MAKING NEW FRIENDS

★★★★★

Standing there, I dug into my bag in search of the gift I had brought for Zayn. I wanted to leave it with Imran, just in case I might forget to give it to him before the end of the party. I had a feeling there would be no opportunity for me to meet him that night as he was quite busy, almost every sought his attention.

It was a small frame of painting I made a few days back. I had painted an image of a small white cat. I heard from my cousin, Ahmad that he loved cats and his favorite colour was white, which gave me an idea of what to paint. It was Kulthum's idea that we at least gave Zayn something. She said it was inappropriate that we attend his party with empty hands.

Now that she wasn't there, I'd have to explain to Imran and so I did before handing the package over to him. I told him about the situation with Kulthum's brother and why she couldn't come along with me but I didn't tell him what was in the package. During the entire explanation, he kept nodding and giving me an understanding smile.

"These people, are they all part of the royal family?" I asked, feeling somewhat out of place and curious to meet his family. I tried to distract myself from the unnecessary tension building up Inside my chest from hanging around people who were way out of my league.

"Not really," He said. "Most of them are my stepmother's friends and close relatives. I wonder why there are so many of them. This was supposed to be a small get-together for Zayn and his friends."

"This get-together isn't small at all, it looks like a mini wedding. Speaking of which, is Zayn married?" I let my inquisitive side run wild since I didn't know what else to talk about,

"No..." He let out a chuckle as if he meant to say 'Why did you ask?'

"Why? Does he have someone he is interested in? Like a girlfriend or something?" I asked and internally cursed myself for letting my curiosity get the better of me.

"I have no idea."His tone was neutral.

"Well, I don't think he looks like someone interested in women," I concluded and I meant it because I saw it in his eyes. He looked like a misogynist.

"I don't think he's ready for any form of commitment just yet." And just like that, he confirmed my suspicion.

It was somewhat amusing how Imran and I stood amidst the crowd awkwardly discussing his brother. However, I had a strange feeling about the whole conversation. I had a feeling that I might be agoraphobic. I was simply unsettled under the watchful gaze of judging eyes

"I'm tired," I complained in an attempt to break the awkward silence that was about to cloud the air again.

"Well, being tired is no good," He said with a small smile playing on his lips. "Come on, let's go sit over there." He instructed, pointing at two lonely couches that lay facing each other in a corner of the room.

Just that moment, two girls appeared in our way. One of them was tall, dark, and very beautiful with a red underlip and the other one was just about the same height as my sister but she had a fair olive complexion with rich full eyebrows.

They stopped right in front of us, scanning us with their bulging eyes and grinning widely.

"Oh my Goodness, just who do we have here?" The ebony-black one exclaimed in a mocking tone, staring back at the fair girl as they exchanged a knowing smile. It looked like they were up to something mischievous, perhaps they were trying to shame Imran who was already uneasy because of their sudden appearance.

"Hey, what do you want?" He spoke with a small frown etched on his face.

"Where have you been Batman?" The ebony lady ridiculed him with a snide smile and everyone laughed but me. "I've missed you." She feigned a sad face, adjusting the collar of his tux jacket in an attempt to tease him in his new outfit. I knew that because he once told me that he didn't like the way he looked in a suit and so wasn't fond of wearing it.

I stifled a smile seeing Imran all red and embarrassed.

"Hmmm, I see what is different in your appearance." She stroke her chin with her hands. "You didn't wear your glasses today." She gasped, pretending to be surprised. She slapped him lightly on his cheek, glancing over at me. I gave her a thoughtful smile and she winked at me.

Wait! She winked at me!

Who was this lady? Her beauty was already intimidating enough, not to mention her boldness.

"So, how have you been Imran?" Her voice was more serious now. I stole a glance at the fair lady, her face held a mischievous grin. Was I the only one who did not understand what was going on?

"Alhamdulillah, I've been around." He said dryly. "How have you been?" He returned her gestures, staring uneasily at them as if their presence was a thorn in his flesh.

"I've been great," She replied, never taking her eyes off me. "So, won't you introduce us to your new friend?" She asked him in a voice that was more audible than a whisper even though she was whispering or pretending to whisper.

"I wonder. I've been patiently waiting for an introduction for God knows how long." The fair one chimed in, stepping in my direction.

Imran smiled, rubbing a bashful hand over his hair. "Meet Hannan, my friend from school." He introduced me to them. Then he did a brief introduction of the girls. The fair one was Aliya, his older sister, and the other one was his cousin, Yasmeen.

"Wow! You're Hannan? He talks about you all the time." Turning to me, Aliya spoke first before I could think of anything to say.

"Yes...I am." I smiled warmly.

