By now everyone had finished having dessert and moved on to Tea. 

I noticed Isahaq had not come back out to the garden so I arranged a tray of the desert and took it to my room. 

I found the door to my room opening and saw the kids and teenagers had once again taken it as their territory. 

Only this time Isahaq was also there. 

I watched as a kid jumped up and down trying to snatch the 50 Taka note which Isahaq was dangling in the air. 

"Not fair bro! You're too tall!"

"Too bad kiddo, you have to earn the Eidi!" Isahaq chuckled with mischief. 

The Kid huffed and stomped his speed in frustration. 

It seemed Isahaq had enough of joking around so he bent down and held the money in front of the kid's face who instantly snatched it and a grin replaced his frown. 

Isahaq ruffled the kids' hair, " Spend it wisely." 

"I miss being a kid ! Nowadays I rarely get Eidi!" My 17 year old cousin Amna whined from the corner. 

"At least you still get Eidi sometimes. Fear the day when you grow up more and have to give Eidi instead of receiving. Look at my situation." Isahaq shook his head and Amna laughed. 

Wow- I was surprised to see them all getting along so well in spite of being strangers. 

An uncomfortable feeling passed through me as if I was missing out on all the fun. 

I decided I had done enough host duties and would spend the rest of the dawat here with everyone. 

Amna went to sit beside Isahaq and seemed to be talking to him about something and a weird feeling gripped my heart. 

I regretted allowing her to use my makeup and now was not in the mood to offer the dessert to Isahaq either.  

Maybe I was being petty but whatever - 

I placed the tray in the corner and offered the desert to the 12 year old who had precisely saved my bookshelf from being destroyed by that evil kid. 

The kid took a bite from the jalebi placed in the tray and his eyes lit up , "Yum these are so good !" 

"Yeah, Isahaq brought them right?" Amna put in as she smiled at the man in question. 

My arterioles seemed to be dilating as I heard Amna's statement. Isahaq. When did they get so close that she was calling him by his freaking name and without a bhaiya. 

Isahaq nodded and smiled at the kid

"Glad you liked it,".

My thoughts were interrupted and I was caught by surprise when Isahaq's next question was directed towards me, "Have you tried them yet , Maha?"

Once again my speech ability got hampered and I gulped, "Not yet- I was just about to have them."

Knowing that he was watching, I took a bite from the jalebi and my mouth instantly exploded with sweetness and I couldn't help my next words,
"Wow - this is actually so good !"

Isahaq's lips curved upwards and he seemed to let out a sigh as if he was holding his breath. 

"Maha Api loves anything sweet! Especially jalebis."  Amna informed Isahaq who once again nodded. 

I noticed that Amna was the one who kept bombarding him with questions while Isahaq just nodded and gave one liners as replies. 

A weird feeling gripped my heart and I mentally urged my friend Tahira to hurry up and come to the party already. Where was she when I needed her to help make sense of this weird situation?

I walked to my cousin, Raiyyan, who was busy tapping away on his phone. Raiyyan was usually very quiet but we got along well since he was nearly my age. 

"Oi," I nudged his shoulder as I sat beside him. 

He just hummed in reply and didn't even bother looking up from his phone. 

"What are they talking about?"

"Who?" Raiyyan replied monotonously.

"Them-" I flicked my gaze towards Isahaq and Amna and once again nudged Raiyyan who finally looked up and took in the situation. 

His eyebrows scrunched as he contemplated the scenario and then he turned to me with a smirk, "Why do you care ?"

I huffed in annoyance and swatted him on his shoulders which made him let out a small yelp. 

Isahaq and Amna looked towards us and my face once again took on the shade of a tomato due to embarrassment. 

Great! Now he's gonna think I'm a violent girl who hits people randomly. 

Raiyyan took in my dejected expression and had the empathy to be a good brother. 

"Sorry, I'll bring back your book tomorrow!" 

I looked at him with confusion as he turned towards the onlookers and continued with his bluff, " I borrowed a book from her and was supposed to return it long ago. It keeps slipping my mind even though she reminded me multiple times. I had this coming."

