Hum Raah

1.

"ye jo lahore se mohabbat hai
ye kisi aur se mohabbat hai
aur wo aur tum nahin shayad
mujh ko jis aur se mohabbat hai." Her long slender fingers flipped the page of her book.

Golden rays from the sun hit her porcelain skin as she she lay on the wooden cot reading her book and looking at her sparrow hopping in her golden cage.

"ye hun main aur ye meri taswir
dekh le ghaur se mohabbat hai."

She flipped on her back holding her book in the air, her long hair went undone from her loose bun and rolled down almost hitting the marble floor of the kothi.

"ek tahzib hai mujhe maqsud
mujh ko ek daur se mohabbat hai
us ki har tarz mujh ko bhati hai
us ke har taur se mohabbat hai."

Her plump pink lips curved into a smile as she read the last lines of the couplet.
Her khol rimmed eyes skimmed the lines again and she let out a sigh.

She wanted to pick out another couplet to read and romanticise but a voice bet her to it.

"If you take your eyes off those books and look right here maybe you'd find love beyond pages Ayesha." Harris Malik said as he leaned against the wall looking dapper in his perfectly tailored kurta.

"Harris.. aap, you could have called for me." She said quickly getting up from the cot and taking the dupatta around her neck and on her head.

"I did call for you several times." He said walking towards her. "But you were busy in your ghazals and shayaries." He said bending forward.

Ayesha held her breath as Harris stood at a hair's breath away from her, their breath intermingling. He forwarded his hand to pick a black shawl kept on the cot.

Wrapping the chaddar around Ayesha he straightened up, a smile playing on his lips looking at her flustered face.

"Breath." He bent down and whispered into her ear, his lips touching the skin of her pinna.

Ayesha let out a whimper and he moved behind.

He looked at her for a while as she stared at her feet in silence.
"Challo ab." He said taking her hand in his and pulling her out of the terrace connected to her bedroom. (Come on now.)

"Where ?"

"I have an important meeting and I can't find my watch, please dhund do Ayesha." He said dragging her towards his room which was at the opposite end of the corridor.

"I've told you to allot places for everything Harris, if you keep them wherever you want to every time it's going to get lost someday." Ayesha lectured her cousin as they walked towards his room.

"Tum banna lena jagh apni aur meri cheezo ke liye jab tum uss kamre se iss kamre mai aa jao." (You make space for your things and mine when you move into this room.)

Ayesha flushed at his comment and put her head down covering her face which was now red.

Harris looked at her and shook his head, they had lived under one roof all their life, he had seen her, loved her since the day she was born, she was a part of him.

He watched her rummage through drawers, trying to sort and arrange his things as she moved forward.

"Bhai you left your wat-." The voice made Harris and Ayesha both turn towards the door.

"Ashu what are you doing here ?" Faaz Malik asked as he walking in with an expensive black watch in his hand.

"Shukar Allah apko ye ghadi mil gayi Faaz." (Thank god you found this watch Faaz)

"Bhai left it in my room last night, I had come to return it." He said smiling at her. "Did bhai put you to work again Ashu ?" He asked her endearingly.

Ayesha looked at Harris and then at Faaz down casting her eyes.
"Nahi, I was just here to ask-."

"Jab tum jhooth bolna chaho na Ashu apni aankho ko churaya nahi chipaya karo." (Whenever you want to lie Ayesha, turn away, your eyes they always speak the truth.)

"Now the two of you follow me, everyone is waiting for us at the breakfast table."

Ayesha followed the two brothers as the descended down the spiral stairs of the Safeed Malik Kothi, their family home for generations, the tall walls stood to see the sixth generation of the Maliks walking down towards their elders.

"Assalam Walekum." Harris said as they reached the long table which had a spread of breakfast options.

The ladies of the family sat on one end deep in discussion, Sadaf Malik sat with her two daughter in laws, Farmina Malik and Yusra Malik discussing details about the upcoming dawat.

While the men of the family sat at one end, Gul Shahzad Malik sat at the head of the table with his two sons on either side.

"Salam Dadda huzur." Ayesha said stepped towards her grandfather and taking his hand in hers, laying a kiss at the back of his hand.

"Walekum Salam meri jaan, Dadda tumhara intezaar kab se kar rahe thay." He said placing his hand on her head.

"She is never going to come down on time." Harris said plopping down next to his uncle, Ayesha's father Wali Malik. "She has her nose deep inside those books or -."

"Or she is doing bhai's work." Faaz said taking a seat beside his own father Ahmad Malik.

Ayesha walked towards her seat next to Harris and sat down quietly pulling her chaddar closer to herself.

"What's wrong in that ?" Farmina said looking at her niece. "Soon she will have to take care of him and this family."

"Inshallah." Sadaf muttered.

"Shall we continue eating or we'll keep listing reasons Ayesha has stalled breakfast for us yet again." Wali Malik snapped.

Ayesha winced at the bitter tone, one would say she would be use to her father's disappointment and disapproval of her existence, but every time he spoke to her or about her, it was a reminder that she wasn't what her father wanted, she was not her fathers son, she was the girl he had never wished for.

Soon the buzz around the breakfast table set into action, plates were piled up with different dishes as the Malik's munched on the first meal of the day.

Harris looked at Ayesha and her clean plate, he knew his Chacha jaan's jibs chipped pieces off Ayesha's heart but there was nothing he could do. He nudged her with his shoulder bring her out of her thoughts.
Pointing towards her plate with his chin he indicated her to begin.

Ayesha gave a reassuring smile to Harris and looked ahead to see Faaz looking at her with concern, her cousins loved her unconditionally she knew their heart bled with hers.

'I'm good.' She mouthed and Faaz shook his head, he knew better than anybody else when she lied.
He has known her since he was four and now twenty four years later he probably understood her better than he understood himself, they were best friends for a reason.

Ayesha quickly averted her gaze from Faaz, she knew that he knew how she felt.

"... centre is secured with the Nawabs Baba huzur, it's just for the rest to decide where they want to place their loyalties at." Ahmad Malik said.

"Are you sure about the centre Ahmad ?"

"Ji Baba." Wali said. "We have checked and rechecked, the Nawab's will sweep the votes."

"Phir ab humey faisla lena hai humey kya karna hai." (Then now we must decide what we must do.)
"Eid ki dawat ka paigaam aap nawab saahab ke ghar bhi pohcha de phir."
(Extend the Nawab's our invite for the Eid party.)