Nida's POV:
We stopped at the same café we went to on our first date and sat down at a table.
Our behaviour coordinated, as him and I inhaled deeply and exhaled out just one word in unison. "Engagement !"
We both chuckled at the sudden click of our thoughts and he breaks the collaboration, saying. "Ladies first."
I take a deep sigh. "Shehry, I...I'm .....I don't know. I'm just a little nervous and confused. I mean....itni jaldi?" I managed to utter out my confused emotions.
"Yeah. I know." He just replied, lifting his frappucino towards his mouth as he took a sip.
"Did you talk to your parents about it?" I asked.
"Well, I did and even told them that you know...it's too soon. But all they said in response was that it's 'just engagement', not marriage."
"Even mom and dad said the same thing. Let's just.... not drag this topic further. Just tell me. Do you accept it? I mean, will you be okay with getting engaged to me?" I asked.
He grabbed my hands into his and smiles down at them. "As long as it's you, I wouldn't have missed this chance for the world."
"So....it's a yes?" I ask, confirming.
"Any doubt, sweetheart?" He utters looking directly into my eyes and I felt myself blush.
I smiled at him and he cross-questioned me. "And you? Are you up for this? Remember, my parents aren't forcing anything on us."
"Neither are mine, but they've asked me for a favour, I can never say no....Especially if they're letting me unite with the love of my life."
He sighs happily andvwhispers, leaning over the table. "One of the million reasons why I love you so much."
He bends in and pecks onto my forehead, making a zillion butterflies go crazy inside.
"Shehry, I was wondering, like, you know, we're just in high school and there's a long way to go until you can finally settle yourself with a proper job, right?" I said.
He chuckled. "So basically, you're indirectly saying that, just in case we fall hard and want to get married, I'll still be young enough for a job?" He says it all in one sentence.
I blushed. "No man. I mean abhi se hi engagement ho gayi hai to kia 4 years wait karein ge, shaadi ke liye?"
"Seedha bolo na, control nahi hoga." He winks and I slap his arm from across the table.
"Woh to tumse bhi nahi hoga. Mujhe to abhi se hi dikhta hai." I giggled and see a slight pop of pink on his cheeks.
"Chalo, at least I admit it. Meray se to 4 saal nahi wait kiya jaye ga bhai. Kuch hafton mein hi waat lag chuki hai meri, to 4 saal mein to...." He halts, looking down.
"Ayee hayee, itna pyaar hai meray se?" I put my elbows on the table and balanced my head on my hands as I stared at his face.
"Pyaar nahi...Ishq." He whispers, making my heart do a backflip.
"So, it's settled then? Miss fiancé?" He asks with a soft smile on his face. Miss fiancé. Hmm....I like the sound of that.
"All settled, Mr. Aashiq." I smirked and he chuckled, taking another sip of his coffee.
He moves his chair from the front to place it in the space right next to me.
"You hardly took a sip of your coffee." He says, making it sound more like a question.
I shook my head. "I..I just don't feel like."
He puts his hand on mine, under the table and I glanced at him.
"Nida. If you think this is too much for you to handle at such a young age, then you don't have to. Say no to your parents. I'm sure they'll understand. I mean, they are one awesome pair of understanding parents. Masha Allah." He smiles.
I looked down at our hands and slowly put my free hand on top of his as I spoke. "Shehry, it's not that I can't handle it. I just don't understand why they wanna do it so early. All my life, I don't think I've ever heard them plan on getting me engaged so soon."
He sighs. "Listen, I guess they're right about this being just engagement. It isn't marriage. I mean this one move will help us decide if we want to stay with each other for a lifetime or not."
I nod. "But you know how it is. It's not too long, after an engagement that people get married, Shehry. This basically does show that....we'll get married soon, too. Not that I have much of a problem with getting married early, but I'm just nervous and doubtful about what might happen in the future. I mean....tumhaari parhaai khatam nahi hui and...don't you think it'll be hard enough for us to survive together, if God forbid, you don't...have a job at that time?" My voice grew quieter at the last line and I feel his grip grow tighter on my hands.
