Be-panah

SEVENTEEN

Jo maza talab mein hai,
Woh haasil mein kaha?

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"Rhea, these are the files of PVS Enterprises. The meeting is at the end of the week. Make sure you go through them before attending the meeting." Qirat passed the files to her subordinate.

"Okay, ma'am. And what about the meeting with the Sri Lankan clients?" Rhea asked.

"The date isn't confirmed yet. Coordinate with Neel for that." Qirat said, "And mail me if there is an emergency. I won't be available on call."

It had been almost a month since Qirat and Zaroon had first met at her home. The next day after the meeting, both of them had said yes and their marriage was confirmed. The date was decided for next month. So here Qirat was, delegating all her work to her colleagues before going on a three week holiday for her wedding.

In the past month, Qirat and Zaroon had met twice. Once for deciding their wedding card, and the next time for the shopping of their wedding outfits. Both the times, at least one member from both of their families was present With them. And both the times, Qirat was too shy to start a conversation. She hoped that he might take a lead and talk to her, but to her slight disappointment, he didn't. They even had each other's numbers, but he never made any sort of contact. Even though it made her a little upset, she convinced herself thinking that he might be shy and introverted. She had also noticed him not talking with their families much when they met for shopping, and assumed that that might just be his nature and he'd become normal once they get married and get to know each other better.

"How am I going to survive the next three weeks without you?" Neel sadly pouted as Qirat packed her stuff.

"Aww," Qirat cooed at him, "Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it."

They shared a small hug before she said goodbye to him, but not before reminding him to attend her wedding that was three days later.

Zaroon had requested for an intimate wedding, with just close family and friends. And since Qirat had never pondered about her wedding and had no big dreams about it, she found Zaroon's idea okay and agreed.

Two days before the wedding was the mehendi function. The living room was decorated with white flowers and henna artists were called. Qirat enjoyed the function with her family and close relatives. The henna artist also wrote Zaroon's name in her hand, which made her blush.

The next day was haldi. All the women of the house applied turmeric paste all over Qirat. The last minute, her brother, Armaan, also joined the function and drenched her in the yellow paste from top to bottom. This act of his led to a haldi fight between the siblings, which resulted in pretty much the entire living room turning yellow. They both only stopped when Naila scolded them and sent them off to shower.

Finally, the big day arrived. Qirat was woken up by her mother, who came into her room with a big golden tray. "Your wedding dress has arrived."

Traditionally, the wedding dress comes from the groom's side. The dress had been chosen by Qirat herself, but just for the sake of tradition, the Hussains sent it over to her place on the morning of the nikah. Along with her dress, a lot of gold jewelry came as well.

Qirat saw the necklace, bangles, earrings and other pieces of gold that had come and shivered thinking she'd have to wear all of this. But then, she was becoming the only bahu of the Hussain khandan. What else could you expect?

Suddenly it hit her that in a few hours she is going to get married to one of the most successful and influential businessmen of the country. She was going to be the wife of Zaroon Hussain. The title was enough to make her nervous.

"Is it too soon? Am I getting married too soon?" She asked in a panicked voice.

The make-up artist, who was getting Qirat ready, gave an amused look, while Shiza just smiled at her. "You'll be fine. You're just getting cold feet."

"Are you sure?" Qirat questioned again.

Shiza held her shoulders. "Relax. Take deep breaths."

Qirat followed her instruction and felt herself calming down a little.

The make-up artist took almost three hours to finish Qirat's makeup and hair. She then went to change into her wedding dress. It was a white garara dress with golden zari work all over. Two red roses were placed in her bun tightly, that matched the red color of her lips. Then Shiza helped her to wear the jewelry. Adjusting her nath, Qirat gave herself a final look in the mirror.

"MashaAllah, you look beautiful." Shiza said. Qirat smiled at her. She felt beautiful.

When Naila saw her daughter, she cried in happiness. Placing a kaala teeka behind her ear, she said how much her father would have loved to see his little daughter dressed as a bride.

Then they left for the banquet hall where the nikah was taking place. The decoration of the hall was done after keeping in mind the color of the bride and groom's outfit.

Zaroon and his side of the family had already reached the venue. So when the bride's side arrived, Qirat was directly taken to the stage where the Zaroon and a moulvi were waiting. She was made to sit beside Zaroon and the nikah started.

The moulvi first asked Qirat, to which she replied qubool hai thrice. Then it was Zaroon's turn. As he gave his acceptance for the nikah the third time, a chorus of congratulations came from their families and guests. They all were made to fold their hands in dua to pray for a happy, married life to the newly wedded couple, before the cousins from both the sides forced the bride and groom to hold hands.

Qirat blushed at the cousins shouting, and shyly looked at Zaroon. He was looking so handsome in his off white sherwani that she had to practically stop herself from sighing out loud. He tried ignoring their request, but when they didn't budge, he forwarded his hand to her. She shivered a little while placing her small palm into his big, rough one. Goosebumps arose on her body when their skin touched, and she turned her head towards him. She expected him to look back into her eyes, smile at her, tell her how beautiful she looked. But to her utter disappointment, he did none of them. He simply held her hand, looking straight towards the guests, with no expression on his face whatsoever.

She again told herself that maybe he was not very good at expressing his feelings, and tried to cheer herself up. But how long would she be able to possibly excuse his ignorance towards her by giving different reasons to justify his actions?

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I think you all are going to kill me one day for giving you a beautiful chapter and then ending it with a scary line!