Lost and Found

Chapter 5

*16 hours later*

Can anyone tell me, how to deal with an impatient man who himself started the journey one hour late than the decided time and had made us pulled over time by time and still expect us to get to our destination without getting late? How? Yahya Khan was getting on my nerves now. And the fact that his in-laws understands, his wife was quiet but he HAS to pull over for no good damn reason like,

'Wali stop the car I have to fill up the tank!'

'Wali, Yayha called me to ask you to pull over he has to buy some juices.'-Murtaza.

'Wali, mate stop I am feeling nauseous!'

'Wali I guess we should pull over and let Rumaisa bhabi feed something to Khadija don't you think? I will call Murtaza.'

And as guessed our cars were now parked at a small café so we can get something to eat and drink, after all, the last time we all properly ate was 6:30 in the morning and at eight we hit the road, thinking of getting to Williamsburg around 1 in the noon but at 12:00 while eating this vegetable rice –which is really good and it's surprising how easily we were able to spot a halal café- I have only one thought in mind, if we reach there even at two it would be a miracle. As the females were on another table it was easy to get Yahya on the track again.

"Yahya look the function starts at 6 in the evening and if you have forgotten it's you and Rafia who would be sitting on bride's and groom's place so now we'll only be driving straight to home, is that clear?" I looked at him and sternly spoke while he slowly nodded without looking at me.

"Remind you, you both would look disastrous if we won't get there on time and still we have to drive for two hours straight and that's the fastest we can without getting a ticket so now if you would even bring a thought of pulling over I won't stop!" I glared at him and continued saying because after knowing this man for almost all his life I know how ignorant he can be sometime and at the last moment he'll be panicking the entire town. After ten minutes we were on the road again, thankfully.

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Standing at the entrance and welcoming the guest with a wide smile, the men of our families were dressed in grey suits with purple ties and a purple flower tucked on the pocket side to go with the decoration, a theme wedding as Yahya decided, the hall was already filled and laugher can be heard from every corner, looking at the beautiful decoration which just the handful of us were able to design and decide successfully, I was generally pleased with it and really happy for my little cousin on starting a new journey of his life, a wide smile was on his face and for the first time he hugged me, completely taking me into his embrace, while whispering words of gratitude which made me smile and ignoring all his past rushed behaviors I wholeheartedly took him into a hug, the rarity of the occasion like this can be tell by the scene that a lot of our cousins were taking our pictures and I even heard someone saying 'Looks like the cold boys have put their wards down!' I am sure it was Mikael, that guy never leaves a moment without teasing someone, that's the reason the girls of our family hates him to guts. And then there was a roar of laugher by our family members. I was feeling I'm on cloud nine, being with these people who accepted my mother and I all those years ago, laughing with them, cherishing the happiness, and calling myself one of them and being gifted with immense amount of love, I have finally forgotten the bothering stress and my endless nightmares. No matter how much thankful I'm, that can never be enough.

Ya Allah you are no doubt the most gracious. Ya Allah thank you for all this joyous moments.

After meeting and welcoming everyone, as I was also back in my hometown after more than a year so catching up with everyone was important and when I was satisfied with the amount of people I have met, I made my way towards the table where Irtiza and Matt were sitting with their wives and were chatting with some of my cousins, thank goodness they weren't bored or I was sure, my ears would be filled with Matt's teasing mockery.

"Wali bhai, Yahya is calling every one of us on stage, the girl's side is teasing him a lot!" Hooria, my sixteen year old cousin got my attention when I was busy planning an outing with my two dear friends to show them my home town.

"Serves him right!" I smirked and she laughed and after excusing myself I followed bunch of my teenage cousins where the rest of my cousins were already standing and the elders were sitting on the chairs around, everyone was beaming with happiness and the teasing remarks were being thrown by both bride's and the groom's side.

"Wali is finally here for his brother's rescue!" I heard my phupo and went to hug her and kissing her forehead I looked around the stage to find the younger one's of our side standing and defending Yahya over the recent remark the girl side made and smirking I moved towards them.

"O sisters of bride! Why are you killing my little brother?" I teasingly mocked and went to stand beside Murtaza and Imran.

"Wali these people here are saying they don't like the arrangements, even the kids in their families can do better!" Yahya carried on my game and pretend to be embarrassed.

"What?! Our guest didn't like the arrangements!" I placed my hands on my heart, "O Rab! Modesty doesn't have value anymore!" I looked up and then there was a roar of laugher, carried on by some more cheerful banter.

"By the way who's that Yale's graduate you talk about so much in your family?" A question was thrown at Yahya by Rafia's cousin and I looked at Yahya with a frown, he can't keep his little mouth close. Unlike the most of my family who were either Stanford, MIT and some other universities graduates, I being the rebellion chose the university none of my family member went as I wanted to be at the place where none of my relatives or family friends reside and got there by scholarship. Though dad was quite proud but my mother wanted me to go somewhere, where I could have been watched and now, how I wish I would have listened her!

"Wali is our one and only Yale graduate. The born rebel!" Yahya smirked at me and told them the story how I convinced the males of my family to let me go against Stanford and other universities and how they are proud that I chose it, little did they know that those year may had given me a powerful degree and now in front of the world, I'm settled enough but those four years were the peak years of my real downfall, the years when I thought power, money and youth is never-ending, those year when the biggest sin felt like it was fun. I forgot my identity, I forgot about my creator and till my last breathe, I'll be regretting that.

"Wow! You graduated in 2008?" Now question was thrown at me and I smiled and nodded. "Khadija api! You graduated the same year! Didn't you?" the girl who asked me turned to the person beside or more like behind her and with a step she took, she unknowingly revealed the person and I froze, I froze when my pair of brown eyes looked those dark eyes, which were emotionless, or which were confused, surprised or they were simply showcasing the disgust they hold for me.

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A.O.A

THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading and supporting the story! 131 reads in like a week, tbh, I didn't expect that! So pat yourself on my behalf :D

It was kind of a small chapter but I hope it works, yeah?

Till the next...

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