Strings Attached

~Chapter 5~

"But that's no reason to act all clingy and talk in the future tense all the time," I begin whining again. "You can't blame the poor guy. He's thinking about your future. You guys have to spend it together, after all." Amir is my dad's elder sister's son, and three years my senior. I'm promised to him in marriage or something equally stupid like that. And I only got to know about it a year ago. He had known about it a bit longer than me though. It was really weird at first, and still is, although lesser in degree. I never thought about him in that way before. He seemed okay-ish to me, looks wise. He's become all muscular now. I've stopped calling him 'bhai' in public. But I don't yet show my face to him. My sister isn't so discreet though.

"What if I don't want to spend my life with him in the future?" I ask. "That's your call to make, Hidayah. I can't say anything about it," my very helpful sister says, getting up. "Maybe you might develop feelings for him. He looks quite a fine lad to me." I roll my eyes at that. She talks as if she's a hundred-year-old sometimes. "But if you don't, I really hope they don't force you into it." My countenance drops once again after hearing that. I don't know where the future will take me. Raafiah ruffles up my hair when she sees me gloomy.

"Lighten up, buttercup. Dad's a rational man. He'll find a way, okay," she comforts me. "But, if you want to marry early, I can surely be a messenger pigeon and convey 'Laila's' message to 'Majnoo' pronto." She sends me a wink, and is out the door shouting for mom before I can grab her. Of course, I run after her. 

But the moment my feet touch the bottom stair, I slip and in no time, I'm sprawled on the ground. I hear Raf cackle from a distance, and I send her a hard glare. "Just you wait, fatso, and I'll get you!" I tell her, gritting my teeth in anger. "What? You can tease me all you want and I can't even say Amir's name to tease you?" she says, her eyes still twinkling in amusement. We are wheezing hard with all the running and shouting we've done.

But it isn't so loud to stop us from hearing a small cough from behind us. And when we see who it is, our eyes plop out of their sockets in embarrassment, intermingled with shock. For Amir bhai is standing in the hall, very much physically present, in all his glory. And I'm sprawled on the ground, without even a veil over my face. My dupatta (head covering) is doing an untrustworthy job of covering my head and torso, and I've got no slippers on my feet. "Sh**," is the only word that leaves my mouth at this moment. Dearest hall floor, why don't you just swallow me whole, right about now?

Curse you and your babbling mouth, Raf!

______

After my very humiliating show on the hall floor, I remove myself from there as fast as I can and don't get out of my room at all that night. After everybody, including Amir Bhai has had their dinner, I silently sneak out of my room to have a bite. My veil is draped over my face, just in case the idiot decides to show up. He has weird ways, I swear.

Seeing the coast clear, I amble my way towards the kitchen. Grabbing a plate and pouring some chicken curry onto it, I dunk a piece of chapatti into the curry and push it inside my mouth. A heavenly taste greets my taste-buds. My mother's the best cook in the whole world, hands down. I swear that if I could, I'd have taken her hands away with me. Sheesh, I sound like a cannibal saying that!

After I've had my fill, I flick the kitchen lights off, and get out. My parents' room is near the kitchen. And when I pass by it, I hear faint murmurs from therein. Hearing my name spoken of, I get curious and stick my ears to the door (not literally though), trying to listen. "Why are you letting her go, Ali? She's too young to be on her own," mum is saying.