Miscellany Of Desi Tadka

Chapter 4🖤

Adeel parked the bike and raked a hand through his hair. Crickets were making some kind of noise around him else only calmness resided in his house.

He opened the door to see the carrom table, his family surrounding it, also Danah with them. She struck once and high-fived Dadi, his grandmother laughing.

"We have to complete this game before your bro comes or else-"

"Why are you so afraid of him, Danah Baji?"

Maira asked and Adeel stayed hidden near the wall to listen to what that girl had to say.

"I'm not afraid of him, I am here for a few days and I want to live in peace. No arguments. That's it!" Danah struck again and the hall filled with their excited voices.

"Danah, Adeel bhai is not that bad but he's just protective for us." That was his brother Sameer.

"I know and I respect him for that. I feel good seeing him with you all. It's Allah's blessing to have someone to protect you, to make you feel safe."

An ill-feeling resided in his heart, listening to Danah. When you were assuming every ill from someone and then in return, you only got proof of their innocence.

It had been nearly one week since she was here and as much Adeel had observed her, nothing was suspicious about her. She woke up at Fajr, maybe she didn't even sleep at night and after that Danah would engross herself in their house chores.

Making breakfast for everyone to clean the whole house and as he came to know from Dadi, she was doing that because she had no money to give them for her stay. Didn't know what her backstory was but how could someone be so selfless?

He cleared his throat and moved past the threshold of the living room, his insides twisting, seeing how complete that whole view looked. Happy faces of his family with Danah. They were beaming at him as he greeted and Danah silently moved away from there for the kitchen.

Maira came running and hugged him. "You should join us." Maira insisted.

"I don't think so, I'm quite tired and famished."

"Yes. No worries." Dadi caressed his head, "Maira, go help Danah. We will have dinner."

After fifteen minutes when he left his room, dastarkhwan was set with aromatic dishes and Danah got upon seeing him. Her green eyes met with his for a split second and she looked down. He knew why it was so.

Maybe it was her third day when Adeel had made a fuss when Danah came to have dinner with them. It was wrong but his anger was not letting him think properly.

"You can have dinner with us."

On getting Dadi's affirmation, she took her seat beside Maira. She refrained from looking at him. At most, she was talking to Dadi and Maira and then answering Sameer's silly questions.

"Here, take this, Adi." He took the bowl from Dadi, "Danah makes wonderful pudding, taste it."

On her name, he looked at Danah who was looking at him, their eyes met for a moment and they both averted their gaze, with a tight-lipped smile. Maybe this girl was not that bad as he used to think.

***

"Just wake me up, if you have any problem."

"Yes, Amma."

It was half-past eleven and knowing Amma, Danah had an idea that she was more than sleepy but all she was doing was to wait for Adeel. He had informed them that he would be late. That was why at least she could send Amma to rest and give dinner to Adeel.

He was not as hostile as he used to be. But still, Adeel gave her danger vibes or maybe she was just scared of men. He didn't talk to her at all but unlike earlier, he would join them in conversation or would listen to them whenever she would be with Maira, Sameer and Amma.

Danah picked up the newspaper and began to kill her time. It was her seventh day here and maybe after eight days, she would be out for Delhi. She couldn't thank her Lord enough for His mercy, for keeping her safe.

A little rustle and Adeel opening the front door attracted her attention as Danah stood up from the sofa as he just ignored her while coming to stand in the living room.

"Amma and Maira just went to sleep and Sameer is probably studying."

"I didn't ask by the way."

He replied without looking at her as he sat down on one of the chairs to remove his shoes and she ran to the kitchen. It was getting awkward. She could feel an uneasy feeling building up in her stomach and her forehead getting sticky with perspiration.

She took a glance outside and saw Adeel going through his mobile. He was waiting for dinner. Okay! There was no need for her to panic. She could just give him dinner and then hide in her room for an eternity.

A sneeze came as Danah was about to pick up the tray of food. No! That was not what she wanted right now. She sniffed and came to the living room with the food, doing her best to not look at the man sitting in front of her but her sneezing pushed her to do otherwise.

"You okay?"

Danah could feel his eyes on her as she went through the cycle of three sneezes at once and sniffed looking at him, "Yes."

She answered with a stutter as her body was now palpating and she just wanted to vanish from there. Danah rubbed her eye and looked at her room.

"You can go."

Adeel said in a busy tone, serving himself the food. Without any wait, she ran towards the stairs, her sneeze stopping her many times and she could still feel his eyes on her. Surely he would be thinking she was having the flu!

That was too awkward! Now I would sneeze because of this stress.

Danah picked up a pillow and pushed her face in it to stop the sneezes but to no avail. She took a long breath as they were not letting her rest. A knock on her door startled her and opening it she found Adeel.

"You okay?" He opened his fist in front of her, "Take these cloves, Dadi give us for the flu. It's the flu, right?"

Danah pursed her lips to stop the coming sneeze but failed. She nodded and Adeel chuckled, pushing her to smile, as she twisted her fingers.

"It's my anxiety kicking in." She attempted to share, "whenever I'm worried or scared, I get these allergy-like symptoms."

Adeel was listening to her and after a moment, she saw his face getting washed in the expressions of epiphany. "What are you worried or scared of?"

He asked as if he already knew the answer. Danah smiled before giving him the answer, "You."

"I knew it. You were sneezing at Fajr on the first day?"

"Yes and you were about to open the door of my room." Danah hid her smile as she saw the expressions of guilt on his face.

"That's not my fault. Anyone will be worried about hearing sneezing from an empty room."

"Well, yes." She giggled, "But as Amma says, you should try to trust people, Mr. Adeel. Not everyone is bad."

"I'm trying and I think it's working." For the first time in her stay, Danah witnessed a genuine smile on his face as he looked at her for some time and then began to descend the stairs, "Eat those cloves, it will help you."

Danah nodded with a faint smile, closing the door as after a long time, she felt at ease during her stay.

~Zeba

𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚊𝚊𝚊𝚊𝚊𝚊..!𝙰𝚂𝚂𝙰𝙻𝙰𝙼𝚄𝙰𝙻𝙰𝙸𝙺𝚄𝙼 𝙱𝙴𝙷𝙽𝙾 𝙰𝚄𝚁 𝚄𝙽𝙺𝙴 𝙱𝙷𝙰𝙸𝚈𝙾....;)𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚂𝙴 𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁𝚂 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝙱𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙹𝙾𝚈 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚃𝙰𝙸𝙽𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝚃𝙾 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙶𝚄𝚈𝚂.𝚂𝙾 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴 𝚂𝚄𝚁𝙴 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝚂𝙿𝙰𝙼 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙸𝙵𝙸𝙲𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽𝚂 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝚅𝙾𝚃𝙴𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙼𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚂.

~𝙽𝚄𝙶𝙶𝙴𝚃