You had me at a 'Hello' . (Jerry Maguire)
Haya returned home after a long and tiring day at university. Gladly it was last. And then she had after university plans with Mariyam which had exhausted her some more. Waving Mariyam goodbye, Haya went inside only to she find her Taya sitting with her Dadi(paternal grandmother) in the lounge. It was nothing new for her. She was used to her Taya, sitting and discussing family gossips with Dadi.
"Assalamalikum Ami, "Daddy adab ! . Tai Mummy(Aunty) Adab! " [Note :Adab is kinda said in Hindustani families as a greeting.]
Haya calls her Taya, "Daddy' .Her class fellows made fun of her because of it .But she was forced to because, well her father wanted his brother to be as much of a fatherly figure to his kids as he was . So much for wishful thinking on her father's part. Taya always had considered her father a competition . But her father failed to notice that. And nobody dared to point that out.
Desi families have these inner politics which just blows your mind up. And being the only girl in the paternal side of her family , Haya sometimes feared that one day her Dadi would go like "my last wish is to see Haya married to Salman" and that day she will legit die.
Haya wasn't going to marry that hypocrite,Salman. The hottest corner of hell is reserved for hypocrites. And Salman was a freaking hypocrite , living off his father's money. Haya preferred self-made men instead of the spoils brat who only knew how to waste money on girls and cigarettes.
Tired ,Haya went to her room and crashed on her bed as soon as it came into view without changing her clothes. She was going to get a lecture for her mother about not changing out of"bahir k kapray"(formal clothes) but she was too tired to give a damn ruining her formal clothes.
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"Haya wake up !! Tahira baji called. We have to go to their place. " Haya's mother was shoving her shoulders to wake her up.
"ugh Ammi my feet hurts, I'll go tomorrow" Haya replied.
"Don't you come to me complaining that they didn't invite us when they were discussing all the wedding stuff. " Her mother replied as she moved away from the bed.
"Mama, close the light on your way out." Haya said hiding her face in the pillow, to shield herself from the light which was blinding her. She was way too exhausted to go anywhere right now.
If her feet weren't killing her this much, Haya would have sat up in the bed after hearing the word "wedding". They were going to have a wedding. How much she loved wedding and the lights and the vibe. She did not want to get married herself. Oh, but she loved attending weddings.
Haya was sleeping peacefully when her phone began blasting her caller tune. Why didn't she put it on silent ? Mentally cursing herself for it , she carelessly reached for her phone which was under her got damn pillow. Without looking at the caller ID, she attended the call. "Hello, Assasalam Aleikum" she mumbled still sleepy. It was just her thing to pick up the call without looking at the caller ID. In her defense she was still sleepy, and her processors were a little slow when she woke up.
"Bhae , you woke me up from my slumber. It better be important as I was legit dreaming about something important. I mean I missed, Saman's wedding discussion for this sleep. It is completely not true,because there was this other reason. Actually I am trying to avoid the 'big daddy' who is always lecturing me about my ways. "Put on the seat belt." "Look where you are heading too." "Grow up". Haya was trying to make her voice sound manly and gruff and miserably failing.
"Big daddy is giving the 'sugar daddy' vibe . Don't you think? But , I thought of it in a bossy, ordering me around way. We will have to settle for Tarzan. 'Manners maketh men' , she said quoting Kingsmen. "..... and he have none. Was I dreaming when I picked the phone up ?" Haya asked herself the last past as all she could hear was silence and puffing .
"No, you are not dreaming, and I prefer to go by Big Daddy ," Taimoor replied. Shit shit shit. Fuckity fuck. Shocked, she tried to get up quickly. Sitting in the bed she stared at the phone screen which read "Jerk" . A nickname she had for Taimoor.
Why did she pick up the phone without looking at the caller ID? Horrified she tried to come up with excuse. "Who said I was talking about you?" She asked . Sleep was gone, had went out the door the moment he made his preference clear. "I am not dumb, like you. So, I got who you were talking about " comes his reply. "Oh sorry , was I supposed to be offended by the dumb comment? Because I am not .For you I already have a nickname, 'jerk'. Now how does that sound? Actually ,what is your problem? You woke me up from a dream where I was strangling the air out of you to discuss what ? Your preference of insulting nicknames , I have come up with ? What do you want ?" Haya replied frustrated with him . Dont we all get cranky and super pissy when someone wakes us from our sleep ?
"I still prefer "Big Daddy". Goes by my image . Dreaming about me , huh ? You are my problem. Ammi sent me to get you, God knows what she sees in you. Get down in 5 minutes. I have better things to do."
"Oh, your mom sees what you could have seen if not for your poor eye sight. But damn your poor vision. Should have drank that milk and those almonds. They would have not only helped you with the vision but also with the 404-error brain not found."
