Kahi Ankahi

Chapter 12

It was almost Maghrib time when we all decided to go inside.

"Guys, let's head inside. Thand kaafi barh gayi hai." Hina suggested, rubbing her arms with the palm of her hands.

"Alle alle, baby ko thand lag lai hai?" Arslaan teased her. He too loved the cold weather just like me.

"Har koi tumhare aur Qirat ki tarah Antarctica ka nahi hota, Arslaan." She said with an annoyed smile. Arslaan and I burst into laughter and soon everyone else joined in.

We gathered our stuff and went inside the farmhouse. Samiya lit the fireplace and Hina made herself comfortable in front of it. We talked a bit until it was Maghrib time.

"Guys. Sshh. Maghrib ki azaan horahi hai." Jahanzeb said and we all sat quiet for a while. The sound of the azaan was very low because the Masjid was quite far from here.

"Chalo, let's offer our namaz." I smiled and we all got up to offer our Maghrib namaz. We performed our Wudhu two at a time because there were only two washrooms. The boys offered their namaz in one room and the girls in the other. When we all completed offering our namaz, we headed to the living room.

"Let's play truth or dare." Jahanzeb suggested. We all agreed and began the game. I spinned the bottle.

"Truth or dare, birthday girl?" I asked Samiya.

"Dare." She laughed. I gave her an evil smile.

"Arslaan, jao zara kitchen se saare sauces toh le aao." I spoke, the smile not leaving my face. "Aur ek spoon bhi."

"THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN!" Arslaan excitedly said and laughed, getting up.

"Qirat." Samiya said.

"You chose dare." I said as-a-matter-of-factly. She fake cried.

Arslaan came back with a number of bottles and jars and a spoon. "Yeh lo." He said, sitting down. He took his camera out and began recording.

I took out small amounts of all the sauces in the spoon and took it near Samiya's mouth. She shook her head with her hand over her mouth.

"Yaar, Samiya, come on!" I said.

"Uuggghhh!" She said, clearly annoyed.

I shoved the spoon in her mouth and her expressions were PRICELESS! She ran to the washroom and spit it out. We all were laughing hysterically.

"Not. Funny." She sternly said, but then joined us in laughing.

"Dude, I'm gonna record the whole game! Jab hum kabhi aur dekhenge na toh bohat maza aayega." Arslaan announced, placing his camera on the table so that it recorded all of us.

"That's a great idea!" I told him. He jerked his collar in pride making me roll my eyes which made him laugh.

We continued the game. It was my turn to answer and Arslaan's turn to question.

"Truth or dare?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Stop doing that!" I hit his arm playfully. Everyone laughed. "Dare." I added.

"Its not something hard for you to do but agar awein bolta toh tum maanti nahi... Sing a song." He said, smiling.

"Arslaan, nahi yaar." I refused.

"You chose dare." He mimicked my tone as I told Samiya. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Kyaaaa." He laughed.

"Okay. Konsa?" I agreed knowing that he won't let me live peacefully if I didn't.

"Hmmmmm... lemme think." He said, placing his index finger on his chin.

"Arrey woh wala!" Hina squeaked. "Ayesha, woh drama tha na jismein hero ka baad tera hero tha!" She nudged Ayesha's hand playfully. I knew which song it was.

"Woh mera hero nahi hai, Hina." Ayesha said, annoyed. "Tera jaan e mann hoga. The song is Tum Mere Hi Rehna, by the way. That song is LOVE!" She said, emphasising 'love'. I knew this was the song. I used to love this song but...now, it reminds me of him. I shrugged away the thoughts. I looked at Shehryaar and his face seemed like he knew what was going on in my mind. I smiled at him and he mirrored my expression.

"Oh yes! That is an amazing song!" Jahanzeb said. "Sameer, apna guitar la." He told Sameer. "Qirat, guitar bajana bhooli toh nahi na?" He asked me.

"Nahi." I smiled and shook my head.

Sameer brought his guitar and handed it over to me. I placed the it on my lap and strummed the chords. I began singing the lyrics.

Tu bhool gaya hai yaad meri...
Woh pyaar tera faryaad meri...
Tu aane wala kal,
Ya beeta hua hai pal?
Har saans adhoori hai,
Har lamha yeh doori hai.

I played the song and he kept occupying my mind and thoughts. Everything that I wanted to forget came back to me; his smile, his eyes, his laugh, his happiness... him. I didn't let any emotions come to my face because no one here knew that I even had an engagement. Since it was supposed to be a family function, not many of our friends knew about it. I continued singing the song. The more I sang, the more I could relate to the lyrics.

Tu mera kyun nahi?
Ye jeena, jeena nahi..
Tu mera hi rahe,
Hai thoda thoda kyun..

I stopped singing here. I just couldn't take it anymore. I gathered myself and spoke.

"Bas? Hogaya dare complete." I tried to sound as normal as I could. Everyone clapped and I shook my head. "Haan haan, bohat hogaya." I said, raising my hand. I saw Jahanzeb looking at me. 'Kya hua?' He mouthed. I shook my head and mouthed 'kuch nahi'. He had definitely noticed. I shrugged and continued to play. We had a few more turns and then Arslaan suggested we watch a horror movie. Everyone agreed. Throughout the movie, Jahanzeb seemed like he wanted to talk to me.

The movie ended and soon we all exchanged goodbyes. Everyone began leaving for their houses.

"Chal, Samiya. Many many happy returns of the day." Shehryaar wished her once again. "Allah Hafiz." He added and then hugged Sameer. "Allah Hafiz, bro." He told him.

"Happy birthday once again, Samiya!" I wished her.

"Thank you, yaar. Kaafi arsay baad tumhe gaate hue suna. Loved it." She said and hugged me. I smiled in response.

"Allah Hafiz." I said as we broke the hug.

"Allah Hafiz." She responded.

"Okay, Sameer. Allah hafiz." I told Sameer and he replied with a smile and 'Allah Hafiz'.

"Qirat.." Jahanzeb called out.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Apna number save kardo." He said, handing me his mobile phone. I smiled and typed in my number. I returned him his phone. He called on my number so that I had his number too.

We said our goodbyes once more and left the place.