A Midsummer Weekend (The Extended Version)

19. The Wait

Note: You guys this book is turning me into a liar :( but when I started to write this chapter I realized there were a lot of open ends left, and I wanted to do justice to all the subplots and characters. So I decided to write two chapters instead of one. Hope you enjoy them!

Evening Before the Wedding

Farah

There were so many people in my house that I had lost count of them a long time ago. So many voices, so many opinions, so many words of consolation.

"Don't worry beta", said Nazeera Khala. 

"It's an American airline, coup or no coup, Russia will never knowingly harm US citizens. They can't afford to take on the world's super power", said Ibrahim Khaloo. 

"Here beta, drink some water", said my only Phuppo. 

"Eat something, for God's sake", said Nano. 

"Shaadi se pehlay dulhan ke liye itna stress leina acha nahi hota hai", some Aunty I didn't even know told another. (It is not good for a bride to take on so much stress before the wedding)

"Koun si shaadi? Dulhe ke baghair mein dulhan kiss tarha banoun gi", I had broken down crying when I overheard them. (What wedding? Without a groom how will I become a bride?)

Without Kamran there was no wedding, no bride, no future that I had dreamt of with him. The rational side of my brain kept consoling the emotional wreck the irrational side was turning into. There was no way that an entire plane of passengers could go missing. Someone somewhere knew where Kamran was. 

The constant news blaring from the TV in the main living room didn't help calm anyone down, least of all me. Every news channel was the same, a coup happening in one of the largest countries in the world had taken over the news cycle. Yet, there was nothing at all about the fate of the international passenger planes that had been in Russia's airspace as the coup unfolded below. 

Judging from the interviews of other panicked families from across the world, it was clear that no one knew more than we did. 

"I am going to my room", I declared to no one in particular and escaped the solemn mood in the living room. 

Given his years of experience with being a pilot for Pakistan's commercial airline and flying the international route, including to Moscow, Abu had many contacts in the global airline industry. While he and his pilot friends were reaching out to everyone they could think of, Ami was doing what she always did best in situations of crisis. Make sure everyone was fed well. Why we needed to have a degh (a big metal cooking pot) of Biryani delivered to our house at such a time was beyond me. But everyone had their own way of dealing with stress. And this was my mother's way.

Nano hadn't left her seat in the corner of the room, next to the pile of books of duas and the Quran. And to everyone she saw who sitting idle, she would say the same thing, "Allah se dua karo. Uss se bara aur koi nahi" (Pray to Allah. There no one bigger than Him)

Back in my room, I too heeded my Nano's words and bowed my head in front of Him in prayer. It was in the middle of the duas that I was reading that I heard a soft knock on my door and got up to open it. 

A teary eyed Komal silently reached out to hug me even before I could open the door fully. And the two of us stood there like sisters going through a collective trauma of the unknown happening to the men we cared about so much. 

"You came", I whispered to her as I led her into my room.

"Of course I did. The whole family is here. No matter what happens, Farah, we will always be your family as well", she said with a sad smile.