You, Me & the Alter(cations) - Farmeed AU

26.

Umeed opened the enveloped and looked at the cheque, she smiled to herself. Of course it was the line of zero's that brought this smile, but also that every zero represented hours and days and weeks of her hard work for the past two years, it all lead up to this point. This was why she did not lose hope and continued working with determination and a smile on her face.

From every small room she decorated for someone's happiness to now the farmhouses and lodges - this was just the beginning but it was also a great blessing to have gone onto to do such big things. The last two years were gradual, but the past four months were what truly changed her life.

She placed the cheque against her heart and sighed, quickly unzipping her huge tote purse and slipping it in. Jackie walked up to her with both hands on her hips.

"Samaan band ho raha hai?" Umeed asked, watching her more trusted employee put on a bright smile.

"Jee, truck chala gaya hai, aur electrician ne lights bhi saari pack kar di hain" Jackie answered with utmost confidence and even more relief at the things wrapping up.

"Tum sab ko stage ke paas akatha karo." She instructed and Jackie nodded.

Gathering people was the most difficult part for an event that was not in a familiar city. Back in Lahore, she had familiarised herself with the staff, the men ad women who they temporarily hired for the Hashim's wedding, there was trust and safety. However, it was not as easy to gather strangers in unfamiliar places when so much was at stake.

So Umeed spent the last few days in Lahore trying something new, something extremely difficult but she was on a mission to do it, and that was to hire highschool students interested in interior design or decor and hire them as interns, to get a dual benefit. She had joined a few pages on Facebook in which she shared the message of wanting students aged sixteen to eighteen, both male and female, with a promise of a certificate to verify the course of the internship.

Being a freelancer with a legitimate public profile gave her the freedom to make such choices, and it also saved costs because the interns valued the experience and a trusty certificate more than the money, and it was fun for them. It was tricky but it took her less than a week to get it all done and sort it out for herself.

She went onto hand everyone their certificates and thanked them for their efforts, then proceeding to walk back and see the cleaning staff of the vicinity begin their services. Umeed sighed and reached for her phone, seeing as she had to wait until everything was totally packed and gone and that she would need to wait for her driver, which would take about half an hour.

Clicking on Farjaad's name, she wondered if he had any commitments, it was the afternoon and she knew he had work going on. Umeed prevented herself from calling him and decided to drop a text instead, asking if he was free.

-

"Kaafi time ho gaya tha, poochna tha sab theek chal raha hai?" Farjaad's fingers were intertwined and he stared at the wall as he spoke up, his phone was on speaker. He was feeling hesitant to make this call considering there was a lot of paperwork that had begun in the background, but he had to start somewhere.

"Theek hi tou chal raha hai, bas tumhari kami hoti hai beta." He bit his lip to hold back the parched chuckle that was about to leave his mouth, the insincerely was quite blatant and he was impressed with his uncle for making it so obvious.

"Ye tou hai." Farjaad crossed his arms, leaning back on the sofa and closing his eyes. A lot of things were processing through his head, knowing everything that was going on and wondering how he would battle this out without offending everyone in the family.

His mother would be severely against any legal action, but he was certain she would not have any problems once she found out what her brother-in-law had been making out of her late husband's efforts. But Farjaad wanted to calmly, gracefully and politely give all that information to her in person. He knew his mother, this was not something to say over a phone call.