"No wonder you were so exhausted. I bet, you stayed up all night just to come up with that." Taimoor replied and hung up on her.
Did he just hang up on her? The fact that he hung up on her instead of her hanging up on him was driving her insane. Grabbing a pillow , she strangled it to calm her nerves.
Haya looked out her window to find the shiny black Mercedes parked. She had a great payback planned for him hanging up on her. She purposely took all the extra time she could to dress up. She wore a navy-blue suit which had embrioded neckline with the pink jacquard dupatta. Happy with the revenge of making him wait she climbed down stairs.
"Sorry I got a little late", Haya said as she opened the door to slid into the passenger seat.
"Not a big deal.Ab janwar say insan banay main time tu lagna than na(It takes time to transform into human from animal)" He said as he gave her a tight smile .
"Main ban tu jaati hoon, unlike you.(Atleast I transform to human form)" Haya replied. Taimoor opened his mouth to reply but he was cut short by Ferozey who was sitting behind them in the back seat and had finished her ice-cream .
"Khala!!! We went to get an ice-cream while you were getting ready." said a bubbly voice .
Haya looked back to find Ferozey, in a purple frock. She had ice-cream on her nose. By the looks of her Haya could tell that she was busy eating ice-cream while they were arguing like brats. Ferozey was Aiman's daughter and Haya's sweetheart. She was extremely intelligent kid with those light blue eyes which bewitched everyone.
Haya ,cursed herself. Now Ferozey would think she was a brat. How had she failed to notice little Ferozey? And why the jerk hadn't informed her.
Haya turned to look at Taimoor with her accusing eyes , "You were insulting me in-front of Ferozey?" Haya asked .She was actually shocked to find Ferozey strapped in the backseat. "No ,she had air pods on if you are referring to the phone conversation. Plus, I did not. You do that too yourself. You don't need much assistance for anyone." Taimoor said as he gave her another forced smile this time with his perfect white teeth showing.
"Taimoor , I think its high time you should introduce your up lip to the lower lip and Shut up." Haya replied as she folded her arms in her lap. "And I think its high time for you to act your age rather than your foot size." Taimoor retorted.
Ferozey in the back was observing the duo. She was laughing as her Mamo and Khala argued . They were even worse than her and her class fellow Hadi. She thought. Hadi , who was her nemesis and made fun of her. Ferzoey's eyes were sparkly with admiration for her Khala , who had not backed away or was intimidated by her Mamo. She had fought back like a tigress. She deserved a medal. And Ferozey wanted to be like her.
At phupho's place , everyone was seated on the sofa's in the lounge discussing Saman's nikkah and everything. After saying Salam to everyone, Haya left to find Saman. "Haya" Saman shouted at the top of her long as soon as she saw her. "Haya yaar kidhar reh gaen then tum. Bhai ki minat karni pari tumhain pick karnay k liye". (Where were you? I had to beg brother to pick you up.) Haya rolled her eyes as she gave her the no-shit face.
"Out of everyone , you asked him. He insulted me in-front of Ferozey. She was in the back seat while he roasted me like it was his business. And do you know what Ferozey said as soon as she found Uzair bhai, she said Baba 'Mamo and Khala fight like Ben and Gwen from Ben 10.' . And do you know how embarrassed I was when Uzair bhai gave me that oh-tell-me-about-it look." Haya said as she raised her hand facing palming herself, finally losing her cool.
When Ferozey had compared them to Ben and Gwen , Haya had mentally thanked the creators of the show Ben10 for not pairing Gwen and Ben like her desi Pakistani heart had wanted. So typically desi of her to ship BEN and GWEN actually. Growing up she kinda hated Kevin . For if he wasn't in the picture, she thought Gwen and Ben had a chance. Little did her Desi heart know that outside old Bharat which was current India, Pakistan and Bangladesh , people considered cousin their brother. Now if BEN and GWEN would have been a thing, it would have made Ferozey's comment more awkward . Thank you KEVIN ELEVEN for existing. I am sorry for hating on you.
Saman stood there watching her cousin Haya with amusement , who was trying hard to keep her temper in control. Taimoor bhai really did that to her. With everyone, Haya was this calm, kind and the goody two shoes. But whenever her brother came into the picture , her patience went out the door. It was like that he brought worse in her to the surface. Saman couldn't help but smile as Haya narrated everything to her. Not everything actually. Haya withheld the 'Big Daddy' embarrassing part. Soon Haya was back to her normal self and they began discussing Saman's upcoming Nikkah on Friday. There was so much to discuss. From the wedding theme to the food menu and everything.
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Love Alyna !