Koh-e-Noor

//• aatth •//

"Haaye kisraan tar-tar-tar zabaan chaldi ae is di?" Phuppo looked at me all amazed. "Teri te zabaan hi chaaku tun taiz ae, tenu kere qasaai di chhurri chaai di ae?"

The rest of the men laughed and left.

Good idea phuppo.

I was about to walk upstairs to his room when mama complained about how I'm always getting her insulted and how bad I'm going to get her insulted when I get married.

"Apne baal seedhe kar ke aao, aao kuchh kitchen ke kaam kaaj sikhaaun tumhain."

I had not had a tiny bit of sleep and they were trying to make me labor.

I felt like crying and walked upstairs while they cleaned the table.

Aik dafaa meri neend poori ho jaae, iss ko main nahin chhorrne waali abbh.

Bohot narmi dikhaa li hai abbh, Zaira, yeh isse tumhaari kamzori samajhne lagaa hai.

I picked his blanket— that Alhamdulillah didn't give off that uneasiness anymore— and swaddled myself in it.

InShaAllah, isse mazaa chakhaana hai abbh.

I sent him a message through my head, Mujhe jaagne do, bachu, tumhain main sabaq sikhaati hoon, ruko zaraa.

♡♡♡

Haroon came to my room at least ten times just to say, "Zaira bohot boring ho gayi ho yahaan aa ke tum. Poora dinn bas soti rehti ho. Itna shauq kis liye tha tumhain Pakistan aane ka jab yahaan aa ke bhi sona hi tha tum ne?"

Even though what he said put some cents of energy in me, afraid of dark circles, I decided to complete my nine hours of sleep.

"Zaira jaago! Main tum se itna tang aa gayaa hoon, tum meri behen kyun ho?"

"Ayan ke saath jaao yaar Haroon." I groaned and hugged the blanket.

"Tum deserve hi nahin karti Pakistan aana. Ho hi aisi. Soti raho. Dafaa raho apne kamre mein. Tumhain pataa hai kitna sukoon hai baaher? Haha, tumhain kaise pataa ho ga churrail, tum bas so, bas kamre mein raho. Sukoon hai bhi sirf iss liye kyun ke tum kamre mein ho. Baaher release kar dein tumhain toh tumhaare shor se hi sab sukoon khatam ho jaae—"

"—Haroon!" I got up and he jumped up from my bed.

"Kyun? Sach karwaa lagaa? Main—"

I pushed my feet down on the floor to go hit him but he ran out of my room.

♡♡♡

When I woke up, the first thing I did was to call Janaab Waada-e-faraamosh. Because I had been thinking of how to annoy him even in my dreams,

"What's your weak point?" I asked right after the ringing ended,

"Uhuh? Waaleikumassalaam,"

I rolled my eyes.

"Quick," I copied his language, "what's something you're afraid of?"

"Commitments," he gasped, "but you already know that, don't you Ms. Venomed, hell-hated measle?"

Wha—whoa—what did he just call me?

"What annoys you? Jaldi bataao waqt nahin hai mere paas."

"You, you, and you. Zaira Hayat." He cut the call.