Darling Dearest💕 پیارے عزیز

Chapter Two - The One Of His Friendship

‎ائے تھے تم مری زندگی میں ہوا بن کے
کب یے دل لے گئے، کون جانے، خبر نا ہوی

Aye thay tum meri zindagi mein hawaa ban ke
Kab ye dil le gaye, kaun jaane, khabar na hui
(You came into my life like the wind,
Exactly when you took my heart away, who knows, I didn't realise)

What... what in the world was that. Now stood up, Aziz felt as if his whole world had been rocked. As his confusion cleared, he realised his mum had walked on without him. Running to catch up with her, he thought about what had just happened. That girl had really come out of nowhere. It was the weirdest thing ever; Aziz was normally quite an observant person. Was he really that lost in thought, thinking about marriage? That brought a flush of pink to his face. He was a guy, for God's sake. That was something girls daydreamed about. Honestly, now all that was left to happen was for him to get married to that tornado girl and he might as well be in an SRK movie.

"Tum kyu gulabi gulabi ho rahe ho? Bukhaar to nahi?" His mum's words brought him out of his trance, it was getting a bit much at this point.
("Why are you getting so pink [in the face]? You don't have a fever, do you?")

"No mama, just feeling a bit warm," he lied. His mum didn't buy it though... seeing as it was the middle of November, and evening time at that.
"Ok, just let me know if you don't feel well beta, we don't want you being sick in the middle of all the wedding festivities." Yeah, his mum was a big sucker for weddings, partly why she couldn't wait to plan for his own. Aziz groaned inwardly as he realised his thoughts were back at square one: daydreaming about his own wedding. What was wrong with him today...

Thankfully his mum wrapped it up soon enough, and then they were on their way back to their flat. Talks of the wedding today reminded him, he had yet to tell Asim that he'd arrived in Pakistan. Though they'd tried their best to keep in touch while they were both off at university, they hadn't gotten a chance to meet up for a long time after, almost two years in fact. So, when Asim called Aziz in London where he worked - five hours away from their hometown - to inform him of his wedding, Aziz had booked his tickets right away. There was no question about it, the two were the best of friends and brought out the best in each other - not that either of them would admit such a cheesy thing to the other, the cringe!

As Aziz and Aima sat in the car, Aziz called Asim through his car's Bluetooth to let him know. Asim picked up as soon as he saw who was calling.
"Oye! You reached Pakistan? Bataya bhi nahi? When did you reach?"
("Oi! [...] You didn't even mention it? ...")
"Woah woah woah Asim, bro, chill! Sans toh lene de bhai. I reached two days ago; mum took me to shopping straight away... that's what we've been doing for the past two days." Aziz chuckled when he thought of his mum's excitement, "In fact we're coming back from the market right now."
("... Let me breathe at least bro.")
"Wah yaara dikha di apni dosti, you've been here for two days and you're telling me now? I don't care about anything else; you and aunty are meeting me and mum tomorrow. I'll text you the details of the restaurant later, but you're coming - no excuses."
("Wow friend, you've shown how true your friendship is,")

And that was that. Not like Aziz would counter what Asim had to say - he was quite excited to see his jigar after what seemed like an age as well. His mum, listening in to the conversation, was ecstatic as well. Through their sons' friendship, the two mothers had become like sisters - estranged from their families and community as they were in an unknown country. While Aima's son had been living away in London, the two mothers continued to meet periodically, and their bond had only grown. And tomorrow they would meet again.

—————

"Ainna, hum jaa rahay hain, acha bachay? Eat your food on time and give your abbu his medicines, yaad se. And remember the chores I gave you." With one last pointed glare, her mum left the house, following her son who was waiting in the car for the past five minutes.
("... we're going now, okay child? [...] don't forget...")

Great. Now she was at home with a long list of chores to complete when all she really wanted was to complete her dance routine and practice it. There weren't many days left until the Mehndi now, and she really wanted there to be as much halla gulla as possible - both on the day and in the dholaks before it. Her brother just had to go meet this friend of his, ruining her plans, ugh he was so annoying. And then he didn't even do any work around the house either, because "Dulha koi kaam nahi karta,". Huh. What kind of an excuse was that?
("The groom doesn't do any sort of work,")

This friend of his better not be as annoying as Asim bhai if he was going to be at all of the functions. Just her luck that his mother was best friends with her own, so obviously she was invited. So, with his mum there and being the closest friend of the dulha, the 'best man' for lack of a better word, this dude was going to be at their small family walay functions too. It might be very uncomfortable if he's one of those weird types, Ainna could only pray he wasn't. Imagine having a perv around when you're trying to have fun, oh, gross! You'd get shivers all the time! Ainna's thoughts were going wild at this point, until she realised, she hadn't quite gotten started on her list of chores yet... Oops.

"Chaval, Ainna why are you delaying this," she muttered to herself, looking at her list, "The quicker you do all of these, the quicker you can get to dancing."
("Stupid...")

With the thought of her dances to cheer her on, Ainna worked at full speed, finishing off everything just before lunch time. Now it was time to have lunch and remind her dad to take his medicines. After that she would wait around an hour before she continued her dances - she didn't want to get a stomach-ache at this point. Rushing would do more harm than good. Imagining the dance moves to a song in her head, Ainna warmed up the food her mother had left for both her and her father.

—————

Aziz was just about to pick up his phone and ring his ever punctual, note the sarcasm, friend when he realised there was no need.
"Shaitaan ka naam liya aur shaitaan haazir? Bari lambi umar hai teri bhai."
("Call the devil's name and the devil is present? You have a long life, bro.")
"AZIZ! Kaisa hai yaara, I missed you a lot these past few years. We have a lot to catch up on."
("... How are you my friend...")
"I'm good, man. Tu suna, you got married! Bhabhi kaisi hain?"
("... What about you [...] What's the Mrs like?")

The two mothers chuckled at each other listening to their sons' conversation. They were both so caught up in each other that they had forgotten about the mothers. Freed from his bubble of excitement, Aziz mentally slapped himself. He didn't even say salaam to Aunty Samia.

"Aunty, I'm so sorry, Assalamualaikum!" Better late than never, Aziz thought "How are you, I haven't seen you in a long time either."
"I'm fine, beta, it's completely fine. You're still better than my nikamma beta, jis ko abhi bhi khayal nahi aya aunty ko salam karne ka." Samia looked pointedly towards her son.
("... uselesss son, who still hasn't thought to say salam to aunty.")
To say Asim was embarrassed would be an understatement.

With the pleasantriesout of the way, the two duos sat at their table and began to order their lunch.When lunchtime had passed to sunset, they were not aware. The time had passedbefore their eyes, leaving them shocked. Though they ought not to be. As theysay, time passes quickly when you're having fun, so it was no surprise thatthey had spent hours talking without realising.

A/N: This one actually took me quite a long time to write, mainly because there's no interaction between the main characters here, no drama🥺 hope you guys liked it! Also I've updated the cast so go and have a look at that if you haven't yet. I'd love it if you comment any criticisms or maybe any better translations of the Urdu phrases as well, I'd love the feedback.
Peace,
Wafa out✌🏼💕