I wonder what emotion he must be going through. I need to hear him out as much as I can on this matter. We both are in this together and we both have to know how either of us feels about it.
He just kept staring down at our hands and I speak up.
"Shehry I..I'm sorry. It's just that these thoughts just had to be put out here. This will decide not my own or not just yours, but our future together. And whe...." I was about to say more but his voice halts me midway through.
"No it's okay Nida. I understand what you're trying to imply and you have a very valid point and full right to voice your thoughts out to me." He smiles at me, making my heart melt.
"See, engagement is something they've decided, and left us an option with. Whereas marriage, would entirely be our decision. We'll have the full freedom to decide when we want to get married and they're never going to force us. I know my parents, and even yours. Although, I highly doubt hum dono se shaadi ke baghair guzaara hoga but..." He smirked at the end and I gasped.
I hit his arm. "Shut up."
He laughed and I hit him a few more times.
He finally stopped laughing and took a deep breath. "It's worth a shot." He whispered, lifting up the ring finger of my left hand, in between our faces, and kissed the tip of it very slowly, sending shivers through me.
His lips traced down the tip to the end of my finger and he bit it slightly, making me flinch. He then shifted his grip from my ring finger to my palm and slowly lifted my hand to his lips, as he gently kissed the back of my hand, with his eyes shut.
Aaj tak, itna pyaar meray se, meray maa aur baap ke siwa kabhi kisi ne nahi kiya. Aik ehsaas hai, aik sukoon hai, aik junoon hai iss ki mohabbat mein, jis mein reh kar rooh ko aik alag si khushi milti hai. Mein jo qadam iss ke saath uthaane ja rahi hun, woh meray dil ke hisaab se bilkul sahi hai. Aagay Allah ki marzi, uss ki zaat ne jitna humaara saath likha hai. Jabke dua to yehi hai, ke ye zindagi bhar meray saath rahay, aur aise hi mujhe pyaar karta rahay.
He puts down my hand back on my lap and tears filled my eyes. Tears of happiness. I smiled and hugged him, almost making him fall of his chair. "Definitely worth a shot." I whispered back, and feel his heartbeats grow crazy.
"Let's go home now. It's 2 already and my parents would be worried. But this time, I shall tell them, I was out with you." I say, giggling.
"You didn't inform them? Tsk. Tsk. I told mom about meeting you at this time of the night though." He gives me a cheeky grin.
"What did she say?" I ask, pulling away slowly.
"Kehna bhi kia tha. All she said was. 'Bari jaldi hai. Tumhaari to shaadi bhi kal hi karwa deti hun'." He chuckled and I laughed.
"Does she know about us?" I asked.
"No. But I told her how much I really love you and she said that she felt something fishy going on the day you brought those orchids for me when I was sick....Remember?" He smiles at me.
"How can I ever forget. It was the first time you hugged me." I look down shyly.
"Yeah...." All he managed to utter as he looked at his hands.
"Come on." I say getting up and he follows suit as we stroll out the cafe.
We sat on the bike and drive off.
"Nidzi?" He calls out to me, on the way home.
"Hmm, bolo." I respond.
"I love you. A lot.....So much that I can't even explain." He retorts and I hold him tighter across his torso, feeling his body grow warmer and his heartbeats go faster.
"I love you too Shehry. Even more than you can ever imagine." I replied, smiling to myself.
"Ah ! Pehli baar mujhe koi shair nahi sunaana para." He laughs.
I giggled. "Acha? Chalo agli baar sahi. Khoyi hui thi tumhaari dharkano mein, shair kaise nikalwaati?"
"Aye hayee. Kairi kitaab (book) vichon khoya (steal) aye dialogue ?" He says, flaunting his perfect Punjabi.
"Apni dil di kitaab vichon. Kasmey." I replied and he cackled.
"Shokhi bakri te tu saari zindagi ravay gi." He says and I broke out laughing like I usually do.
There wad a short silence and he speaks. "Do you even realize how much of effort those shair require? Aur tumhein impress karne ke liye to dimagh ki biryani ban jaati hai." He says.
