High On Life

32: The Concealed

"Hey babe. Sup?" He whispers and I giggle.

"Why are you whispering?" I ask.

"Hussain's asleep, and so is Maha and I don't want to leave this room, so bear with it." He says, whispering again and I laughed.

"Why not? Just go to some other room na." I whined.

"I'm too lazy to lift my butt off my comfy bed for you, pagli." He says in a loud whisper.

"Fine, lazy bum. I wanted to talk about.." I was about to say more when he cuts me off.

"Our engagement." This time he was louf and clear enough.

"Can we meet somewhere in a café or something and discuss this? I wanna do this face to face." He says and my heart skipped a beat. Why does he wanna do it face to face? Is he going to disagree with the idea and reject me on my face?

"Umm..okay." I reluctantly agreed

"Cool. I'm coming to pick you up. Be at your door in 10 minutes." He says and we both hung up.

Shehry had arrived and gave me a call. I was ready in a hoodie and sweatpants. I went down to the ground floor and slowly peeked here and there. Nope. I guess mom and dad were asleep.

I walked toward when my head shifted to my left. Ugh ! The bathroom light was on. I must've forgotten to turn it off when I went to wash my hands after the dinner. I was about to go turn it off when my phone vibrates again. Uff ! Be-sabar insaan.

I narrowed my eyes and cut his call as I went outside, finding him on his bike. Thankfully, Irfan uncle was asleep. Yay.

I sit down. "Why are you so impatient?"

"Cuz you were taking so long." He responds, pulling my arms forward and securing them around his torso. The butterflies. Aah !

"Hold on tight." His voice escapes through his helmet in a robotic tone and I immediately warned him. "No wheelies mister."

"Okay okay." He chuckled, started the bike, and we drove off.

Rizwan's (Nida's dad) POV:

Nida left for her room and Rafia and I just sat quietly, lost in our thoughts.

I held my hands in hers. "Rafia mat socho itna. Everything will be okay." I tried to reassure her.

"Mein kia karoon Rizwan jee. Kab tak chupaayein ge hum Nida se yeh sab?" She said, tears pooling up her eyes. I wanted to cry, snatch those tears away for myself, but I couldn't. All this harsh reality deemed was that I just....couldn't. I had to stay strong. For her. For us.....For Nida.

"Rafia, meri taraf dekho. Nothing's going to happen, I promise. Bas aik baar Nida ki shaadi ho jaye, sab theek ho jaye ga. Uss ki khushi mein hum bhi khush honge. In Sha Allah. Mein Shehryaar ko jaanta hun. Bohat pyaar karta hai woh Nida se. Aur uss ko humesha khush rakhay ga." My hands tightened around hers as I tried to control my emotions which were steadily beginning to get the best of me.

"Par itni jaldi yeh sab kar ke hum uss ke saath ziyaadti kar rahay hain na Rizwan? Uss ke pardhne likhnay ka haq hum...hum uss se cheen rahein hain. Woh...woh kia sochay gi? Woh munh pe kabhi nahi bolay gi magar dil hi dil mein to mehsoos karay gi na. But we don't even have any other choice." She now began weeping.

"We do Rafia. We do have a choice. I promise, it'll get better, and we'll let Nida live her life the way she wants. You and I.......will see her happiness and the love she'll get throughout her life, and...our pyaare pyaare grandchildren." I smiled and she chuckled at the last part, though I could still feel her pain.

"Abhi to apne Hussain ka intezaar hai." She smiles, talking about Sara's unborn son whom she and Sara had already named Hussain.

"In Sha Allah." I uttered and wiped the tear-stains off her cheeks with my thumb.

"Chalo, aik bari waali smile do. Jaldi se." I add quickly, giving her a big cheesy grin.

She just looked down and I lifted her face up to mine. I put both my thumbs on either corner of her lips slowly curving them upwards and she giggled.

"Aap bhi na." She yanks my hands away, smiling that heavenly smile of hers and I pulled her in my arms, and hugged her tight.

She broke out crying again as her tears now fell rapidly. I pulled her away from my chest and she speaks in her shaky tone. "Rizwan. Hum bohat majboor ho gaye hain. I just pray we're able to give Nida the most we can, jab tak hum dono ka saath rahay ga."

"Aisi baatein mat karo. We're here for each other and for her, today, tomorrow, and always." I managed to utter as my heart ached with every second giving me painful realization regarding our future together.

"It hurts. Dard hota hai. Sirf soch soch ke." Her lips trembled as she spoke.

"Abhi bhi kuch umeed hai Rafia. Never give up. Meri strong biwi ho, kisi cheez se nahi darti...."

"Par ab darti hun Rizwan jee. Ab darr lagta hai. Bohat darr lagta hai." She cried continuously and I felt my eyes well up, too. It was no use. No matter how much I tried, I couldn't do anything to supress her sadness.

"Rafia?" I lifted her face up and wiped her tears.

"Hmm, kahiye?" She sniffed.

"I love you." I spoke, looking directly into her sore eyes.

She smiled through her sadness and put her arms around me. "I love you too Rizwan jee and always will."

I wrapped my arms around her and place my head on top of hers as it gently rested on my shoulder.

We just stayed silent for a few minutes, not wanting to talk about anything.

Suddenly, she gets up. "Rizwan jee !" Panic evident on her face and her expression disturbed.

"Rafia, kia..kia hua?" She gets off the sofa and rushed towards the bathroom. I ran after her and held her tight, as she bawled out everything she ate, for the second time, the same day.

A tear rolls down my cheek as I caressed her back.

"Better now?" I ask.

"Yeah." She replied, panting as she straightens herself and then hugged me, tightly, as if....... as if we'd lose each other if let go.

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Short and quick update but chalo, kuch to hai :p What do you guys think this is about? What are Nida's parents worried about? Please do answer what you think :) Especially all you voters out there, who don't comment :p