A Midsummer Weekend (The Extended Version)

14. The Proposal

He gave me a small smile and wiped his face, "You sound like your sister"

For a second I wondered if he had some brain damage due to his choking episode, because his comment confused me, "I sound like a woman?"

"No", he laughed, "Komal does this thing where she fires off questions back to back without taking a breath in between"

He paused, his gaze wandering into the distance, and his voice lowered, "It makes you wonder which question you're supposed to answer first"

"I suppose she does", I admitted, but also wondered how I had never picked up on that but my roommate had, especially since they'd spoken to each other only a handful times. 

I drove the car after that in an awkward silence which I also couldn't understand because usually Safdar wouldn't shut up. I figured his throat was hurting so I didn't question him. But it was only after we would reach our apartment that I began to realize that it wasn't really his throat that was bothering him. 

"So, have you...uh...found someone for your sister?", he asked me as he stood in front of the open fridge, his back towards me. 

"Yaar I don't what's wrong with the men in Pakistan these days. Seriously, all the good ones are hiding under a rock or something. Bechari has to deal with one namoona after another", I laughed remembering the faces she made in the kitchen when Ami would ask her to take the chai and snacks to the living room where potential suitors sat. 

He whispered something that sounded like 'maybe they're still studying', but I couldn't be sure. 

"What did you just say?", I asked for clarification. 

"Nothing", he mumbled again and walked past me into his room. 

What has gotten into him?

A minute later he was out again, more irate that I had ever seen him before, "You know what. I can't believe you're pressuring her into getting married, for your own sake"

Confused, I asked, "Who are we talking about?"

"Komal, your sister. Who you should be taking better care of, instead of leaving her to men who couldn't care less about her. She deserves so much more"

It took me a minute of staring at my friend but the light bulb finally went off. 

His flustered state at the mention of Komal getting married, his constant hovering around me when she and I video chatted and the sudden interest in vlogging during her trip to Swat, was all starting to make sense to me now. That, and the several times he had asked me why Komal never came to the US. 

God, how stupid could I be?

"Do you have someone in mind who would care about her the way she deserves?", I walked closer to him.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall, but didn't make eye contact with me when he slowly shook his head, "No"

"Really? Let me be more direct then. Do you have a thing for my sister?", I inquired again, this time more sternly.

He continued to stare at his feet, whispering, "No"

If there was anyone else in front of me right then I would surely have told him to keep his filthy mind off my sister. But this was Safdar. The guy who I could trust with everything under the sun, and that included respecting my sister.

But it was also a lot of fun to see him squirm, so I kept aggressively questioning him.

"Then you would be ok with her getting married to someone else?"