"Oh yeah, you should've been careful Raiyyan bhaiya. You know how possessive Maha Apu is about her books. I don't like reading much, I prefer movies any day." Amna once again blabbered on. And this time when it came to Raiyyan, she remembered to say bhaiya. 

At this sentence Isahaq seemed to have an annoyed expression, "Well I think books are way better no offense."

Amna quickly corrected her words, "No, I didn't mean to offend anyone! Books must be great too. It's just I don't have the attention span for reading for a long time you know."

A new set of laddoos seemed to be cooking in my heart when I heard Isahaq defending reading. He likes story books too ! Okay I've officially fallen for him a little bit - or maybe too much. 

The conversation was cut short as my ammu entered the room and asked all of us to look up so she could take a picture. I made a mental note to transfer the picture to my phone in the future. 

Amna finally got up and walked outside saying she wanted to take pictures in the garden. 

Raiyyan took this as his cue to finally be useful and started talking with Isahaq, "Sorry bro. I hope that crazy cousin of ours didn't annoy you too much. She can talk a lot , trust me I know the pain." 

Isahaq laughed, "Don't worry I wasn't annoyed." 

Once again I felt a stab of weird feeling which I refused to acknowledge as jealousy. 

It was absurd to think that I was feeling jealous of my 17 year old cousin. Just because she was prettier and more extroverted hence could talk to people freely unlike me. 

I tried to let go of these unnecessary feelings and focused on the conversation going on in front of me. 

"So what was she biting your head off about?" Raiyyan further inquired. 

"Oh, Amna recognized me as I used to go to the same school as her. Also my friend is her friend's older brother."

Oh so that's how they knew each other. Isahaq was Amna's school senior. 

"I see, that's interesting." Raiyyan mused and turned to smile at me. 

I glared at him , silently telling him to shut up. 

" So what about you two ? Y'all cousins or ... ?" 

Isahaq inquired as he looked at us for answers. 

"Oh we ? Nah not cousins bro, she's my Dil Ka tukra." Raiyyan answered. 

"What the - !" The words died in my throat as I turned to look at Raiyyan with daggers in my eyes, too shocked to even hit him at the absurd nonsense he was spewing. 

Isahaq bit his lip and just nodded with a small, "Oh-"

"Girl- let me finish!" Raiyyan yelled back at me before turning to Isahaq, "Yeah she's my absolute favorite sister ever. I don't have any blood siblings but I consider her no less than one. So cousins would be a small word compared to that. We're basically like twins." 

"Oh!" Isahaq said more loudly this time and blinked a few times before bursting out in chuckles. " I like your humor dude."

"I'm glad someone appreciates it." Raiyyan grinned back then turned to narrow his eyes at me. 

I was too exhausted by his near heart attack to do anything in response. 

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Isahaq bro. But I unfortunately have to leave . Gotta meet up with my friends." Raiyyan got up and did that guy handshake with Isahaq before walking out motioning for me to follow him outside. 

Away from any eavesdropping ears he whispered to me , " Have a little trust in me Maha. That was a test and his expression when he heard what I said previously hints that he acknowledges your presence more than you think."

"Speak more clearly." I told Raiyyan with a quizzical frown. 

"Nah, understand it yourself." 

"No,!Hey, that's not fair. Tell me!"

But he paid no heed to my demands and started walking away, "I know you're wise enough to figure it out." 

I went back inside my room with Raiyyan's words still playing in my mind. Was he thinking what I think he was thinking? No, it can't be - I'm just being delusional. 

My gaze fell upon Isahaq standing by my bookshelf and scanning the titles. 

He looked at me as I entered and said, "I see you're a fellow Potter head." 

I nodded with a smile and fixed the corner of my hijab as I went towards the bookshelf. 

"You've got a great taste in books." He continued. 

My heart seemed to be fluttering as I fought to contain my giddy expression. "Thank you, that means a lot."

Isahaq just smiled in return and the room grew quiet. The kids had either fallen asleep on the bed or were busy watching their ipad. 