I laughed out loud. "And the best part is, how you come up with it, right on the spot."
"There's a hidden shayar in all of us. It's just how we bring it out. And I guess, love brought it out in both of us." He sighs dreamily and I couldn't control my smile.
"True." I whispered.
And we finally reached home. I get off the bike and he does too.
"Mangetar ke ghar pe sone ka iraada hai kia?" I winked and he shakes his head.
"Ab theek se miloon bhi na, apni mangetar ko?" He smiles and I felt my cheeks grow warmer.
He hugs me all of a sudden and I wrapped my arms around his neck as we just kept hugging and swayed side to side, enjoying our little moment.
I pull my head away from his chest and glance at him. He was smiling. That angelic smile which I die for everytime.
"Bas aik baar shaadi hone do." He smirked and I giggled, punching his chest, playfully.
"Kia kar le ga majnoo?" I say, also smirking.
"Jaan bhi de dun ga teray liye, laila. Aazma ke to dekh." He winks and those butterflies just fluttered like crazy in my stomach.
"Ab mein jaaoun?" I ask and he makes a puppydog face. Aaah !! Adorable !
"Jao. Maaf kiya." He says, letting go of me.
"Bye." I smile, walking away and he comes forward quickly.
I raised an eyebrow, and he traps me in his arms and instantly leans in and kisses my cheek, slowly yet passionately, and my heart skipped so many beats altogether. My breaths uneven and a crazy adrenaline rushed through my body.
He pulls away, letting go and walks back to his bike. Waving back at me, he puts on his helmet.
I smile and wave back. As soon as he leaves, I walk back inside and suddenly remembered. Oh my God ! I have to give mom her medicine.
She's been feeling a little under the weather, these past few days. Climate change, I guess.
I quickly went to the kitchen, grabbed her tablets and a glass of water and rushed to their bedroom. I knocked and felt terrible. They must be asleep and here I am disturbing them.
There was no answer, so I went in only to find both mom and dad, vanished? Were they downstairs? No, the lights were off when I came in.
I walked forward to find a note on their dressing table which read.
Nida beta, we know you're out with Shehry but at least don't mute your phone. We called so many times and you didn't pick up. Anyways, your mom and I left the house for something important and will be back in an hour or so, hopefully. Don't worry and just go to bed.
Take care baby
Important? At this time of the night? But why? I mean what's so important jo itni late night jaana parh raha hai. I hope everything's okay. I just hope it's not Sameena phuppo again.
Ugh ! I remember how she called the last time at around 3 am, making it sound like an emergency, when all she needed was something to eat from outside. Argh ! I'll literally wanted to tell her off so badly, but I couldn't. I mean you have to think twice before attacking a Desi Aunty. You never know how devious her plans for revenge can be.
"What could be so important?" I thought to myself as I stood in the elevator, reaching up to the second floor.
I went into my room and just laid in bed thinking to myself. How can I be so stupid to mute my phone? I could've at least inquired where they were.
An hour had passed and I was still lost deep in my thoughts. Sleep was nowhere within my reac, and mom and dad still weren't back. I called them around 50 times now and they're still not picking up.
I called them again and waited for at least one of them to pick up their phones.
Beep
Beep
Beep....
The number you're trying to call is unavailable at the moment. Plea...
Ugh ! I slammed my phone shut and threw it away from me as tears slowly escaped my eyes.
Kahaan hain aap dono. Please phone utha lein. Mat karein aisa meray saath.
Suddenly it hit me. Irfan uncle ! Maybe he knows. I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs. I knocked the door of Irfan uncle's room hastily but he didn't open up.
I knocked twice, thrice and finally opened the door to find him gone too. I..I was alone at home. For the very first time. With no idea of where my parents might be.
Ya Allah sab theek ho. I just kept weeping as I sat in the garden, waiting for them. All three of them. I wanted to call Shehry and talk to him, but I didn't want him to worry for me at such a time.
Ya Allah sab theek ho...