The Red Necklace

Chapter 18

This chapter is dedicated to Always_shine for her sweet comments...  

After Salman left I laid in my bed, covered in a white silk sheet, content.

I fell asleep and woke up to a loud knocking on my door. Squinting open my eyes I glanced at the wall clock and saw it was 10:45 am. I sat up in my bed and realized I was not wearing anything. Looking around in the now sun-lit room, I noticed the sprawled clothes laying on the floor messily. Smiling I got up and picking up my engagement dress I kept it in the wardrobe.

"Neha! Wake up, Neha!" Mom was thumping the door loudly and shouting.

" Okay Mom, I'm up! " I shouted over the door as I quickly wore yellow Shalwer Kameez. I didn't fancy taking a bath right now so I just went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. Opening my eyes I looked at the mirror.

What I saw amazed me. I didn't see a young girl there anymore. What I saw was a woman, who had it all. A woman who had found her love. I smiled at the mirror, my face dripping with cold water. I used the bathroom, brushed my hair and came out. 

I turned off the air conditioner with the remote and threw the remote on my bed carelessly.
Giving a once over look to the room to make sure there was nothing in the room that could make anyone suspicious, I unlocked the door and exited.

When I came downstairs I saw that the whole hall was adorned with the same pink and white roses. The dining table had been removed and it was no where to be seen, probably to make more space for the guests. At the front wall was a beautiful royal kind of a sofa that was two seater and I was sure it was not ours. It had been rented for the ceremony. Beside the sofa were two huge chairs that also looked like it was straight from the Prince's castle. Everything looked too beautiful to be true but then nothing could have been more beautiful than last night. And yet it was true.

I saw Shahbaz talking on the phone in a distance, his back towards me. He turned around and stopped speaking when he saw me. I averted my gaze and walked towards where Mama was standing giving orders to the five maids who were just standing there nodding. Again they were hired as they were all new faces to me. When Mom saw me she dismissed the maids and turned towards me angrily. 

" Neha, do you realize what's the time? The guests will be here in just two hours. And just look at you. You haven't even taken a shower yet. Just go and get ready, and yes Ayesha and Fatima are both outside helping with the seating arrangements in the garden. I'll call them and they'll get you ready. Now go to your room, quick." Mom said before hurrying towards a waiter who was apparently putting the sweets in wrong order. 

I stared at my mother's back for a moment as she scowled the waiter before shaking my head and heading back to my room. This was my sweet mother who was aware of her daughter's unhappiness about this engagement and yet she cared more about the wrong order the sweet were placed in, rather than her daughter's state. I thought of what would have I done if Salman had not shown up last night. I would have committed suicide and all my mother would have cared about was the wrong order of sweets. No one actually gave a damn about what I felt. Of what I wanted. I felt my eyes well up with unshed tears and I hurried to my room. 

" Neha..." It was Shahbaz and I knew it before I turned around. I cleared my eyes with the back of my hand before turning around to look at him.

" Yes?" I asked looking him in the eyes.

 " Neha... actually I wanted to ask you... You don't want to marry me, right?" He said looking anywhere but me. 

" No, I don't want to marry you." I wanted it to make as clear as possible.