"So- did you have dessert yet ? I had brought some earlier because the food was getting finished." I asked Isahaq as I pointed towards the tray resting on the side table. 

"Oh , that's very kind of you Maha. I'll have some." Isahaq said as he walked forward and picked up a plate. 

I watched as he tasted the shemai and instantly went on to have more spoonfuls, "This is so tasty!" 

I grinned at his response, "Yeah, my Nanu made it. Her ones are always very special." 

"No doubt about that." Isahaq said as he continued taking a second helping from the tray. 

✨

The sky was slowly getting covered by the dark hues of night as the last remaining rays of sunshine bid farewell.

I stood by the door as my family bid goodbye to the guests. The aunties had been saying goodbye for the last 10 minutes. Just as someone dared take a step outside, another person would launch into a new topic which would halt everyone from leaving and thus start a new discussion.

I noticed Isahaq sighing deeply as he leaned against the walls of the staircase as his mother chatted about some desert with another auntie.

He tapped his feet impatiently on the floor and lazily looked around.

When his eyes met mine he passed me a small exhausted smile and his gaze flickered towards his mom as if mentally asking her to hurry up.

When he looked back at me I shrugged and my lips morphed into a similar expression as if to let him know that the situation was not unfamiliar to me. After all , I had experienced the exact same scenario whenever we went over to someone else's house for any party.

He brushed his fingers through his hair to ruffle it and sighed louder.

This time Isahaq's exasperation was finally noticed by his mother who bid farewell to her friend at last and motioned for Isahaq to follow her downstairs. He wasted no time in jogging down the steps as he leaned in to whisper complaints to Maria aunty regarding her taking up so much time.

Nanu chuckled from beside me,
"You kids are all the same. No patience at all !"

"It's exhausting standing by the stairs for so long. Why don't people get up only when they are absolutely sure they're going to leave." I replied as I stretched my arms over my head. All I wanted was to lie down in my bed and take a long nap.

"Hmm, close the door and get some rest afterwards. It's been a long day."

As Nanu walked inside, I hesitated for a few seconds and scurried towards the stairs to look outside one last time.

I was just in time as I saw Isahaq sliding into the passenger seat of a navy blue Mercedes car. I waited until the car drove away through the gates of our building before finally returning inside.

Some of our family friends came late and so naturally my mom stopped them for dinner.

As I helped set the table with food once again for the next batch of feast, I noticed my friend Tahira gazing at our friend Ashar with an indistinguishable expression.

Amidst all the chaos today, I did not get any time to talk to Tahira about Isahaq. Nor did I get to ask her about what was up with her. I had a feeling she wasn't in the best mood but knowing her, she kept her secrets strictly locked up inside her heart.

I made a mental note to talk to her about what's bothering her as soon as possible but just then ammu called me to help her with something in the kitchen.

✨

All the guests left soon after dinner.

Tahira had left before I could talk to her about anything.

While she did not say anything clearly I had a feeling that her sour mood was caused by none other than Ashar.

But I was not that close to him that I could randomly ask him about what's going on with him and Tahira.

Shoving aside these thoughts for tomorrow, I dragged my tired body inside.

Back at my room as my eyes fell upon the scattered contents I was reminded of today's incidents.

It felt unreal to think that a few hours ago Isahaq was sitting in my room.

A shy smile crept up my lips and as I went about fixing the state of my room and a sudden urge to listen to love songs passed through my mind.

I shook my head and slumped down on the fluffy mattress, hugging a soft pillow to my chest. I could feel the signs of an incoming crush and this wasn't good at all.

Who knew if I would ever see him again ? Besides, I barely knew the guy. I mentally forced myself to stop thinking about him and decided to call it a night. Soon my eyes fluttered close and the last thought running through my mind was that it had surely been an interesting Eid.

✨

Bonus : here's an annoyed Isahaq dealing with kids asking him for Eidi 😂🤭💙

Eidi/ Salami - during Eid, elders give money to the kids as a small token of gift

Pic taken from social media ! Credit to the rightful owner whoever it is