Another Forever

1 7 | r e c e p t i o n

• n o o r •

It was Friday, the day of our reception and our last night in Lahore. My makeup artist had done my makeup to perfection and set my hair open. My outfit was made with different hues of pink, golden and white and studded with hundred of small crystals. It was a gift from Aunty Afshan--- Mom, as she had asked me to call her now that she was my mother in law.

Dania, the makeup artist was setting the dopatta on my head in a way that it left most of my hairstyle on display, when the door to the bedroom opened and Faaris walked in.

I turned around to face him and found him all dressed in a black three piece suit and a tie that matched my dress. I hate to admit but he looked really handsome in the suit, all classy like a Hollywood actor.

Dania decided to ditch me at the exact moment and made her way out of the room, leaving me alone with Faaris. I looked around awkwardly, waiting for him to stop gawking at me and say something.

"Uh... Everybody is waiting downstairs." He said.

"I'll be ready in a minute." I said and tried to set the dopatta on my shoulder but it wasn't an easy task, thanks to my heavy jewelry and outfit that acted as a huge barrier. "Ugh, can you check if Dania is outside? My dopatta isn't set yet." I said to Faaris.

"Let me try." He said and walked over to me.

Heat crawled up my cheeks when he stepped into my personal space. Since we have been married, we had maintained a proper distance between us but now, he was towering over me and his eyes were fixated on my dopatta, analyzing it.

"Where do I start?" He said in a confused voice.

"There are pins on the table." I pointed towards the safety pins.

He picked up one pin and then set one end of dopatta on my right shoulder. His fingers then curved around the shirt material and I felt his breath on the side of my face while his fingers grazed the skin of my shoulder. Thanks to the heavy layer of makeup on my face, he couldn't see me blushing.

"Ouch." I said when the sharp pin grazed my skin.

"Sorry." He said and angled his neck to concentrate on what he was doing. "It must be a torture wearing this."

"Hmm. But you don't get to dress up like this every day." I said.

While I was looking to the other side, I felt his eyes on me, observing me from very closely. I whipped my head to him, catching him looking at me red handed. His sudden embarrassment gave me pure satisfaction and I bit my lips to stop myself from smiling.

"It's done." He said, scooting away from me.

"Thanks." I said and stared in the mirror one last time before leaving for reception.

Downstairs, the whole reception hall was decorated in deep violet and white. With all eyes on us, we walked from the entrance to the stage side by side, passing fake smiles to everyone around us. My parents and Mom and Dad, all of them led us to stage and there, we were seated on the fancy couch.

"You look radiating." Mom said and I returned her smile.

"Such a beautiful girl." A woman, who was probably Faaris' relative said to me. "You are a lucky man Faaris."

"Indeed." Faaris replied with a forced smile. Would it kill him to sound a little convincing?

"You can hold each other's hands now. Don't be shy." My maternal aunt said.

"It's fine." I said, hesitating.

"Aww. They are so shy." Another uncle said.

God, who are these people and why haven't I seen them before?