AN INDIAN GIRLS SACRIFICE

Chapter 6

Aahil and I get to the restaurant… he pulls out the chair for me and goes to his seat after I'm seated. The waiter bring us the menu and we order, Aahil hasn't said anything to me since we left the house.

"Are you angry with me?" I ask briefly.

"No, I'm not… I just think what you did was wrong, maybe you could have handled things better, it's not nice to have your parent's apologising to you."

"Okay I admit, I was a bit harsh but I'm tired of always being the victim to my khala and my parent's blindly believing her."

"Well it's done now, I hope things are okay between us."

"Obviously it is, we will always be okay."

The waiter brings our food, while we eating I get a call from my Ammi, she wants me to rush home. It sounded like she was panicking, she wouldn't say what was wrong over the phone, she scream at me so I know it's serious.

Aahil and I rush home, when we get there my Abba is there waiting for me, it's my nani she had another attack and the doctors are moving her to the ICU. They don't know if she will survive, my Ammi and nanu were already gone to the hospital.

We get to the hospital, I drove with my Abba… Aahil followed us there. When we get there I send my Abba in and wait for Aahil. I'm not sure what is going on with my nani but standing by the hospital door I suddenly feel afraid. My heart starts beating faster, I feel this rush through my body almost like my blood is trying to flush out.

"Let's go babes," he says gently patting me on my back.

We in the elevator standing at the back, there's a few other people with us so we don't say anything to each other. We leaning on the wall of the elevator, Aahil rubs his hand on my wrist sliding it towards my hand and then holds on my hand. He looks at me from the side of his eye and smiles.

We get to the floor my nani is on, the elevator doors open and I see Zafar and Armaan standing outside the elevator. Aahil and I are still holding hands, Armaan looks at me in dissatisfaction, Zafar and Aahil greet each other, Zafar introduces Armaam and Aahil.

I leave them there chatting and go to the waiting room where everyone else is. I greet Zuhair bhai, Nuwal bhabhi and Fawaaz bhai. I ask Nuwal bhabhi what Armaan is doing here, apparently he offered to come and I'm guessing it's because he wanted to see me.

The doctors are still busy with nani, it's few hours later and we don't know what is happening as yet. Aahil decides to organise food for us since it's already dinner time.

"Amaani can we talk please, it's important," Armaan say gingerly.

I follow him out of the waiting room, we go to the coffee shop on the second floor. For some reason I'm nervous and I could feel my palm sweating.

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"I see why you turned me down, it might not seem genuine to you but I'm really happy for you. I hope he brings you all the happiness and love you deserve."

"What you on about? Who are you talking about?"

"You and Aahil, I saw you guys holding hands and see how you look at each other, I see the love for you in his eyes."

"Armaan there's nothing going on between us. Aahil and I are childhood friends. We close to each other maybe that's why you feel we like each other."

"Amaani, it's okay you don't have to hide from me, I won't tell anyone."

Aahil comes out of the lift with the food in his hand, I go help him and it hits me, I can get Aahil to convince Armaan. I didn't owe anyone an explanation so I don't know why I was trying to convince anyone.

"Aahil please tell Armaan that there's nothing going on between us."

"Hey dude, we just friends, people always assume we have something going on but we just friends."

Wow that was really convincing, you just repeated yourself, I thought to myself. We go to the waiting room with the food, bhabhi starts dishing out for everyone so I help her, she tells me to dish for Fawaaz bhai, Armaan and Aahil. While we were eating the doctor came to get my parent's, he had news about nani.

I was anxious and worried at the same time, I've never been in such a mess and had so much added tension. On one side I'm worried about nani and then I have these two guys who want more then friendship from me.

I know I'm not ready for marriage, my father would never allow me to date and I myself would never date so if he finds out that these guys have feelings for me he would get me married to the one he thinks is best for me. He wouldn't bother how I felt, in our society you don't get a choice, you don't dare ruin your families reputation.

I have to speak to bhabhi later, she is the only one who can help me with this. I know Zuhair bhai and Fawaaz bhai will freak out, they've always been protective over me. We got home too late for me to speak to bhabhi so I decided to wait until the time was right.

I jump out of bed as my alarm rings for the 3rd time, I take a long and refreshing shower, humming softly. I have a good feeling about today, yes we have my nani still in ICU so it won't be the most perfect but it sure feels like an exceptional day, well at least better then my other days.

"What your plans for today Amu?" Zuhair bhai ask gingerly.

"I'm just at home today bhai, will go to hospital tonight only."

"I need to talk to you, it's important so after breakfast we need to go for a walk."

"Okay bhai."

I'm freaking out now, what does he want to talk to me about. Usually when he uses 'it's important' it's serious and I'm in trouble. Just when I thought my day is going to be good.

We have breakfast and then Zuhair bhai and Fawaaz bhai take me on a walk to the beach, the beach is opposite my grandparents apartment so we hang out at the beach alot.

We stop at the small cafe that's on the beachfront, it's a small snack cafe, very cosy and the ambience is wonderful especially the outside seating. The outdoor furniture fits so perfectly with the beach scenery.

"Abba asked Fawaaz and I to have a talk with you, what's your plan? What do you want to do next?"

"I told Abba I want to take a break for a year but he doesn't want me to so I've applied at uni, I'll be studying next year."

"Have you told Abba because he doesn't know about it."

"No I haven't told him as yet, I finalised everything two days ago. Uncle Rashid, Abba's accountant finalised all my paper work and paid for my admission and paid for my first year studies."

"Amu you sure you want to study medicine?" Fawaaz bhai asks concernedly.

"Jee bhai, it's all I've worked towards."

"You know soon Abba is going to speak about your marriage and it will be a fast topic once Fawaaz and Nosheen get engaged," Zuhair bhai smiles.

"I know, I just wish Abba will give me more time."

"It's not how it works Amu, you know that very well. Our marriage proposals are like deals and that's the game our society plays. That's what gets you more power in society, the more connections you have the more power you have."

It's a sad reality, our families in the rich society has always worked on benefits. They will fix an alliance for their son's and daughter's to the most eligible partner. We never have a choice to chose a partner for our selves and never get to chose a partner that's from a middle class family.

My cousin chose his own partner from a middle class family, now he has no place in our family and we have no contact with him. They had to sign a contract stating they will move to another country.

We get back to the apartment, Zuhair bhai and Fawaaz bhai speak to my parent's about my studies. My Abba is really happy with the decision I have made, he never liked the idea of me taking a break he always said if I do he would be upset and he would lose trust in me because he would feel that I'm fooling around and to them that's when bad things happen.

My parent's were brought up under very strict discipline, they gave us more freedom but that's because the times have changed.