"I've heard so much about you," Came Aliya's voice with a giant grin plastered on her face.

"Yes! We've heard so much about you." Yasmeen chipped in, sharing a wide smile with Aliya.

"Really? That should be exciting" I said, wondering why these girls had been acting a little weird since their sudden arrival. They had been sharing a mysterious smile at Imran's expense. I regarded them politely and somehow my eyes managed to meet Zayn's, who was staring at me from a far distance across the room where he sat amongst his friends on a chaise lounge.

"Yeah..sure! We've heard a lot about you. And we can see for ourselves that this young man here was accurate in his description of you." Yasmeen smirked, eyeing Imran who was pretending to check something on his phone to avoid the embarrassment he was currently facing. What exactly did he tell them about me?

"Have we met before?" Aliya questioned.

"Yeah, just once" I nodded, trying to remember where we had met at the University, but by now I was finding it difficult to think straight when Zayn constantly stared at me.

Why the heck was he staring at me? For Allah's sake couldn't he lower his gaze? I internally cursed and tried to avoid his gaze, until seeing that it was someone else the young man was staring at. And I didn't realize this until the lady walked past me. And God, she was beautiful too, tall, curvaceous with a smooth light skin that radiated the whole room.

Everything about the lady summoned attention, from her long hair, her dazzling earrings, and her radiant smile, down to her glamorous dress that hid her heels. She wore a deep blue sequinned gown that clung to her body all the way down to her ankles, where the fabric spread out flowing.

For a moment we all paused and stared at the female with long dark brown hair pulled into a sleek bun as she walked majestically towards Zayn. She was gorgeous. Masha Allah! Little wonder he couldn't lower his gaze. For a second, I thought that he was staring at me instead.

Zayn had stood up to welcome the lady as she approached him. I was somewhat taken aback but not entirely as he extended a hand towards her and they shook each other's hand before he ushered her to sit somewhere. I was smart enough to notice how Yasmeen stared in shock for a moment before pulling herself back to reality.

"Aliya..." Came Yasmeen's tiny voice in a whisper.

"Yasmeen."

"This woman is still around?"

"She never left."

"I know, I can see for myself."

It was amusing how they spoke in hushed whispers, but did they not know that we could hear them even though I was reading their lips to make out what they were saying?

"Wait...what is Mohammad doing there?" Yasmeen's voice trailed off, looking somewhat confused. "You didn't tell me he would come here." She raised a questioning brow at Aliya, folding her arms over her chest.

"How am I supposed to know he'd come? He didn't tell me and why do you even care?"

"And who's that woman he's with? Does he have a wife?"

"How should I know?"

"You guys don't know about Zara?" Imran chipped in, earning the girls' attention.

"Who's Zara?" Aliya and Yasmeen asked in unison.

"Really? You guys don't know?" He stared in confusion for a microsecond. "Well, Zara is the name of that woman." He Pointed at the stunning figure in a full-length abaya and a nice headscarf. "She is Mohammad's new wife." He added and I thought I spotted Aliya giving him a look that signaled 'Stop talking please!' but it was too late. He had already dropped the bomb and we couldn't help but notice Yasmeen's jaw on the floor.

Aliya grimaced "Learn to keep your mouth shut." She mouthed at Imran, waiting for Yasmeen who was rather looking like a frozen chicken to recover from her shock.

"What did I do?" Imran who was more clueless than me, mouthed back at Aliya. It took him a moment to realize that Aliya was pretending to be oblivious to Mohammad and Zara's relationship in front of Yasmeen because of something known to both girls alone. I had only deduced that from my observation.

I know, I shouldn't poke my nose into their affairs. It was inappropriate to discuss family issues in the open, especially not in front of a stranger. But they did anyway which meant they were comfortable with me hearing whatever they went on about.

"Please, I'm tired. I want to sit down. My legs hurt." Yasmeen finally found her voice, after an awkward silence.

"Let's go sit over there," Imran instructed. "We were about to go over there before you two arrived."

As we sauntered toward the vacant seats, I stole a glance at Zayn who was engrossed in a deep conversation with the brunette lady. I had a feeling that I might have misjudged him earlier. That lady seemed to have a special effect on him.

*****

In a moment two boys came to join us. One of them wore spectacles, carrying a backpack over one shoulder. I had a feeling I had met him before. He was Yasmeen's younger brother who introduced himself to me as Khalil. The other one went by the name Fawzan- he was the last son of the Emir of Kano. Both boys took their seats on the couch across from us, the girls.

"What's up with this August meeting?" Khalil, who was as dark as his sister in skin tone, asked jokingly, earning a laugh from everyone.

"Does this look like a meeting to you?" Yasmeen spluttered, shooting Khalil a dark look. Aliya and Imran exchanged a confused look. Yasmeen looked like she was in a bad mood.

