Chapter - 3

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A young girl sitting in her classroom desk of 'The Mima Parsi Girls' Secondary School' by the window side, was Shehnaaz immersed in good old memories from India that she had visited about two years ago. For the years that went by, they couldn't travel back like every other time for the losses her father was facing in the textile business he owned in a partnership. It needed to be handled first as they had a family to take care of and no one else in the country to help them out with it.

Another month for her exams and she will complete her intermediates. Once known for her non-stop talks and lively nature her demeanor was a lot changed in these couple of years. This used to be her favorite part of the school time when they were allowed to get a free time for themselves for any extracurricular activity they would want to perform, but not anymore. It was the last day of school and then the preparation leaves were to follow. No one was really interested to do any sort of co-curriculars today for the students were busy chit-chatting making the most of their last day, but she had other things going on in her mind. They belonged to a family were school was the limit to their educational journey after that either it was staying at home refining their culinary skills or getting married to someone from a well to do family, seeking a better future with the respective in-laws (A two-decade old thought process for some). Not that she had any plans to rebel and seek further teaching. She was a normal girl having no high hopes with life for herself but to make peace with everything usual or ordinary. But peace was what she has been lacking now a days. Never in her dreams had she thought someone else's wedding to turn out to be the best moments and those three months she last spent in India were the ultimate joy ride for her.

Shehnaaz was the youngest out of the three siblings. Her sister Shifa was the eldest and then Shahnawaz, a middle child. A close-knit family sharing a bond like every other sibling bond in the world, a little extra affection added. This extra was because after their grandfather left the world, they were the only family from the clan who were settled in Karachi, one of the largest cities in Pakistan located on the coastline of Sindh province in southern Pakistan. And hence they did not have many people around them to share the day-to-day fun, bounding them more strongly to themselves. They obviously had a friendly neighborhood, but a limited count of acquaintances. Shahnawaz was a doting brother born around two plus years ahead to her and was the apple of everyone's eye at home. But for him Shehnaaz would always top the priority list whether it is about sharing his food with being a foodie himself, or about sharing their secretes to each other, the enjoyment and fun banter included. In his final year of graduation he had recently joined in their family business to support their father.

After meeting everyone for the last time before the exams would commence in a month's time, Shehnaaz started for her home with all the what ifs and what nots in mind as the school was about to end. Probably her parents will look for a perfect groom and in one- or two-years' time she would be living with her in-laws just like they are in search for one such for her sister these days. She was someone who would follow and accept everything that would naturally come her way but all the customs and beliefs aside she just couldn't get herself to imagine her life with someone else but him. He was still a fresh memory, as if it were only yesterday that they had met and talked life. She was younger then but not immature. She was a whole 16 and girls sharing her age were already married and having kids in her locality. Some of her classmates had also got married during a similar age and had to drop school in the middle. But her family was a bit different, a lot modern when going by the law and letting their kids to at least complete their schooling waiting till they cross the legal age for those kind of association was considered, still a bit conservative with their mindset of not letting females from the family to go out and join daily jobs and stuff which was fine as they believed family financial-businesses were for men and family house-businesses belonged to women. They would equally consider their opinion in important decisions but just the 'going out for a job' part never sat well with them.

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