"Riya! Wake up, It's one already." Arshiya called out.
Riya slept like a log, all curled up inside the cosy duvet, and her hair a tangled mess. A pang of sunlight hit her eyes when Arshiya pushed opened the curtains. She quickly hid her eyes putting an arm over them. The guest room was cushy, two wide single beds with a nightstand between took the ample space in the middle of the room. On the opposite wall, was a large sleek L-shaped wall unit of shelves and cabinets, centred in was a built-in TV screen. There was a small walk-in closet at the corner, which also had an attached bath inside.
Arshiya had already woken her for the fiftieth time before but she didn't stir a dot. Now that she was half awake, Riya screamed at her, "Arshiya, I swear if you annoy me once more, I'll slap you."
Arshiya pleaded, "You've missed breakfast, Agha Jaan was asking about you. Riya please, at least wake in time to have lunch with him."
"You go." She mumbled while rolling on her side.
"I just ate Alhamdulillah, and besides you know I wouldn't go," Arshiya explained and opened the nightstand drawer to get her phone's charger.
"Uh... you and your logic. Seriously, don't you feel like hanging out with all of us? I mean, how can you not spend time with family?" Riya wondered loudly.
"It isn't my logic, Riya. This is part of how I wish to live, how Allah wants me to live. Talking about spending time with family, there is always a limit to whom we can spend time with."
Riya made a face, "Cut out we, it's just you and anyway, they're only cousins. Same family, same blood. We grew up together for God sake!"
"Exactly! It is for Allah's sake, Riya." With a soft smile, Arshiya took it upon her remark.
Riya sat up and stretched while yawning, "Who is it in this house you're covering from?" She asked in an irritated tone "Shahzar? Aahil? Wisam? Moutasim? They're like brothers to you Arshiya!
She stopped rummaging through the drawer and looked at Riya intently, "Just because they're 'like' brothers don't make them for real. Okay, they're same blood but we're not allowed to get about with them. Also, it's not only them, but there are also servants here as well. They're all non-mahram to us."
"Now what is that?" Riya asked nonchalantly.
"You really don't know?" She asked a little surprised.
"I know kinda, not exactly. I guess I forgot." Riya admitted.
"A non-mahram is someone you got to be covered in front of, someone you're allowed to get married to." Arshiya gave a brief description.
"I see, but how will you be able to get married if you continue to not let a guy look at you?" Riya was getting confused.
Arshiya giggled, "There's a lot more to this, Riya but Allah has created us all in pairs. Some other time? Now, c'mon get going." She just didn't want to overdose Riya with explanations all at once.
"Yeah, yeah." Riya yawned again and came out of the bed. She was going towards the bathroom when Arshiya spoke up again, "Umm, please don't pick up fights with Moutasim. Agha Jaan or anyone else doesn't have a clue about what he does back in Dubai. Agha Jaan wouldn't be able to tolerate it, and besides, we don't even know what's the truth, really."
She turned around and gave her little sister an I-know-it-all look, "We all know what he does Arishiya, for sure. Bloody gangster, a rap-..."
Arshiya didn't let her finish, "Stop it. I don't know why, but that news was all made up, I think. Moutasim might not do good things, but falling to the lowest of the low? No, at least, I don't believe it." She rationalised.
Riya argued, "Sweetheart, you're too naive to understand wickedness. You hardly socialise, men to be specific, I know everything. Besides, at first, even I thought that it's all a hoax, but now I don't think so."
"Whatever, just don't get your mind all whacked by what he says, ignore him, even better, stay away," Arshiya advised her.
She snapped, "As if I want to be near him, and I haven't seen him around since yesterday evening. Perhaps had gone out destructing some more lives."
Arshiya rolled her eyes at Riya's last remark while checking some messages on her phone.
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When she came down, a servant led her to the dining room where everyone was seated except Agha Jaan.
Aleesha tapped a chair beside her and Riya pulled it to sit down, "Morning everyone!" They all smiled at her.
"You mean afternoon." Hufaiz made a point.
She said curtly, "Well it's morning for me, I just woke up."
Shaking her hand, Aleesha interrupted, "Doesn't matter. Riya guess who's coming over today?"
"Umm, your fiance?" She took a guess.
Aleesha blushed slightly, she whispered, "Why would he come, you fool!"
"Then, just tell me," Riya responded
"My wedding planner!" She chimed excitedly.
"Cool! Which reminds me, I got some wedding shopping to do." Riya remembered.
"Sure, we'll go tomorrow," Aleesha promised.
"Riya?" Radmaan called her.
"Yeah, baby?" She grinned at him.
He riddled her, "Do you know why 6 is afraid of 7?"
"6 is afraid of 7... No idea, why?" She asked him blankly
"That's because of 7 8 9."
Everybody laughed at his silly joke, including Agha Jaan who had just entered. Taking his usual seat he asked Riya, "Slept well?" She nodded in reply.
The servants started serving and they all began eating a delish traditional meal of lamb chops, Kabuli Pulao, and Burrani; a dish of eggplants sauteed in tomato sauce and topped with yoghurt.
The dining room table had matching oak side chairs all around it, except for the position at the head of the table. That one was special, white, with arms and a broad leather backrest. There were some folksy paintings hung on the wall, which portrayed a rich Pashto culture. A warm ball of light cast squares through the glass sliding door onto the terrazzo floor and reflected on other things in the room. The fruit-laden orchard looked ravishing through it, while a gardener had switched on the inundation system, water sprayed out of little fountains, which was built under the ground. The water reached out to every tree in the orchard, soaking up each corner, all so full of summer greenness.