After a long chit-chat, laughter, and argument in the group. Khalil suggested we play a game when the conversation was becoming boring.

"How about we play a little game?" He grinned at Imran, earning a nod from him before turning to us.

"Who's in?" He asked and each of us nodded, except Yasmeen who was disinterested for obvious reasons. I noticed how she couldn't keep her eyes off that lady who was with Zayn.

"Alright! We are going to play chess and the rules are simple. You all know the rules. So, it's me and Khalil against the three of you." Imran explained and turned to Khalil who was digging into his bag in search of something. He finally brought out a chessboard and placed it on the glass stool that was miraculously brought to us by one of the male servants. I stared in disbelief and thought it was weird that he carried a chessboard around in his bag.

"So, it's us against them." Khalil gave an evil grin. "You guys are toast!" He threatened, looking directly at Fawzan who was protesting against their team.

"Wait, you guys can't be on the same team. What will I do with these girls?"

"Hey! What do you mean by that?" Aliya snapped at Fawzan.

"Both of them being on the same team would only mean losing for us."

"So you agree that both of us are better at this game than the rest of you?" Imran had a sly smile on his face and I saw Fawzan raising two middle fingers at him and his teammate."Take this, both of you."

"I propose a mix-up." Came Aliya's voice.

"We'll mix up only if you admit that I am way better at chess than you." Imran grinned.

"Over my dead body!" She pouted at her brother.

"How do you want to die then?" It was funny how Imran was acting like one of those cocky villains from the movies.

"She'll tell you right after I bury the both of you." That was Fawzan boasting.

I thought it was cute how they quibbled about who was better at the game than the other. They understood that it was just a joke and played along quite nicely a typical family thing. Something I lacked in my family. I couldn't even tease my sister, she'd get mad and blow it out of proportion. And my mum was always so serious, prudent, and a little petty, that was the downside to having fewer members in your family. I wished that I had an older brother or a junior one, just someone I could flow with when my mother and Teslim were being reticent and obnoxious.

"Fine! We're playing against you." Aliya stuck out her index finger, pointing it at Imran and Khalil. "I'll go first and you better watch your back because I'm going to kick your ass."She threatened and the game began shortly after.

Aliya was representing our team while Imran was representing their team. So they were playing against each other while the rest of us, including Yasmeen, sat around and watched.

I had been a little thrilled that I had at least met Imran's sister and cousins. I found them to be easygoing people and also yearned to meet more members of his family.

"What's up, people? What is going on here?" I raised my head to see a tall black boy with a red underlip staring down at us. He looked so much like Khalil, perhaps he was his twin. It took a moment for the thought to register in my head. He was Khalid from school. He was the fine boy every girl at school gushed about.

"I'm playing against this child. Come watch me whoop his ass." Aliya answered with an evil smirk. The boy took his seat next to Fawzan. I saw him lean in and whispered something to Fawzan's ear. He didn't seem to recognize me.

"Bro, who's the girl?" That was probably what I heard. Fawzan looked at me and our eyes met before he looked away slyly.

"Imran's girlfriend." I saw both boys sharing a wide grin. The black guy looked at me and our eyes met before looking back at Imran.

Imran's girlfriend? Where did they get that from?

"Does Imran have a girlfriend?" I heard him whisper, rising to his feet and approaching me. I caught a glimpse of Fawzan stifling a laugh.

"Hi," He greeted in an almost seductive voice. His aura was completely different from his brother's whom I deemed a nerd. I sensed a pervert in him and among the boys, he was the only one not wearing a suit. He was dressed up in a wine caftan, a pair of black trousers, and a nice Fulan (a Kufi cap) that looked very expensive.

"Hello." I blinked a couple of times before waving at him.

"I'm Khalid, but you can call me Ice Prince." he leaked his lips and extended a hand toward me for a shake as he spoke.

"Uh.....I don't shake guys." I stated, trying so hard to pretend like I was sorry. I wasn't at all, not even a bit. "Anyways, I'm Hannan," I said in a very formal tone, not sparing him a chance to get too comfortable.

"Oh, I'm sorry Hannan. I didn't know that you..." He trailed off and I waved it off with my hand, letting him know that it didn't matter.

After all the introduction and formalities, it wasn't long until we started getting along. We spoke at length about academics and other random things.

When it was my turn to play I had to switch positions with Aliya. Of course, she lost to Imran after her boastful disposition. I started playing with Khalil and during the match, I was the only one who got flustered. I would have expected that to be humiliating. But at the same time, I was enjoying our match. He taught me new moves and new tricks which I used against him and emerged victorious. Well, I wouldn't call it winning because it was more like he let me win, besides I was terrible at playing chess.

