Justajoo

Reunion

Author's POV

"You really thought I would miss your wedding idiot", Abiha said smirking.

Everybody froze. Disbelief, happiness, relief, all sorts of emotion were visible in their faces. The first to move was the bride herself who literally ran down the stage and hugged Abiha tightly as if she would disappear if let go. Tears streaming down her face.

"Took you so long biha", whispered Meerab still not letting go of her.

Abiha smiled at her complaint and wiped her tears.

"You will look like a churail(witch) if you keep crying like this", joked Abiha earning laughter from the crowd.

"I hate you", whispered Meerab pouting and pretending to be angry.

"I think I should go back then", joked Abiha to which Meerab held her hand and threatened 'don't you dare'.

One by one everyone started hugging Abiha as well. She was pampered with hugs and kisses. The twins were happy to have their appi back while Ibrahim started planning all the pranks they would execute together. Her Tayi ammi and choti ammi started complaining about how thin she had become ( typical desi mother's, I am telling you). As for Taimur he felt alive again, it felt as if we could breath again, his love was back, his peace and solace.

After gaining everyone's attention Abiha looked around for her lovely dadi jaan who she hasn't seen yet.

"Where's dadi and dadu jaan?", she finally asked only for everyone to give her a sad smile. Tooba took her to their room where Rubana was sitting in the bed with Junaid beside her, joking with his wife, she has become so weak.

Abiha froze,her heart pained seeing her dadi so weak. Her dadi was a lovely woman. She used to be so cheerful but now she looked blank. She wasn't even replying to dadu. Just staring ahead as if she wasn't even there.

'Dadi', whispered Abiha to which Rubana's head turned so fast in their direction. And soon she started crying seeing which made Abiha had tears as well. The granddaughter ran and started weeping in her dadi's blossom.

Rubana became quiet after Abiha left. She hadn't interacted with anyone other than Junaid that too very occasionally. Seems like Abiha brought back the life that was missing from the mansion.

"Didn't you think about your Dadi for once", whispered Rubana to which Abiha could only apologise.

She hugged her dadu next who also had tears in his eyes seeing his grand daughter after so long.

Soon the whole villa was filled with happy banter on Abiha's arrival. The Haldi ceremony was resumed and even Rubana insisted on going out surprising the family members.

Abiha came as a blessing for everyone.

She went towards Meerab and covered her whole face with the haldi earning a wince from the bride and laughter from others. The bride tried to return the favour but Abiha was quick and ran off the stage. Meerab too stood up to run after her but one glare from Tooba and she returned back to her place.

Abiha was busy cracking jokes with her dadi and happily getting pampered while Taimur was sneaking glance at her every now and then.

Huzaifa(phupo's daughter) came towards her aapi (Abiha) to take pictures to which Abiha happily started giving some poses. After hundreds of pics finally Huzaifa was satisfied while Abiha who was planning ways of escaping from this torturous photoshoot was finally relieved.

Before Huzaifa could speak about another crazy stuff, she ran and joined Ibrahim complaining how much crazier their cousin has become to which Ibrahim would only sympathize with her, knowing very well how much of a dramebaaz he himself was. If only her Abiha knew.

They were casually talking near the food stall when suddenly Abiha's eye fell on the twins who were both busy gulping gulab jamun and kebab like some starved animals.

"When did they last eat", asked Abiha still eyeing them. Ibrahim replied not half an hour ago. She chuckled and shook her head.

Soon Maheen joined them and Abiha hugged her asking about all the things she missed these years on which Maheen gave a brief idea to her.

Maheen was the only one who was a bit normal. She was the shy and quiet type but there had been times when she was the complete opposite. Abiha, Meerab and Maheen used to be the three musketeers in the Khan villa.

Abiha was the sweet and cheerful one, Meerab the naughty and careless one while Maheen the shy and quiet one but when prank wars used to take place these three girls would turn the house upside down.

Ibrahim feeling left out often pranked one of the girls only to get pranked by all of them at once. Some joyful days were those.

The twins being the youngest didn't interrupt in their fight but would fully enjoy seeing others misery. Who doesn't like free drama?

While Taimur being the eldest would always scold them for their mischief. Everyone used to be afraid of him except obviously Abiha. She had always been close to him and took full advantage of it.

"Abiha, it's getting late baccha,have some food then you can take some rest", said Maryam lovingly while bringing a plate full of all sorts of food Abiha used to like.

Seeing her chotti ammi caring for her made Abiha smile. She missed this kind of care abroad. Her being busy at work would often forget to eat but no one was there to remind her that. She would often skip lunch or dinner due to tiredness but nobody was there to care.

After having her dinner, the function was almost over. She went to her old room only to find everything exactly where they used to be. Not an ounce of dust indicating the room being cleaned often.

After changing into a night suit she hit the bed and fell asleep.

On the other hand, sleep was far away from Taimur. He couldn't sleep, she didn't even glance at him once.

He wanted the old Abiha, who would come into his room and demand him to tell a story when she wasn't able to sleep. He wanted the girl who couldn't stay a day without him, the one who used to complain to his mother when he ignored her. The girl who would say sorry thousands of times when he was angry. The one who wasn't afraid of him and would proudly declare that he was her favourite cousin.

When he saw her today, he wanted to tell her so many things, to hear so many things. He wanted her to come and complain about what he did in the past but she never did. He wanted her attention which she never gave him. And it irritated and saddened him.

He missed her terribly. He tried searching for her all these years. After searching for three years he understood she wasn't in Pakistan. She went abroad where he won't  find her. She did everything to be not found. 

If only anybody knew, she did all these to protest herself from more heart breaks . The truth was she couldn't see Taimur with another girl yet she didn't want to take away his happiness. She wasn't that much selfish. Going somewhere far away from everyone seemed like a better opinion. At first she just wanted to be away from everyone but later it was only Taimur who was preventing her from returning back home. She was afraid to face him because deep down she knew she still wasn't over him. That she still loved him.

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