The next morning, Ismail rushed off to work without his morning coffee or any prior notice. His wife was asleep on the couch and he had taken that time to creep out of his apartment. Consoling himself that there was nothing to be embarrassed about, he drove to work and got busy.

By lunchtime, when Ismail checked out the menu on an app online, he recalled what had happened the previous night —

It was definitely not his fault that he got hungry at midnight. He was certainly content but could not resist the hungry tummy that woke him up from a sound sleep. He had tiptoed in the kitchen, after making sure she was fast asleep and had tasted her dishes. And he had realised why she was in such a good mood.

The rice and khurma melted in his mouth and the mutton was cooked to his liking. The fried onions and parsley on top of the fried rice to garnish it gave a brilliant taste. The sweet tasted yum and he could not recall when he had last consumed such a delicious meal.

Although he had tried to be as silent as possible, he had taken a second serving of the rice. When he turned to sit and eat at the table, his arm touched a glass of water, pushing it on the kitchen floor and making a noise. He had quickly started eating in the moonlit space but the lights turned on, pausing him in his action.

When he looked up, he saw Munazzah in a fighting stance, holding a metal vase in his direction and gulped the half-chewed food in his mouth. A second later, he averted his gaze to his plate and she broke into laughter. She had whole-heartedly laughed at him and he was slightly embarrassed.

"You could have just asked me," she said in between her laugh.

Even though he did not find the incident funny, he slightly smiled. But to show that he was unaffected, he simply shrugged and continued eating.

"So?"

He was almost done and he kept the plate in the sink, ignoring her questioning look. She looked hopeful as if searching for appreciation in his eyes but he failed to deliver it.

"So what?" He finally replied.

"How was the food?"

"It was okay," he blurted and a loud burp passed by his mouth, unintentionally.

She laughed again and he mentally scolded himself. Never was he that embarrassed in front of a woman, especially in his gentleman-like manners.

"I got my answer. Never mind."

She happily hopped to the couch and he walked around for a while until both of them fell asleep in their respective places.

*****

A smile appeared on his face and his mouth almost watered as he remembered last night's meal. To break his stance, Hayat knocked on his cabin door and he straightened his back.

"Lunch time?"

"I'm ordering in."

"Oh," she took a step towards him, "Can I join you?"

"Sure, what do you want to eat?"

"A rice bowl would be fine."

"Biryani?" He scrolled on his phone, "Or a non-veg bowl with curry?"

She took a seat in front of him, "Non-veg curry bowl is good. What about you?"

"I will have a wrap, I'm already full."

"Oh? What did you eat?"

He recalled the rice khurma but cleared his throat, "The regular. A black coffee."

She rolled her eyes and sarcastically said, "That's really healthy."

"Well, I ate some rice khurma for dinner last night," he pointed out, "It was really good."

"Really?" She curiously leaned in, "Where did you order it from?"

For a moment, he was tongue-tied. There was no way he could reveal that he was married and his wife had cooked the luscious meal for him.

"Oh, I ordered it from-", he could not come up with an excuse, "No, I mean my cook prepared it."

"I did not know you hired a cook," she said, "I assumed you cook?"

"Yes, I do," he proudly said in order to impress her, "I can cook good food but having a cook around is a lot helpful."

"Right."

"So do you cook?"

"Well, not really. Abba cooks good food though. You should come sometime."

He nodded, thinking if this was a good time to tell her about his liking. But that would be too plain and formal. He wanted to make it special for her — a memory that they would narrate to their kids. And now that she was to leave for Delhi in a few days, he needed to say it regardless.

*****

Having lunch together, Ismail realised that Hayat was a slow eater. She was not done with half of her tiny rice bowl while he was done with his wrap. He simply waited for her to finish and browsed through his phone. He had somehow imagined her to be the perfect woman and this counted as a tiny flaw in his mind. He also recalled his wife that she ate quicker than Hayat at least, but somehow Hayat still led the race since she had table manners.

After another ten minutes, when she was finally done, Ismail excused himself as he got a meeting to attend. While Hayat quickly smiled and quit from there, he sighed and got back to work.

While he was busy with his meeting, Nayaz had called Hayat and her team to give the final details since they would leave for Delhi that coming week. Hayat had proven a strong point from her end, owning a product and also pitching in great in demos and sales. She had won 'Employee of the month' award twice so far since Ismail usually beat her to it. And these achievements had reached Nayaz before she was mentioned by Ismail as his interest.

