Shehzer's POV (Present Day):
You know you're in Pakistan when one Azaan (Prayer Call) is broadcast-ed from different mosques one after the other. The stifling June heat also serves as a constant reminder. It feels surreal being back after a decade, Kind of like i am visiting after eons; but also like I never really left.
I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, but I always felt an inexplicable connection to my parents' roots-Pakistan. As a child I had visited Pakistan three times, before Rania happened.
During my first visit, I fell in love for the first time. She was my Aunt's neighbor. Chubby-faced, unruly curly hair, huge grey/blue eyes and incredibly spoiled. I just wanted to be her friend at that time. Later, I diagnosed myself in puppy love. Each time I visited was one crazy story after another. Most of them involved me trying too hard for Mina's affections, and her stomping all over my preteen heart. In retrospect, I laugh and cringe at my desperate attempts to win the fair lady's heart.
When Rania was diagnosed with DNS, my entire world changed. Mom nearly died during the birth, so I guess I had to grow up pretty fast; nearly losing a parent can do that sometimes.
Rania's birth was the best thing that ever happened to me, but it also served as the end of our family as I knew it. My Dad grew cold and distant when he first grasped the implications of DNS. Simpy put, he just couldn't stand the idea that his sperm could ever help produce a less-than-perfect baby.
So, one extra chromosome (The cause of DNS), ruined my parent's marriage; piece by piece. Mom tried putting up with his attitude for almost 7 years before she snapped and asked for a divorce. She said she could go on tolerating him for her entire life, if it was just about her. But he was abusive, derogatory, and extremely hateful towards Rania. THAT my Mom and I simply couldn't stand.
It's a good thing he was a filthy rich prick of a lawyer, and Mom walked away with plenty of cash as alimony. He was beyond pissed about this fact.
I went to the best Medical College in my region, and got a degree in genetic disorders. It is ironic that my father's money paved the way for my journey to help individuals suffering from GD's like Down's Syndrome.
Nowadays I was on a medical sabbatical from my university, doing an internship in a foreign country was a compulsion all aspiring doctor's had to fulfill. I had chosen Pakistan of course. Mom had jumped at the chance of meeting her sister, so we ended up making a summer-long trip.
Mom also had an ulterior purpose. Since I was turning 26 this year, She wanted me to marry and settle down with 2.5 kids somewhere. After my engagement with a university friend ended four months ago, she had been hounding me to find someone else. Pakistan's abundant "suitable Rishtas" Had convinced my mother that she wanted to import a daughter-in-law to Maryland. Fast.
Since the day we touched down, Khala Shazia (Aunt) and Mom were on a single-minded mission to end my bachelorhood. They spent days dragging me to mixed family gatherings, and weddings, prodding me to check out one girl after another. I felt like an absolute lecher sometimes.
They were slowly mastering the art of facebook stalking, and I would often find random links to girls' profiles in my inbox. When I shared these insights with my American pal Matt, he howled with laughter for an hour straight. called my Mom "So freaking cool!" for "Stalking chicks" for me.
Truth is, I had only ever thought about marrying two girls. My ex-fiancee Saleena was one and the other was Mina.
Even during my relationship with Saleena, somewhere in the back of my mind kept dragging my thoughts back to Mina. The last I remembered of her was a 10 year-old girl who hated me; so my thoughts made no sense.
But it was like intuition you know? A deep rooted gut feeling, that someone is special. I had never ever felt that way again. No matter how many times I shrugged off Mina as a puppy love/childhood crush, she was always there. Making me miss her.
I would never even willingly admit it to myself, but part of my reason for breaking things off with Saleena was Mina. The larger reason of course, was the incident in which I had accidentally overheard her calling Rania a "fucking retard". It was a miracle I hadn't physically harmed her. I had been beyond control with rage at that time.
Meeting Mina after 13 years was everything I had imagined. But it was also so much more. It wasn't just her physical gorgeousness, although that was definitely part of it. (Hey, I am a guy! we are very..Visual). It was also her wit, and humor, and the way she gave her heart to Rania. It made something inside me clench my heart.
Saleena had been good at pretending to love Rania, to gain my attention. It wasn't the same with Mina. She couldn't care less about me when she curled with her on the swing, relating stories, or kneeling with her on the dirty floor, teaching her to paint, and draw. Quite often, Mina would march up to our house, demand to borrow Rania for board games, or "Makeover Parties" whatever those were. I always had to drag a reluctant Rania back at night, crying for "Ten more minutes"; not so surprisingly, Mina looked sadder than Rania during these departures.
There were so many sides to Mina, I relished each one. I noticed all tiny details about her. What she liked to eat, what she hated. Her likes, Dislikes, hobbies. Just yesterday, I came to know that she was obsessed with collecting unique famous quotes. She fascinated me like no one ever had.
She had an eclectic look too. She never looked the same twice. But she always looked beautiful to me.
Some days she would look like a drunk hobo, loose long shirts printed with some silly sentence like "I'm not weird-I'm limited Edition", her hair would be secured in a messy bun over her head, scarf wrapped around her neck, big hipster glassed perched on her tiny nose.
On other days, she looked like a Desi Dream. Tall perfection, dressed traditionally in stunning light summer Kameez paired with a modest duppatta. Her long mahogany hair would be cascading around her back, making me realize that I had a thing for girls in desi clothes. No...I had a thing for Mina in desi clothes.
Today, I came to a decision. I would convince Mina to give me a chance as a prospective husband. After Mom's constant prodding, I confessed that I had feelings for someone, and wanted to get her approval as a suitor. Then, I would let Mom get involved. When I told her that the girl was Mina, she was so happy, she just sat down and wept happy tears.
I guess I had parental approval.
Next step: convince Mina.
A/N:
Whew! this was a long one eh?
:D I'm happy with it though.
PS: Photo in description is the Uber Hot Pakistani Model 'Emmad Irfani"...But I borrowed him as Shehzer. hehe.
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