Sparks of Love ☑

Thirty (Part Two)

"That's not fair," Rafa complained, moving past the mouth-watering parathas to give Yahya a smack, "I wanted you to make it, not ask her to make it for me."

Yahya groaned aloud, wiggling himself away from his little sister,"Jeez, Rafa. You're insane."

Shabna laughed at both the siblings, remembering how they resembled Tom and Jerry in that particular situation. "Rafa, Rafa. Calm down and stop chasing him-"

When Rafa could no longer chase him, her chest raising and falling in deep breaths, she threw the tissue box at his back.

"She said she will take a video of me when I am kneading and publicize," Yahya caught the box in mid-air, walking up to Shabna from across the aisle.

"I didn't say I would publicize, I said I would share it with Anjum."

"She is planning to ruin my reputation in front of my going to be fiancee-"

Shabna pursed her lips into a tight line, controlling her smile, turning to Rafa to hear her say, "That's not ruining reputation, that's to increase her attraction towards you-"

Yahya was about to retort but shut his mouth after hearing his sister's reply and then whispered to himself in confusion, "What?"

"She is right. We find guys who cook attractive," Shabna replied, the word 'we' insisting girls in the literal meaning.

Yahya's face scrunched up, "What? Why?"

"Because men don't usually cook or clean, it's a rare phenomenon. The ones who do and if we get them as our life partner, it's a dream come true situation for us."

"You girls are so weird, next time if you see a shirtless guy scrubbing the toilet seat, you would find him attractive too?"

Shabna and Rafa shared quizzical glances with each other before replying in unison, "Yes."

"Seriously? What do you guys really want?"

"We are quite simple, Yahya-" Rafa started but was cut off by her brother immediately, "You are the opposite of simple, Rafa," hearing that she glared at him to which Shabna chuckled again.

"That's where you - men, fall back in understanding women," Shabna said, eyeing Yahya take a seat, his hand going to steal a bit of meetha paratha while Rafa smacked it away, 'it's mine' she mouthed. Yahya's gaze flickered back to Shabna to hear what she was about to say," What we want is not usually castles and costly jewelry, we want men to accompany us in the kitchen, lend us a hand in cleaning, cook for us sometimes, take us out on walks, take us out a few times - that too doesn't mean we want to dine out in fancy restaurants all the time, we are happy to eat in roadside shops too. What we want more than everything is your company and care-

"Most of the time, men think we have high standards they can rarely meet. It's not that, not always."

Yahya felt a tug in his heartstrings, he has too for a long time judged that women would not be happy if he was unemployed, or in between jobs. He realized now that what they really want is their true love.

While on the other hand Rafa was stuffing the sweet flatbread, her eyes closing automatically after every bite and her lips turning into an adorable smile, "Your hands hold magic, Shabna."

"Thanks," Shabna replied, sipping into the glass of lime juice. Turning to see Yahya deeply engrossed in his own thoughts. She motioned Rafa to shake him and Rafa did, he suddenly jerked at her action.

Looking around, he said without thinking," I am still stuck on the toilet seat part."

Shabna threw her head back and laughed while Rafa groaned beside him, "You are making me nauseous, bro."