Innocent Imaan

Chapter 28

"Imaan?" Dawood asked doubtfully as he stared at her face in amazement,

"Woody!" Imaan exclaimed happily as she looked at her childhood sweetheart's face, his face brought fond memories into her heart making her feel warm, as kids they used to spend a lot of time together and all her childhood Imaan believed that she would marry him but sadly she was rejected by him,

The word "marriage" brought Imaan to reality, she remembered that she is now a married woman and shouldn't look at other men fondly, looking away, Imaan stepped back, bringing Dawood to an abrupt stop  as he was about to speak,

"Um.."

Awkwardly they both distanced themselves from each other while waiting for the other to speak,

Seeing that Imaan was anxiously messing with the dress in her hand, Dawood spoke,

"Well, I'm glad you didn't forget this insignificant friend of yours"

"Ha-ha, how could I forget you, why are talking like this?" Imaan asked offended as she glared at him,

"You didn't even attend my wedding!" Imaan said accusingly, not giving him the chance to refute she turned away from him in mock anger,

Looking at her childish behaviour, Dawood felt like she hasn't grown at all, she still resembled her childhood self, but her earlier action of moving away from him showed that she has somewhat matured,

He helplessly sighed and started to console her,

"How could I ever miss your wedding? It's because I wasn't invited at all!" Dawood accused,

Imaan gasped and glared at him, "I sent two invites to your family, One for you and one for them! It was you who didn't bother to attend!"

"See, that is the problem, you should have sent it to me directly, Father and Mother hid the news from me, I only came to know of your wedding recently"

"Oh," Imaan said blankly as she realised the issue, she almost forgot the fight between the two families, no wonder why no one from their side attended,

"What 'Oh'? you have said all you want and accused me of being uncaring and all you can say is 'Oh'!" Dawood replied and smiled secretly as he saw her frown at his words,

He likes all her expressions but he especially likes it when she frowns as she pouts cutely, he remembers when he used to make her unhappy by messing with her hijab when they were young, just so he could see her frown, but after growing up he realised how wrong it was and even apologised to her, that made them both even closer to each other and that was also when Imaan confessed to him.

"C'Mon, don't be like this, and besides it still doesn't change the fact that you missed my wedding!" Imaan retorted back snarkily,

"Alright, it has been a long time, why argue Imaan?" Dawood replied as he didn't want to argue with her and risk making her upset with him even more,

Seeing her ready to retort, Dawood quickly diverted her from the topic,

"So are you here to buy a gift for Riya as well?" He asked,

"Who?" Imaan asked subconsciously but quickly covered her mouth with her hands as she cringed at herself,

"Ah, Riya, yes, I'm here to buy this pretty dress for her, He-he" Imaan replied awkwardly as she glanced at the beautiful red dress in her hands,

Imaan slouched her shoulders in defeat as she realised she has no way out of this, now that she is seen by Dawood, she couldn't possibly bunk the engagement party and go shopping, moreover, she has to buy this dress that she wanted for herself for someone she doesn't even remember!

Looking at her miserable face, Dawood got an idea of what she is about to do, he has been her best friend for a long time so it was easy for him to read her mind, but it would be hard to convince her to admit it so he thought of a tactic,

"That's great! I'm going to buy this hat for her, you know how she loves hats, she always wears one around!" Dawood said as he observed her and picked up a random hat near him,

"Ah, Y-ea, hats" Imaan replied nervously as she bit her nails, she doesn't even remember her face so how can she know about her liking hats?

Dawood laughed lightly as he knew that Riya always wore a ridiculously expensive wig and seldom covered it using a hat,

"Come, let's check out together," Dawood said as he gestured towards the register,

"Ok" Imaan mumbled quietly as she thought of ways to escape from attending the engagement party that she hate to be a part of, she dreaded parties as everyone only gossip there, moreover, she has seen many haram things happening at many parties she has attended with her family, like serving alcohol and men and women interacting with each other unlawfully so she has always hated them.

Humming without a care Dawood walked towards the cash register with Imaan following him, he smirked as he saw her head directed towards the ground in the mirror in front of the register,

'Ah, her adorable thinking face, cute as ever'

'Her husband sure is a lucky man' Dawood thought as they exited the shop together, looking at the building in front of them, Imaan was reluctant to leave from there,

"Why don't you enter first and I'll follow you after?" Imaan asked carefully, she planned to flee from there as soon as he got inside, she saw this as her last attempt to escape,

"Why can't we go in together?" Dawood asked pretending to be confused,

"You know, our friends will be there and rumours will be spread, I don't want them to tarnish your reputation," Imaan said cleverly with a big grin on her face,

Admiring her grinning face for a few seconds, Dawood laughed and looked at her jokingly,

"Nothing of that sort will happen, don't overthink and hurt your pretty head," Dawood said as he crossed the road and gestured for her to do the same,

Imaan grumpily dragged her feet to the other side of the road as she thought of ways to ditch him and escape, once again.

"Ow ow ow, Woody! My hand hurts! It's a bad cramp! I need to go to the hospital, please go without me" Imaan pleaded to him as she pitifully clutched her legs,

"Imaan, that's your leg you're holding," Dawood said unimpressed by her Oscar award-winning acting,

Oops

"leg too!" Imaan replied dumbly, her eyes came closed to tears as she scolded herself a million times inside her head, even then she continued her acting,

"Okay Imaan, what's the issue? You don't wanna go?" Dawood asked giving up after seeing her eyes redden,

"Yes, please don't force me, Woody," Imaan said hoping that he would leave her alone,

"Okay, I'll not force you, where do you want to go then? hospital?" he asked jokingly,

Quickly shaking her head, Imaan replied "Nooooo, I wanna go shopping"

"Alone?"

"Yeah!" Imaan nodded enthusiastically as she had a feeling that he would finally leave her alone,

But too bad,

"Do you know how risky it is for women to go shopping alone these days? I'll accompany you"

"Huh, what risks?" Imaan asked innocently, she doesn't remember any sort of risks because of shopping alone,

"Ugh, not risks dummy but like how unsafe it is these days, it is very common for these sellers to scam unsuspecting women like you, not to mention you're not very bright either" Dawood replied with a serious expression in his face but inside he was rolling around laughing as he looked at her dumb expression.