Arsal and Jiya's Grandfather's dying wish was for them to have Nikkah. And their parents complied to the wish before he could die. Jiya and Arsal reluctantly but agreed to it.
Now, it's been two years since they last saw each other and had their Nik...
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The next morning I woke up at 4 am to offer Fajr prayers. When I came out of the washroom after I had done the wadu I saw Naina and Kiran were also awake.
All three of us offered the Fajr prayers. After that I had an absolute craving for tea.
"You guys want to drink tea?" I asked the 2 of them as I was folding the prayer mat. Kiran was the first to reply.
"Yeah. Let's go we'll sit in the kitchen." And Naina nodded at that.
When we finally got down in the kitchen, I realized they had changed the kitchen a lot. A new fridge, new counter, new paint everything.
"Why don't you sit and I'll make the tea." Naina told me as Kiran sat down on the small table in the kitchen.
"No, you just tell me where everything is and I'll make the tea." I replied to her as I pushed her a bit in the chair.
When the tea was on the stove I sat with the two of them. There was a bit of an awkward tension between us. And when I couldn't take it anymore I decided to brake it.
I turned to Naina and asked what I had asked Arsal before. "So... How are you and Shams Bhai getting married?"
At the mention of Shams Bhai she started blushing and looked down in her lap. Silent.
"Can you tell me how they are getting married." I asked Kiran since she was Shams Bhai's younger sister.
She looked at Naina and laughed a little. "You don't have to be blushing that much when you're with your cousins." She teased Naina and then turned towards me.
"I don't think there is much other then that Mama asked for her hand in marriage, Qadir Uncle agreed and the both of them didn't oppose." She shrugged at me since I am guessing she wasn't let in on anything else.
"That's good. So you just agreed to it or did Shams Bhai have to stand on one leg in front of you and hold his ears?" I asked her remembering the time when she used to say that she will never get married and that if so then the groom will have to stand on one leg and hold his ears for as long as she would want.
"No, he didn't do any of those things for your information. And it was nothing like that. Shams had asked me first if I wanted to marry him and I had said yes and after that the parents got involved." She explained, as she couldn't stop blushing, while looking down at her hands in her lap that were twisting and turning.
I got up to check the tea, since it was ready I poured it in three mugs and brought over to the table. All three of us picked up a mug and continued talking.
"So how are you studies going?" Kiran asked me as she sipped her tea. "It's your last year right?"
"Yeah. It is." I just gave a small nod at that.
"So what do you plan on doing after finishing your studies?" Naina asked me this, looking intently at me.
"I don't know. Work maybe." I replied as I hadn't really thought much about it in the past as to what I would do after finishing my studies.
"Have you really thought about your life after you finish studying?" Now this was Kiran asking me the same question with words twisted around.
I shook my head. "I've just been so focused on making it through Medical College that I never thought about what I would do after it." It was true after Rayan I just focused on my studies and getting out of the university.
"So.. no near wedding bells?" Kiran asked me but when they saw my confused face Naina heaved a sigh.
"We mean you and Arsal. What do you plan on doing? Because Rehman Uncle had said that he wanted you to finish your studies before the wedding. And now that you're studies will be finished this year in about what? 3 to 4 months. What do you plan on doing?" I knew this would come up. We were at a wedding and why wouldn't anyone question us since me and Arsal were the ones who had had our Nikkah before anyone of our generation in the family. And we weren't even the oldest either.
"Honestly?" I asked them which probably worried them a lot more then they were before.
"Yeah.. honestly." Naina said in a low tone barely above a whisper but enough that only the three of us heard.
"I don't know what to do about my relationship with Arsal. We are kind of married. I mean on paper we are but we haven't had the Barat or Walima yet so.... I am in other words still not his wife."
"And I don't really know if I actually want to marry him." That didn't shock them as much as I had thought it would or at least it didn't shock Naina that much, Kiran had her mouth open, actually hanging.
"That's what Arsal thinks." Naina was looking me straight in the eyes, like pleading me to say that what he thought was wrong that what I said wasn't true but she had to accept the reality of our relationship. Maybe Me and Arsal.. We just weren't meant to be.
"He thinks that's the reason I didn't talk to him over the last 2 years?" Now I understood his behaviour more but I was still no closer to finding the answer to what I wanted.
Naina nodded, confirming my suspicion.
"That's not the reason as to why I didn't talk to him." I told her taking my mug to the sink and rinsing it with my back to them.
"Either way I think you two should talk. Figure out what you guys want. From each other, from this Nikkah and from the future." Naina said like I wasn't the only one she was talking to.
When I turned around I saw Arsal was by second set of doors that also led to the kitchen.
Naina stood up, pulled Kiran with herself and left the kitchen but not before giving both me and Arsal meaningful looks.
"So I guess we should talk." Arsal was the first to break the silence as he sat down on the chair Naina had occupied before and I sat opposite him as I had sat before.
"What do you want to talk about?" Maybe it is time we talked. Maybe I might find the answer I was looking for.
