“Dulhan ko bula kar le aayain!”
Maheen heard someone from the gathering call out to nobody in particular. The haveli was bustling with happiness- with people going in and out and congratulating the groom and the bride's father. Her heart was a bit restless from the moment she woke up and thoughts of different kinds clouded her mind, ceasing her from doing things.
“Beta, can you bring Noorul Ain down?” Bazia begam popped out of nowhere with a tray of gifts that were to be distributed to the guests. Maheen's eyes widened for a second, for how could she bring the woman to her altar when she was the one to break her heart and they all knew it?
“Mama, I-” Maheen chewed on her words, thinking and rethinking words and reason to put forward to her mother in law. Khan sahb would dig her grave if she went ahead and brought Noorul Ain down.
Nonetheless, her Bazia begam was quick to find her words to answer back proving once again that she indeed was once a businesswoman, “I can't leave this and go up and Ahlah- Allah, I don't know there that girl is.” Bazia begam had already looked for her daughter everywhere and only found Hala playing alone in the lawn. In the morning, she went out to her boutique and hadn't returned yet.
“She is meeting some people today-” Maheen replied, looking down at her watch, “But should be here before seven.”
Maheen remembered Ahlah’s text earlier, asking if she wanted anything to be picked up from the stores since she would already be running late to the nikah and upon asking the reason, Ahlah told her that she was meeting some web developers regarding the creation of a website for her boutique. Initially, she was thinking of moving online and letting the store be changed into something similar to a warehouse but her mind then changed when she was advised to simply do both online and store business.
“What people?”
“Some developers. They were supposed to meet at four.”
“Ya Allah! Kya hoga ab?” Bazia begam looked around to find something but her gaze met with the woman sitting next to Hisham's dadi- a scowl etched on her face.
“Why is she looking at you like that?” Maheen was quick to question- suddenly offended by the way the woman was shooting daggers at her mother in law for no reason.
Bazia begam shook her head negatively as she patted her daughter in law's face with an admiring smile, “Dil Aara lost her sister only a few months ago, it's not her fault that we are celebrating her brother in law's marriage to our daughter.”
However, something didn't sit well with her as she spared one last glance at her before preparing to take off to look for her husband when her mother in law's requesting gaze filled her mind. As someone who was hosting the ceremony, Bazia begam shouldn't be leaving her husband and Khan sahb's side. The people that gathered in the haveli didn't gather because of Noorul Ain, they gathered there for their own benefits. Maheen shuddered every time Hisham fell under her vision. The man was indeed cold.
“I’ll go to her.” Maheen sighed. Bazia begam smiled and leaned in to take her daughter in law in a quick hug.
“Thank you, Mahi but make sure to lock the door to her room.” With that, the woman strode away to her husband at the door- smiling and welcoming the guests. It made her sigh another time.
This was the life her mother and her would have lived if her parents hadn't divorced. The smiles they showed to the guests were flawed and fake- so fake that it made her want to throw up. After living with them for a while she realized that the Ali Dawar family were good people but their goodness and love was limited to their own family.
YOU ARE READING
Besabriyan
RomanceA writer by passion and a university student, she was everything men wanted in their women but not every family was filled with bustling happiness and after her parents' marriage came to a tragic end, she couldn't bring herself to the thought of lov...
