MANGO MILKSHAKE

Chapter 12

" do you want some sweets?" Yaseen asked awkwardly.

"Your nosy aunts have fed me enough." I said in a small voice.

"Don't do this to me"  Yaseen hid his eyes with both of his hands.

"Do what?" I frowned without looking at him.

"Look at me at least" he gritted his teeth and made an annoyed face.

"I won't"  I said while taking off the bangles from my hands.

"What's wrong?" Yaseen scratched his head in confusion.

"I'm embarrassed. Everyone saw me crying. This is so humiliating." I briskly threw all the excessive prickly clothes and jewelleries on the bed and sat in front of the mirror. 

"What?" Yaseen's mouth flew open.

"I cried in front of you. No. I cried holding your shoulder. That was so... I don't know, it's just that I shouldn't have." I grunted in frustration.

"That? Silly girl, the wedding vow says that I have an equal amount of share to all your sadness." He smiled and started gathering the stuff from bed.

"I think the vows say a lot of other things that I might not be willing to share."  I felt a little sick after looking at all the flowers hanging from the bed frame and lying on the bedsheet.

"I don't mind at all. There's only one thing that bothers me."  Yaseen grabbed all the garlands and pulled them away from bed. He threw a fist full of petals on my head.

"What?" I looked at the yellow rose petals on my palm. The disarray of quirky wedding songs has settled down and all the murmuring of different voices have died before rescuing oddly designed dark corridors.  Shiny lights and sparkling decorations now look like different shapes of ghosts hanging from walls and columns. Faint country music danced around every corner of the room and a dim discontinuous yellow light made the room bright enough to see the despondency floating in Yaseen's eyes.

"Do you hate me a lot? I've never seen anyone cry so bad while leaving their house after marriage. Have I done something wrong?"  Shakiness in his low, rustling  voice makes me question my own emotions.

"When did I say so?" The first rule of building an ever lasting relationship is not to make assumptions based on personal thoughts. "I don't hate you. I have never even disliked you."

"You didn't. I just felt guilty." A  smile of relief slowly appeared as his lips curled up.

"Idiot."  Sometimes I wonder if his head is for decoration purposes but then I remember he's actually a very respected teacher with a grand amount of pupils looking up to him.

"You can wear something else. Wedding clothes look uncomfortable."  Yaseen has already changed to wear a t-shirt and trousers. When I was nodding to each and every unknown person who was there to see the wife of Syed family's eldest and capable son, the son himself sneaked out of the event and freshened up to be more comfortable. Yasmeen Jahan's face looked more strained than Severus Snape.  At this point, I don't blame her. My expressions would be the same if I had two sons and both of them got married to completely unfit, ridiculous women. I've only seen Yahya's girlfriend once or twice and my instincts say that she's even more problematic and uncultured than I am. If I'm a flicker of flame then she's the volcano. I'd rather have my sweet mother in law to deal with her than get myself into trouble.

"Glad that you noticed"  I rolled my eyes. "Where's all my luggage?"

I searched through the bags that had been standing beside the couch. With a great amount of struggle I found a pyjama. The sarees and traditional wears are all piled up inside the bags, finding a shirt there would be an olympic worthy sport. I squatted down and tiredly stirred my hands through bags.