Tantalizing Hopes

5. Choices

But Ibrahim did survive it all, mostly by pretending that the obvious question and the impending meeting with someone or the other was not looming above his head. By now the talk that he was wanting to get married had spread like forest fire all around his extended family and almost every other day there was someone ringing them up.

The matter never reached him though, his parents had taken to sieveing out the proposals so he didn't get to face the likes of people who with their silly notions drove him insane.

For some reason, Ibrahim knew none of those callers would be successful so he let them be without making a scene about them. One day however when he had reached home after hanging out with a few friends he found a distant relative, Hameed by name seated with his father, talking and laughing about something.

Ibrahim wished them warmly and tried to leave to freshen up when the relative asked him to sit down saying he was already late and had to leave in a few minutes.

"I was waiting to for you so long", he began. "Your father said your phone was unreachable."

"Yeah that huh, my battery died."

"It's okay beta. I could have met your father and left but I was waiting for you so I could broach the topic."

"About uncle?" Ibrahim queried.

"As you know beta... my family has settled abroad Alhamdulillah - the four of us, my wife and my two kids. All is going well Alhamdulillah with our hotel business booming. My son has taken to managing the place and my daughter has completed her masters. We've been searching someone for her for so long and no one has met out standards. Either the language stood in our way or the ethnicity or sometimes the community. Aside from that I was not able to trust anyone with my precious daughter. I love her and unlike many other parents I love her a little more than my son." He laughed and Ibrahim too smiled awkwardly. From his peripheral vision he noticed that his father was doing the same.

Why is this guy telling me all this? Don't tell me...

"I met your Irfan uncle the other day and he was telling me your family is on the lookout too. I spoke to your father and your father is okay with it all. He said it's left to you to decide what you want. So what do you say now? Shall I prepare for a meeting or do you want to see her picture first?"

Ibrahim was caught now. His father had not told him anything about the proposal. Had he been told, he woupd have been prepared and wouldn't have been this surprised but he was and they were asking him for an answer right away.

Before Ibrahim could decide on what to say, Hameed spoke again. "There is this thing though. I have brought up my daughter in a very loving manner, not that she is arrogant or spoilt, just that she has been used to living a lavish lifestyle. I've stroven to give her the best of everything and she's been grateful for all that she has all her life. However", he paused and Ibrahim knew that there was a clause.

"She is used to life at the Gulf and is unable to adjust here in India. She is not comfortable about staying here for long and I'm not comfortable about letting my daughter stay in a different house. You might have to move in with us and find a job there later on. That is if you are okay with the proposal."

Ibrahim had to fight against himself to not give a harsh reply. He had finally figured what his father had been trying to do by not telling him anything. He had given him an option in life - either to stay or walk away.

What had he been thinking about me?

Of course he wanted to get married but not at the cost of his parents' lives. Not now, not ever. He'd rather remain a bachelor all his life.