can come like right now. As it is we all are just chatting." I said.

"Are you doubting??? Have you forgotten, that I have grown you up, and let me tell you, Adeel is very much calm unlike you!!" She said.

"Geez Mama, cool down. No need to insult!! Fine, I'm hanging up. Do call me if he troubles" I said and hang up. When I looked up all were staring at me. "What??" I asked and they just rolled their eyes.

"So, how's your married life going? Ada asked, taking a bite of her fries.

"Allahamdulilah good" I smiled.

"Oohhh, do we smell love?" Sanjh poked her nose in between like always.

"No, we don't" I said.

"But your body language, says different" Alia said smirking.

"You all have gone mad" I said

"Hey, look...that's jij Na" Ada said pointing at the big LCD that was on the middle of the wall.

I turned to look at the TV and yup there he was, proudly standing in his grey tux as the reporters kept on asking questions. But what caught my attention, was the headline of the news, I stood up.

"Mr.Abdullah is been seen with his new lady love Mariam Tahir" my eyes bulged out at this. Sure, the girl was standing right beside him, they looked happy, he was smiling and his eyes were twinkling, he said something which made that girl laugh and she somewhat blushed also.

I somewhat lost my balance...

"Hani, you okay? Look it's just a news. And you know how media is? Just to avoid them, you both decided to keep this marriage a secret." Alia said rubbing my back as I tried to breathe which started coming in short gaps.

The last thing I ever wanted from someone was to cheat me...

"Talk to him Hani, call him right now." Sanjh said. I quickly took out my cell and instead of calling him, I did a video call.

"Hiii...everything alright?" He asked as soon as he came online. He was wearing the same suit, I looked up again to find his pics with her in different locations.

"Hanya, you there?"

"Yeah, where are you?" I asked.

"Just now came out of the conference. Where's Adeel?" He asked.

"He's at home with Mama, listen I -" I froze.

"Zain what are you doing? You'll miss this...give me your iPad" it was a girl's voice. I looked up and they all were staring with same expression.

"Mariam, give my iPad back. Give...Mariam leave ha ha ha...sorry. Now give me back...Mariaammm" I couldn't see anything, it was as if they were fighting, all I could see was floor tiles and now car seat. Suddenly the call ended, my tears started flowing.