Muntaha | ✔

Chapter 10

"You're very beautiful." The girl, Aiman, complemented her.

"Thankyou. You yourself are very pretty." Muntaha said politely to which Aiman gave her a smile.

When Muntaha turned around, she saw Shehryar standing beside her Chachu.

"Shery Bhai! Ap kab aye?" (When did you arrive?) Muntaha asked, surprised by the presence of his cousin and Safi's older brother Shehryar.

Shehryar looked in her direction. His eyes lingered at Aiman who was standing beside Muntaha and then he turned to Muntaha with a smile.

"Bas aj hi aya hun. Or Abu ne kaha to yahan aa gaya." (Today itself. And dad asked me to come along so here I am.) He replied.

"We all missed you, you know." Muntaha said going towards him and giving him a hug.

"I know, Chhoti Guriya. I missed you all as well." He replied smiling down at her and running his hand through her hair lightly.

Aiman smiled at their encounter and Shehryar, feeling someone's gaze at him, looked up and into the deep brown eyes of the intruder. Aiman blushed red, embarrassed at being caught, and looked down immidiately.

"Salam, Uncle."

Muntaha looked up on hearing the familliar voice.

'What is he doing here?' Muntaha thought.

"This is my son, Faris, but you've already met him." Zayyad Khan said with a big smile, patting his back.

"Yes, yes. He's a great a kid." Muntaha's Chachu, Kamal Ahmed, said. Faris greeted everyone with respect and hugged Safi and Shehryar.

'This is why Uncle seemed familiar. He looks just like his father.' Muntaha realised.

Everyone got busy in their talks and the night passed by with the formation of some new bonds and strengthening of old ones.

~●~

"Did you hear about the trip?" Hadiya asked sitting beside Muntaha who was reading a book and writing notes, sitting under a tree in the campus ground under a tree.

"Yeah." Munatah said without looking up from her books. Its been three weeks since the party. She occasionally saw Faris in university and she sometimes texted Aiman on instagram as she received and accepted her follow request on instagram and also followed her back.

With all the assignments and assessments, she'd been so busy that she didn't have any time for herself, someone else's thoughts were totally out of the picture.

"So why don't you sound excited?" Hadiya asked with confusion.

"Because I'm not." Muntaha deadpanned.

"Uff oh! Ab yeh na kehna tum nahi ja rahi." (Don't tell me you're not going.) Hadiya said in a pleading way.

"I actually wanted to catch up on my studies in those four days." Muntaha said sheepishly, knowing it'll anger Hadiya. But instead of yelling Hadiya gave her a wide smile.

"I already knew you'd be planning something behuda like that. So, I submitted your application along with mine." Hadiya told her triumphantly.

"Hadi! I don't want to...-" Muntaha started to whine but Hadiya cut her off.

"I am not listening to anything. Next saturday trip ja raha hai and we both are going. That's final." Hadiya said and Muntaha couldn't do anything else other than obliging.

●~●

"You can go, dear. What's the destination?" Saleem Ahmed said, folding the newspaper that he was reading and putting it on the dining table, giving all his attention to his daughter.

"Swat. It's an outdoor trip with hiking and camping wagera." Muntaha replied, trying to finish her breakfast fastly.

"Sounds good. I've given the trip fee and your allowance money to your Mama. Ap unse le lena." His father said getting up and kissing her head, bidding both the ladies farewell.

"Beta, you know that your Baba and I trust you. We deem you responsible enough to take care of yourself and stay out of trouble." Muntaha's mother, Umayya Saleem, said while sitting down beside her and carressing her face.

"I know Mama. And I love you guys for that." Muntaha said kissing her mother's cheek and getting up saying she'd be late from university. Her mother gave her the trip fee which Muntaha almost forgot about.

●~●

"It is so strange." Hadiya mumbled.

Muntaha and Hadiya were walking out of the office after submitting their trip fee.

"What?" Muntaha asked curiously.

"We are paired with the third year students." Hadiya said.

"Yeah, so?"

"Then why are they allowed to bring a friend or family member but we are not?" Hadiya said with a pout.

Muntaha laughed and asked, "Why? Who do you want to take?"

"No one. But there should be equality na." Hadiya replied sheepishly.

In the midst of walking out the university, Muntaha recieved a text from Safi.

'Waiting outside your campus. Jaldi ao. -S👑"

Author's Note
Happy New Year, Readers! I hope you like the chapter. I have quite a tight schedule but I am trying. Vote, share and leave your views in the comment section.