The Habibs arrived at Khan Haveli. They were greeted in by Qirat. Everyone was present in one of the halls. Where the flooring was covered in white sheeted carpets and cushions. People were forming little circles almost and were all reciting a part of the sacred book. There was almost a segregation between women and men. Where women occupied the right half of the hall and men the left half.
Laiba saw Pareesa in one of the crowded circles and made her way to her. Pareesa who was reading looked up and her mouth hung open in shock. Laibas dupatta slipped of her head and her hair was quite a shocking site. It's not that Pareesa didn't like the cut, it somewhat suited Laiba, but she always knew her love for her long waist length dangling hair. She quickly covered up her shock and continued reading again. She was finishing of the last few lines when the baby in her lap began crying. She finished the lines kissed the book and passed it to Laiba for her to place on the table.
The men of the family had now left to the mosque. And the women began serving food to guests. And seeing them off one by one. When everyone was fine and it was almost evening the men returned, and they decided to have tea before heading of to the peers shrine.
Bilal saw laiba walking around with Pareesas daughter in her arms. He rushed to her, he was so mad at her, two days ago they had an important presentation about sustainability of the environment and this girl had bailed out on them. Him being the goody two shoes and geek he was, he was fully pissed of at her.as soon as he saw her he rushed her way. "Laiba" he called her out making her turn to face him. She gave the kid to Pareesa and head his way.
Without doing any formalities he jumped straight to the point.
"Kaha thi tum! Na phone utarahi ho na kuch..presentation ke din ese kese ghayab hogay..hum sabke grade ko risk karke.."he began scolding her.
"Bilal" she whisperd.
She finally found him!
She knew Bilal was the one she could tell what happened. Anytime someone would be inappropriate with her, be it from school, college, university or anywhere, Bilal always had her back like the bro he was. Finally having found him she was relieved. But he just began scolding her. She looked down to her feet ashamed, she knew exactly how much his grades meant to him. And she was guilty of having affected them.
"Acha abh itni khamosh kyu khari ho..nahi daatra..sambhaliya tha humne presentation ko..tumarey bhi number theek thaak agaye" Bilal said now getting worried over this non responsive and passive Laiba.
She looked up and slipped the dupatta of her head properly.
"Yeh yeh yeh kya karliya?" Bilal asked throwing fits of laughter, but then he masked his serous face again seeing her offended. When she was silent too long he got worried again.
"Acha chalo chai peete hein" Bilal said changing the topic.
The elders along with Pareesa sat on the patio furniture placed in the garden, drinking tea, discussing some family politics. Whilst, Bilal and Laiba sat at the steps that descend from the haveli into the garden.
Taking a sip of tea, when laiba saw Bilal lifting his brows, questioning her to speak already, she spoke.
"Kisi ne kaha usey mere baal passand hein..tho mene dediye apne baal usey"
"Yeh kya baat hui?"
"Tum sunogey ke kon tha tho pagal hojaoge"
"Kon tha? Woh tho nahi joh library ke bench pe beth ke tume ghoorta rehta hai?...abhi theek krta hu.."
"Nahi woh nahi tha"
"Tho phir bata mujhe..tum batao tho abhi theek karta hu beghairat ko"
She stared at him hoping he'd stick to his word.
"Arif bhai"
Pfftts the hot tea came spilling from Bilals mouth.
"Kya!"
"Kuch nahi" Laiba saw Bilals reaction and concluded to herself that this time she was on her own. Saying 'kuch nahi' she ran away from there to the kitchen. avoiding any questions by Bilal.
Rushing to the kitchen she bumped into a figure.
"Kon andha ..."
Her words stopped in her mouth seeing arif gaze down at her into her eyes.
"Hato" she pushed past him. And he stared at her rushing figure. She was rubbing her forehead which had just a minute ago bumped into his chest.
He knew she was mad at him. Mad was an understatement, he never felt such cold vibes from her. Keeping everything side he couldn't help but admire how cute she looked. She looked like a lost boy running around the haveli.
Smiling to himself he followed her to the kitchen. He needed to speak to her and make things un-awkward between them.
She was mumbling something whilst looking through the fridge looking for a bottle of water.
"Laiba" he softly called her name.
And he knew she heard him, because her mumbling stopped. And she was purposely ignoring him.
When she found the bottle she turned to leave the kitchen and he blocked her way.
"Kya hai! Abh kya sara hi chichorapana karoge? Hatein mere raste se" she scolded.
He gulped but stood still in his place.
"Hear me out already.."
"Kyu! Kyu sunu me apki baat?...dediye mene apko apne baal abh pecha chorein mera...abh kya ghoorein hein? Ankhe bhi nikal ke dedu kya apni?.hatein! Kya badtameezi hai!!" she glared back at him who was staring into her eyes.
"Meri baat suno." He said a little more sternly now.
The seriousness in his voice ran a shiver down her spine. She'd never heard him speak in such a deathly tone to her before, it scared her. And she took steps back and looked up to him, a slight fear evident in her eyes. Her waterline began filling with liquid.
"Me tumarey saath koi badtameezi nahi karaha aur naa hi kabhi karunga...bus me tumse puchna chahta hu, kya tum kisi ko passand karti ho?...or agar esa nahi hai..to is barey me ek baad sochlo bus, agr tume phirbi kuch ghalat lagey tho me kuch nahi kahunga" he said now making his voice gentle again.
She just batted her eyelashes controlling any tears from spilling.
When he saw she wasn't answering he went towards the fridge to grab himself some water too. But as soon as he left his door blocking position she ran out.
He left a painful chuckle, pitying himself, just hoping that maybe she would consider. But everything so far hinted to him that she detested the idea.
He nodded his head to himself and left the kitchen too.
Oblivious to both of them Bilal stood near the dining table, he had initially came seeking Laiba to hear from her what exactly is going on. But the situation going on in-front of the kitchen cleared all hai doubts.
'Bhai and Laiba? Haha' has a ring to it, he thought to himself.
Being the smarter one out of this generation of the khans, he decided to speak to his mother about why his brother was so anti-marriage.
Qirat when heard the news squealed in joy. And she just wanted to rush them into marriage straight away. But again Bilal calmed her down telling her that she should Arif to say it to her himself. With great effort Qirat calmed down. And decided it's peak to Aroif in the morning over breakfast, and get him to confess.
—-
It was the dark midnight hour where both the Khan brothers were awake..in the thoughts of that one person..
"Laiba" "Laiba" they both said at the same time, in their own rooms before closing their eyes surrendering to the oblivion state of sleep.
One chuckling about his brother and the girl he saw as an identical twin..whilst the other fretting over his chances with her.
They weren't the only two who spoke of her that night. Qirat had informed Zaakir with everything too. The last person they happened to speak about before sleeping was also Laiba.
It was as if her name was echoing around the Khan Haveli that night. And the haveli now awaited her arrival.
Uska mustaqbil puri haveli me abhi se goonjhraha tha.
—-
A/N;
I am sorreeeeeeh!
I know I have been so and with updating. Oof anyways, the story of Laiba and Arif is now kicking of. Let's see where this goes 🤞.