Borders || Zayn Malik AU #MissionDesi

Chapter 3

Previously on Borders...

She fed me a bite of gulab jamun, "Zain will be coming to Lahore this week to see you, with a few of our relatives.. so don't you worry..." She gave a slightly mischievous smile, hugging me. The love was overwhelming... the only thing I thought about was Zain.. how did he look like? Is he a good human being... the thoughts and questions were plenty.

All that I knew was that I had to wait for a few more days to see him.

.......

"Yaser'd told me you have a younger brother and sister.." Aminah said, glancing at me and Mother

"Ah, yes... Abinaash! Jasleen!" I called out, and my two notorious twelve- year old brother and nine- year old sister, came to the living room. Mother had warned them not to come unless they've been called.

They befriended Waliyha and Safaa almost instantly, and they were already pestering Father and Mother to go to Lahore!

......

The following days for me, were inexplainable... I was definitely impatient, or as my Mother described, "Always in her own world," as she saw me always standing near the window, looking at the fields that stretched across the one-fourth of the perimeter of our house, definitely dreaming.

I didn't pay attention to what my mother instructed me to do, "You're just getting married! Don't get carried away..." She said, after I did just opposite to what she would ask me to do.

I knew I shouldn't get carried away or fantasize about a man who had no face, body or personality, in my mind... but I kept high expectations. The photograph that father'd showed me four days back showed a very cute child that was Zain... and that's what made me think how he'd look at present.

I asked for the photograph to Father, and instead of just lending me it, he gifted it to me.. I looked at his features, trying to build an image of what he'd be like. But I gave up, sighing deeply, keeping the photograph in a small chest, in which I kept my clothes and other valuables in.

......

Today was the day. We were informed that he had reached Lahore and would be soon reaching Amritsar, late in the day.

There was immense haste and rush in my house. We jointly tidied the house, started preparing snacks, dusting the furniture, eventhough Mother always kept it clean.

We had an exact amount of tea leaves, sugar and milk for about seven to eight people, as Aminah'd said there would be a few relatives coming along with him.

I would peek through the front door everytime I heard any sort of movement outside. The restlessness in me was at its peak.

......

The familiar sound of a vehicle in our front yard, made our entire family assemble in the living room. I stood behind my Mother, observing the jeep that was parked.

But what we were about to see wasn't something we were prepared for.

What Aminah'd described as a 'few relatives' actually turned out to be twelve to fifteen people, where we'd actually expected only half of the people who walked up to our house.

"My God! How am I going to feed these many people... we don't even have enough things to prepare the beverage!" My Mother said, quite tensed.

"Please go and borrow from the neighbours, will you Aman?" My Mother spoke helplessly, looking at my Father, who immediately rushed through the back- door to ask for sugar, tea leaves and other necessities.