"Sorry, I'm late." Moutasim appeared suddenly.
Agha Jaan asked him, "Where have you been?"
"At a friend's place, Agha Jaan." He replied and got seated. It didn't go unnoticed by him that Riya's eyebrows shot up at his reply, though she chose to not look at him or say anything at all.
Moutasim ate in silence whereas everyone else chattered. They all discussed a hiking trip up in the mountains to go on after the wedding.
"I'm gonna take my hoverboard along!" Radmaan piped in.
"If you ride your hoverboard, you're going to roll down the mountain. Anyway, no one's taking you." Wisam teased him.
"Baba look at him!" Radmaan wailed.
Aahil, aged nine, spoke up too, "I'm going to bring my swimming tube with me."
"Hello, we're not going skinny dipping." Wisam snapped at him. All the boys cracked up at that.
Alam Zeb cut in, "Wisam, don't be rude to your brothers. Whoever wants to go outing, can go."
Aahil stuck out a tongue at Wisam, and he hit him back.
"You guys, why don't we go to a mountain lodge instead?" Hufaiz suggested.
Shahraz said, "It's too boring in the summer, in the winter we could've skied."
Then, they all fell into an argument over it, some wanted to go hiking while others wanted to stay in a lodge. The girls were too engrossed talking about the wedding plans to care less.
Looking at a quiet Moutasim, Agha Jaan asked him, "What about you Moutasim? Don't you want to go anywhere with them?"
"I don't think I'll be able to make it, Agha Jaan. I'll leave two days after the wedding is done."
"Oh, why such a rush?" Alam Zeb asked him.
"I've got important work to finish." He replied calmly and glanced at Riya, who was in a deep conversation with Aleesha and her mom.
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By evening, the wedding planner had arrived. They were finalising some important arrangements, on the terrace along with Aleesha and her parents. Riya sat on the velvety grass in the garden sulking, holding her phone. Zayn hadn't been answering her calls or replying to her texts. She tried once more, yet again there was no response. Raising her arm up, she jerked the phone and thrust it in the air. It tumbled down a few meters away, landing near someone's foot. The glass screen had cracked, branching like a spider's web.
Moutasim picked it up and eyed it closely. Clicking his tongue, he walked over to Riya, "You broke something."
Sitting on his toes opposite her, he waved it in her face. He wasn't even the last person she wanted to see, not at this moment.
She looked at him with her tear stricken face and a red nose, snatching the phone out of his grasp, she stood up and turned to leave.
Standing up himself, he said, "What are you crying over? The phone or him?" He tried to rub it in.
She stopped in her tracks, faced him and came ahead. There was no trace of tears in her eyes or her reddened face. Her eyes were narrowed, and hard. Her piercing stare didn't have any effect on him, he stood there with his arms folded on his chest, waiting for the volcano to explode.
To his surprise, in a cold tone, she asked, "What is your problem?"
She had said it so low that he couldn't quite hear her, "Pardon me?" He asked with a little twitch at the corner of his lips, trying not to laugh.
"I SAID WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM MOUTASIM?!" Then it erupted.
"I?" He asked pointing towards himself as if she had just thundered at some other Moutasim. "I don't have any problem. Just came over to give something of yours which broke, but seems like you're the one actually broken." He added snootily.
As soon as those words came out of his mouth, she leapt forward and grabbed his collar, "You don't have any right to pass nasty comments on me. Do not make my life hell than it-..." She trailed off her words and let go of his collar.
"Than it already is," he finished for her, and added, "I wonder who else has made your life hell. That's my job, isn't it?" He winked with a smirk.
She inched forward to slap him, but before she could do that, a shower of rose petals fell upon the two of them, followed by a woven basket which hit Riya's head.
They looked up and found Aleesha standing near the terrace railing, giggling uncontrollably. Moutasim brushed off the petals from his hair and clothes. He took off his grey cardigan which he wore on top of a white v-necked t-shirt and denim jeans to wring it out.
"What the hell Aleesha?!" Riya grunted.
"I swear... I swear it was a mistake." Aleesha was getting short of breath with all her laughing. "Look at you!" She pointed at Riya and laughed some more. The basket sat on her head like a hat.
While rashly taking off the basket from her head, a strand of hair got stuck between the woven wicker. She forced it out, but it tangled up more. Irritated, she left the basket dangling from her head by a piece of hair.
"Ouch!" She yelped when it pulled at her head. She started fighting with the basket all over again, pulling it, hitting it and pushing her head! She had gone insane.
Suppressing his laughter, Moutasim took the basket out of her hand, "Wait! You're going to pull your hair off their roots."
"Don't you dare touch me!" She warned him.
"I don't even want to. Look, I'm only getting this damn basket out of your damn head. Be still." He insisted.
She squirmed for the first few seconds and when he actually started untangling her hair, she had calmed a little. When it came free, he held her hand and pushed the basket in it.
Looking deep into her eyes, he picked out a petal stuck in her hair, and said, "Go call him, might even pick up this time." He had said it with seriousness in his voice, without any signs of sarcasm.
There was something about the way he said which made Riya believe Zayn might really take her call this time.
He turned around and left, while she stood there dazed, blinking after him.