When the brief was given and the team was leaving, Nayaz paused them and announced that there would be a dinner hosting outside for their team. The team was happy and that's when Nayaz announced another thing.

"I will also tell Ismail to bring Munazzah."

While the team left, Hayat stayed and enquired about the lady's name who was mentioned, "Who? Munazzah?"

While the sentence was inappropriate, Nayaz smiled and answered, "Munazzah is my daughter-in-law."

"Oh."

While she exited the cabin door, she had tears in her eyes which weren't unnoticed by Ismail as he entered Nayaz' cabin. 

The first question he asked his father was - "What was that all about?"

"I'm hosting a dinner outside for the Delhi team and I want you to get your wife as well."

"Why her?"

"Because I want her to feel included."

"Not in this. This is professional, why blend the two?"

"Ismail, if you don't, I will invite her myself." Nayaz stood up to his son's height and continued, "Anyway, I will be sitting at a different table to make the employees feel comfortable. So, it is better that I have company."

"Then why was Hayat sad if it is just dinner?"

"I mentioned Munazzah and she asked me about it."

"And you answered?" Ismail asked rhetorically, "Why Abba?" He panicked, "You're only making all this difficult for me, thanks a lot."

"No way, Ismail. You should have informed her already."

"I will but I needed a proper time and place, but now you have ruined everything. First with accepting that illiterate woman and now making me lose my chance with a smart one."

On seeing such an outburst from his son, Nayaz let it slide and asked him to leave. Ismail obviously ran to his love interest and found her to be seated in a cabin, discussing something with her team, completely unbothered with what she had known a few minutes ago, and unhinged by his presence at the door.

When she was done talking, he excused himself and entered the group and asked her permission to talk alone about the project. When she did not pay any heed, and the teammates seemed to share a confusing look, she chose to walk away with her cup, as if going to the vending machine.

Ismail walked side by side to her, glancing at her from time to time, and thinking of any excuse. When she walked to the emergency exit instead, he quickly followed. She stood near the staircase wall and folded her hands over her chest, giving a look for him to utter anything at all.

Seeing her in a powerful stance, he was taken aback for a second, but he quickly spoke, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for?"

"About hiding the truth."

Only Hayat knew what she felt inside. The news from Nayaz had already shaken her and now, the man standing in front of her, shaken and nervous, she knew there was a lot more to the lady's name. The responsibility of the Delhi project alone was holding her sane and loyal to the firm and not making her resign at the very moment.

"Truth about your wife?"

The mocking tone in her voice scared him a little bit but at least he was sure that his interest was not simply one-sided.

"Yes. First of all, I did not expect you to find this way, I wanted to-"

"Hide it more? For how long were you planning to keep me in the darkness? Was all this lies?"

"No Hayat, believe me," he extended his hand to hold hers but took it back when she did not respond to his offer. He continued, "I wanted to tell you all of this rather you finding out from someone else."

"I already did, Ismail, so you have lost that chance of yours."

"Yes, and I want to tell you all about what happened if you give me another."

She looked at her watch on her wrist, "I have exactly twenty two minutes until the next meeting, so I'm all ears."

He told her the entire story, skipping the good parts that he had experienced after the presence of his wife at his apartment. At the current moment, he blamed Munazzah for not taking a stand and his fate that did not work in his favour. Even now, this truth revelation was against his plan.

"Are you done?"

"Yes, and we still have five minutes."

"What are you going to do about us?"

"Us?" His hope had revived, "You mean you and I?"

"Yes, and Ismail, I don't want to be a third person and break your marriage."

"You are not. I did not want this marriage anyway." He shrugged.

She sighed, "Look, I might sound selfish here but I really wanted to be your first choice. Now that I know about this, it will take a lot of convincing to my father, especially after your divorce."

"Divorce?"

"Yes Ismail, please don't expect me to be a second wife. I cannot share my people with anyone else."

"Yes. I get it."

He finally extended his hands and said, "So will you marry me, Hayat?"

She took his offered hand and smiled at him, "Yes."

The official proposal to Hayat that was planned in a five star restaurant was made at a non air -conditioned staircase with both of them happily present in the moment.

But they plan, and Allāh plans. And Allāh is the best of planners. (Surah Al-Anfal - 8: 30)