Sobia Rizwan is a British journalist, and this time she chose to write an article about Pakistani weddings, inspired by her cousin's wedding in the USA.
Shehzad Arshad is a confident lawyer from Lahore, who just happened to be attending the same we...
I arrived outside Sobia's parents house but I didn't want to get out. I wanted to go back in this cab to the airport and fly back to Lahore.
I couldn't admit it to Sobia, but the idea of attending her Dado's funeral was giving me a panic attack of some sort. I had no idea how I was going to get through it without getting flashbacks, but I also knew that I had to be strong for Sobia. I had come all the way here for her sake.
But the idea of seeing tears, of the mournful atmosphere that must surely be present in their family home, it made me want to run away and hide somewhere.
I have to be strong. For Bia.
I walked out and dragged my small luggage trolley towards the front door. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I rang the doorbell. I hadn't given Sobia my flight details on purpose as I hadn't wanted her to come to the airport when she must be so distressed. Nor did I want to trouble her parents in any way.
The house was a true house of a diplomat, based in the outskirts of London. It was a modern, brown-bricked sprawling mansion, with a double garage built to fit in at least three cars. The French windows added to the beauty of the property, and from what I could see, there was not only a room built over the garage, but there some in the loft. The front doors were double doors, made of sturdy, polished wood, with two white pillars flanking it under a triangular awning that provided a mini-sanctuary on the threshold in case of rain.
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The door opened and Rizwan Uncle looked surprised as he saw me. Did Bia not tell him that I was coming?
"Assalam Alaikum, Uncle." I told him, politely.
"Walaikum Assalam." He gave me a hug. "How are you, Shehzad? Why didn't you give us your flight details? We could have..."
"That's exactly why I didn't tell you, Uncle. I didn't want to cause inconvenience." I said.
"Don't be silly." He patted my back as he pulled away. "That's the least that we could do, considering that you came all the way here for us."
"I came here to support you, Uncle. Not to give you extra work." I said. "I'm very sorry about the major loss that we've faced. May Allah grant her a place in Jannat-ul-Firdous. Ameen."
"Ameen." He said.
Aunty came out into the hallway, followed by Bee. My mother-in-law's eyes widened as she saw me. "Shehzad!"
"Assalam Alaikum, Aunty."
And again, as we went through the greetings, she asked me why I didn't tell them about my flight details, and I reassured her that I was family, so there was no need for such formalities.