Shortly after I won again after playing a second round with him, Imran and Fawzan started playing. I looked around to see that Khalid had disappeared. My eyes caught a glimpse of him standing with another girl across the room.

*****

While I was engrossed in a little chat with Yasmeen who was telling me about her experience in London, where she had obtained her first degree, someone called out to her across from the room. It was an elderly man of a huge height, dark-skinned, thick beard with grey hair, and a long nose that stuck out like that of the Fulani men. He was dressed in a black cloak worn over a white thobe and a simple Arabian headdress.

I immediately recognized the man the moment I took in his appearance. He was one of the most popular Sheikhs in the country, Sheikh Jaffar Ali. I didn't need anyone to tell me he was her father. Yasmeen looked so much like her father both in height and facial features.

I had never thought that a day like that would come when I'd see the Sheikh in person. I had always seen him on television while he was giving a Tafsir and now I couldn't believe I was breathing the same air with him.

Once Yasmeen had left I suddenly remembered that I had been thirsty. I followed Aliya to the kitchen where she threw the refrigerator open and grabbed two bottles of water for both of us. She sat on the breakfast bar, taking slow gulps of the chilled water with her legs crossed while I stood next to her with my back leaning on the counter, Studying the kitchen.

It was a very spacious one. Almost the size of our living room at home. I loved how the entire kitchen was decorated with exotic appliances and kitchen utensils like the fine collection of chinawares that I was looking at.

My eyes stopped wandering and darted down to the cold bottle in my hand, just then a voice pulled me away from my thoughts.

"Aliya! " Was what I heard before raising my head to see the lady that spoke." How are you?"

"I'm fine Aylin" Came Aliya's surprised voice with a small squeak as she jumped down. She looked so excited and both of them shared a hug. It was that stunning female from earlier. She was dressed all Western but looked somewhat Indian or Pakistan.

"How is Aunty Banu? " The lady whom I supposed was called Aylin smiled as she released her from her embrace.

"Mum is fine."

"Where is she?"

"She should be somewhere around. Probably with the other women in grandma's room." Aliya informed her. "Wow, you look good." she complimented as her smile grew bigger.

"Thanks. You look great too." Aylin returned her kind gestures.

"Awe! Thank you."

"Hello," The lady turned to me with a warm smile playing on her lips.

"Hi.." I said, staring at her large hazelnut eyes and her perfectly arched eyebrows. Her skin was glowing and her dark brown hair shone, perfectly made into a nice bun. She could easily pass for a model. "I'm Hannan" I extended a hand for a shake.

"And I'm Aylin." she said politely as we shook hands "Aylin bint Malik, I'm sure you know me." She added, her tone a little formal, and her accent was somewhat Western, probably American accent.

"Not really, I'm meeting you for the first time," I told her.

"Oh alright," She managed, looking at Aliya as though it was necessary that I knew her.

"Oh yes! She's not family. She's Imran's friend from school " Aliya cleared the air.

"Oh, I see. I love your henna by the way. It's beautiful " She complimented me, staring at my hand in awe.

"Thank you. It will look good on you. You have very nice skin." And for the very first time in my entire life, I sincerely compliment someone. But it wasn't mere flattery, this lady had very smooth and glowing skin. One of the finest I had seen in my lifetime.

"Yeah, I'd like to have some designer done on my hand one of these days." She asserted with some level of boldness. She knew she was beautiful and she was confident about it.

"You know I like them a lot, especially the black one." She said to me and I nodded, telling her that I agreed with her and offered to draw some designs on her anytime she was ready.

"I like them too but I prefer red ones to black. Don't ask me why." Said Aliya.

"Why?" Aylin and I asked simultaneously. It was as if we planned it.

"Seriously? I said don't ask me why." She feigned a playful frown and then we laughed lightly.

"Same reason anyone would choose black over red." Aliya defended

"I'm not convinced." I shook my head in disapproval.

"Red is colourful and conspicuous."

"So, you're saying black is dull and unattractive?" Aylin concluded in a playful and warm tone.

"No don't get me wrong Aylin." Aliya shook her head, raising her hand in disapproval."That's not what I mean." And just like that the three of us went on debating for what seemed like forever. I took sides with Aylin who turned the whole henna thing into an argument. I was taken aback by her cheerful and friendly attitude toward me. It was as though we had known each other for a long.

Suddenly I felt the need to use the bathroom. I was pressed and all of a sudden my feet hurt due to the pressure from my heels.

Aylin had left in search of someone that went by the name Aunty Banu. My first impression of her was that she'd be prideful but she turned out to be quite subtle and easygoing despite her appearance.

★★★★★

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