| Hawaaon Ke Paighaam | Messages Of The Wind

| The GrapeVine |

Meerab's eyes flitted up for just a second before returning to the white bed sheet. Her teeth came out to bite into her bottom lip as she snuggled into the pillow.

"Really?" she murmured lightly.

"Hmm. I, on the other hand loved it. I'm not joking when I say that I had flashes of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. Except Red also seemed to be looking at the wolf like she'd eat him."

Leena turned her eyes to Meerab, who went deeper and deeper under the duvet until only the top of her new, dark caramel hair showed. Leena frowned at it, narrowing her eyes at the hair.

"And you had your hair cut." she murmured inquisitively, twirling her own bangs with a finger.

It took five seconds. And then Leena gasped.

"Oh my good Lord, you're sleeping with him!" she accused, her mouth and eyes wide in incredulement.

A miserable groan sounded from under the duvet after a few moments before the mound of white Egyptian cotton moved and a hand slid out.

"I need the cheesecake now." Meerab mumbled.

Leena scoffed, her hands reaching for the cheesecake even as she shook her head.

"Excuse me, Miss He's Not Really My Husband Though. This cheesecake needs to be paid for." she countered.

There was shuffling and then the hand lowered and another groan came.

"Yes." It sounded almost like a wail. "I am sleeping with him. I was. Ugh, I did."

Meerab finished, curling deeper into the heavy duvet. Her hand slid up once again and she wiggled her fingers.

"Hmm." Leena pondered, the hand with the cheesecake hovering mid-air.

"Well, marvellous." She finally announced, her voice breathy with excitement, before placing the cheesecake on Meerab's outstretched palm.

A dismayed 'oh God' came from under the pillow as Leena left the room chuckling, to return to Omar.

Athens was gorgeous; the kind of city which made had you questioning if you'd visited there in another lifetime, because the atmosphere was laden with nostalgia and everything you touched beckoned you to explore its rich history. Meerab walked along the semi-preserved rooftop of the café she has been at all morning. The view of the sparkling coast was breath-taking and she'd been basking in the glory of the Aegean Sea. Her eyes had roamed over the vast, deep blue , but her thoughts had been on entirely different coastal city.

She shifted in her wicker chair. This had been good. She had been given a last minute opportunity to take a flight to Athens with a stay of one night. Tanya, another trainee, hadn't been able to go and Meerab had volunteered. Fresh, sea breeze would do anyone good, and she needed all the good thinking tools right now. It wasn't her usual flight crew, and so whilst everyone had gone out of a historical tour, she had opted to spend the day solo. Hanging out at a cute café and cosying up in the winter sun had sounded like heaven.

And it had been, until her body had shivered slightly and she'd wrapped a light scarf around her arms, mind had registering how lovely the sea breeze was and how unlike the sea breeze she was used to in Karachi. That had led her thoughts to Karachi and then that had shoved her right onto the topic and the man, both who shall not be named.

She thought back to how she, even in her tired, stunned state, had asked for her bag to be brought up immediately and persuaded her mother to not open it, saying she needed a hug instead. Her Mama had of course, agreed, and had stayed with her until she was called down by her Baba. She had promised to come back in five minutes, and those were all it had taken for Meerab to dig into her suitcase and retrieve the incriminating evidence; the ruined kameez and bed sheet. She'd shoved them into the bottom of her shoe rack and had slid into bed just in time for the door to open. She'd then been scolded about getting up and opening her bad, but Meerab would've taken that many times over her mother finding the dreaded proof of her lost virginity in her luggage.