Not a Fairy Tale

2.

Danish's sisters once visited Madiha's home and they both liked her very much. Either by her polite nature or by her looks Madiha was better than their brother. They understood very well that a girl like Madiha couldn't happily marry an average face holder who was 15 years older than her, but what was the reason behind this decision? Danish's sisters were unable to conclude. 

Danish wanted to get married before marrying his sister off so that his wife's presence would make his home a sweet home. There was no reason for him to set back this marriage. Only twenty days were left before his sister's wedding and he wanted to be free from all the formalities of his own marriage before getting busy with his sister's wedding arrangements. After all he was the only brother and fatherly figure. Almost twenty days passed in a blink of an eye. For Madiha, the pain of her mother's demise was still fresh but this marriage couldn't wait any longer. Everything happened so soon that Madiha or Danish didn't get a chance to talk or meet, nor any of them were interested. 

No one of the two were excited or happy for this marriage, for Madiha it was a sacrifice which she was doing to save his uncle from all the wedding expenses and for Danish it was a task of bringing a woman who would take care of his home. But it's not like that they both weren't expecting anything from this marriage, Madiha wanted a person who would shower his love and respect on her, who would give her a place which she could call home and for Danish, he wanted a reason to stay at home on weekends. He wanted to start a family, due to responsibilities and struggles of life he had already ruined the golden phase of his life and now when he sees people of his age with their wife and kids he realised what he had been craving for. 

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Sitting in the corner of her room her eyes were fixed on the mobile screen which was dark and locked. She was waiting maybe for the last time. She knew he wouldn't call, but she was still waiting… Maybe he'll call her a third time. She knew what she said when he called her the second time but she still had hopes that he did forget that… if not entirely forgot then at least ignore that for a moment… at least for this moment….

But what would be the benefit if he forgot that for this moment only? Nothing can be altered now. That time was gone. Sometimes she regretted it, sometimes she smiled at her foolishness, sometimes she cried helplessly and Sometimes she felt angry at him… but why? Who gave her the right to be angry at him? Who was she to even think about him? 

Struggling with herself she was still fixing her eyes on the mobile screen which suddenly glowed up. Her heart, what was praying with every passing moment to receive a call from this very person suddenly skipped a beat. One part of her was praying to get a call from him but the other part of her was praying that this prayer didn't get answered because it's not easy to handle everything now. 

Without bothering to look at the already open door of the room from which anyone could come in at any moment, she slid her thumb on the green arrows appearing on the mobile screen. "Assalamualaikum." She muttered while placing the mobile on ear. 

"Waalaikum as salam" and there was silence after that. Words forgot to make their way to their tongues. 

"Aaj shadi hai." After all the silence was broken from his side and she smiled sadly. 

(Today's wedding.)

"Ye aapne bataya hai ya puchha hai?" She asked in the same hushed tone, now her eyes were fixed on her other hand which was decorated with mehndi and showing initials of Danish. 

(Have you told or asked?)

"Bulaya bhi nahi, Madam." Instead of replying to her question he preferred to say something else.