Chapter 25: The One With A Double Wedding

"Follow your passion. Stay true to yourself. Never follow someone else's path unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path. By all means, you should follow that." ― Ellen DeGeneres

The piles of neglected projects at my office took nearly three days of overtime to complete. Thankfully, Ghauri was being very understanding. Maybe his good mood is directly attributed to the fact that Waleed the Terrible Intern will be leaving us soon.

Mom and Dad told me to head home early on a Wednesday, because they wanted to visit Adiba's place for a certain important meeting. Apparently, Ali would be home alone, and I was supposed to handle kitchen duties.

"It'll be good practice for your future." Mom had lectured.

So I drove home earlier than usual; to find Ali wearing out our living room carpet. He was biting his nails, something he hasn't done since he broke his habit twelve years ago.

I debated voicing one of the sarcastic jibes EMV was mouthing in my brain, but the poor kid looked ready to swallow rat poison at this moment.

"Calm down Ali! It'll be fine. Adiba's family cannot possibly object to you."

I try to console him.

"How do you know? I'm nothing remarkable Mina. Adiba can obviously do much better, if they so wish. What if she already has other proposals?"

"If her parents were seriously considering any other proposal, trust me, I WOULD KNOW....also, hear me well, because I'm probably never gonna say this again; but she could do much worse than you, you idiot." I pat him on the back, and head towards the kitchen. He follows me in.

"You cooking today?" He asks incredulously.

"Yes. You got a problem with that?" I narrow my eyes.

"Just a problem believing it, lazy ass." He settles on one of our counter stool.

"I cook AWESOME stuff Ali! Admit it!"

"Instant Noodles is not cooking food"

"I know how to cook other stuff too..." I start taking out ingredients for a pasta dish.

He snorts; "Baby sister, you once burned water....so excuse me while I order Pizza."

"Go ahead and order some. I'm going to make some kick-ass pasta that is healthy! then you can explain the pizza boxes to Mom"

Our Mom cannot tolerate food wastage. We are supposed to respect food of all type, even if we hate it. One rule that I grew up with; We never order stuff, when there's a fresh meal ready at home. I know it. Ali knows it.

He lets me dabble my hand at a new pasta recipe; which turns out to be pretty delicious.

"I...Take back...every..time...I called you..lazy ass....and klutzy... and..."

Ali says between huge bites. I beam at him.

"Told you I could cook!" I am proud of my small accomplishment. Maybe I'm not as hopeless at domesticity as I thought.

We're in the middle of dinner when I hear my parents let themselves in the house. I throw my brother a worried glance. His face is white as a sheet. Cheeks bulging from the pasta-bite he hasn't swallowed yet.

"Well...then...How was it?" I ask tentatively.

They are expressionless. My heart sinks a little...Poor Ali!

"Well, it started out well enough I suppose....They served us that chocolate Haagen Dasz ice-cream..." Dad starts. He is deliberately drawing this out.

"DADDY! get to the point!" I yank at my Dad's arm. Ali is slowly turning purple.

"....Well....like I said, it was going quite well, until we mentioned, Ali's proposal... Thier drawing room sofas were quite comfortable let me tell you! most impressive. I told your mother, we have to get some for our home..."

"DAAAAD!!!" I wail. Mom is struggling to keep her face straight.

"Hmm...well what do you think happened? They want to know whether you'd be comfortable with sharing the limelight at your wedding...It seems a double wedding is quite possib-"

I start screaming around like the crazy person that I am. I hug my Dad, then my Mom, I nearly perform the heimlich maneuver on Ali who is still swallowing his pasta.

I beg Mom and Dad for details while Ali hangs around with a dopey grin on his face. Apparently Khizer Uncle (Adiba's Dad) will be getting a vacation from his ship around the time of my nikah, so it seems logistically perfect that we go with a double wedding. Technically, Ali and Adiba's nikah will happen before mine, so that Ali's Valima and my wedding reception can happen together.

"People will think we're kanjoos, (cheapskates/miserly) for lumping both the events together." Mom says worriedly.

Dad waves her pondering away; "People will wonder why the hell they didn't do it with their own kids' weddings. It is smart, and economical to do it this way. We're already going against the spirit of Islam by spending millions on a wedding...might as well kill two birds with one stone."

Cheapskate act or not, I think there would be a charming sweetness to the event. I am ecstatic about doing this with my best friend!

I run upstairs, and spend a couple of hours phoning Adiba. For the first time since my engagement, I am genuinely excited about the whole marriage scene.

......

I miss Rania. It's been a week since we hung out together. I haven't seen neither her, nor her brother since the engagement. I decide to borrow her for a play date like I usually do. On days that were too hot for the roof, I often invited Rania to hang out with me. We'd watch movies, play Clue-do, or learn weird dance moves. Sometimes I'd let her doll me up with makeup.

There was something incredibly soothing about being around that girl. She was my very own therapy kitten. No matter what she was doing, she brought this innate wonderment, and excitement to it, which gently scraped away at the hardened cynicism around me. I'm not saying I'm an overly pessimistic, dark-soul, Kill-me-please-I-wear-black-nail-polish-for-a-reason kind of person, but I think as we step into adulthood, it gets harder and harder to not become a creature of doubt and insecurity.

As I walk the few steps towards next door, my heart is pounding. What if Shehzer opens the door? EMV shrugs; 'Surely, your power of speech will allow you to ask for Rania either way.'

Aghhh....here goes. I waited for a minute after knocking. The door flies open to reveal my arch nemesis Devil Spawn. I narrow my eyes.

"You."

He grins evilly. "Me."

"Is Rania there?"

"Maybe..."

"Well, please go and check."

"Do you know who The Undertaker is?" He glares at me.

I roll my eyes. "Yes I know."

He flexes his tiny biceps; "Well,...I'm his daddy."

My mouth falls open. Is this kid real or what? he barely reaches my waist, but his attitude is like WOAH!

"Umm...ok, Undertaker's...Daddy...please go fetch your cousin...We wer-"

There's a commotion behind The Spaw-Er, Undertaker's father; and I come face to face with Marium Auntie (Shehzer's Mom).

Her polite smile dies on her lips when she sees me. I stammer a salam.

"Walikumassalam, Mina. Can I help you?" Her tone is pretty cold.

"I was wondering if Rania would like to hang out at our house for a while."

Also, I was wondering if your son is here? I have this irrational urge to see him.

I didn't say the last part aloud though.

"Rania is skyping with Shehzer right now. She can't come over." She bites out.

What? They're skyping within rooms now?

My confusion must have been obvious, because she further clarified.

"Oh, i guess he didn't tell you. He transferred to a Hospital in Lahore to complete his internship hours." Her eyes accuse me. "He found himself unable to stay in this city anymore."

I don't know how I managed to stammer a polite goodbye, and leave.

He left.

Without even saying goodbye.

I must have hurt him deeper than I ever imagined, if he had to leave the city just to get away from me.

I have never felt so guilty about something so obviously out of my control.

It was never in my control was it? hurting him with Areeb?

EMV just shakes her head pitifully at me.

A/N:

Hi! :D

Don't have anything meaningful to say ATM. So; The usual.

DO Vote and Comment. I love hearing your feedback!

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top