Kahi Ankahi

Chapter 26

*two days later*

I was applying Kaajal when I heard a knock on the door.

"Aajaen." I said, loudly enough for the person outside to hear. My eyes were still fixed on the mirror.

"Good morning." I heard Shehry say as he walked inside my room. I finished applying the Kaajal and looked at him. I smiled.

"Good morning." I greeted. "Tum Sunday ko subah subah kaise uth gaye?" I added.

"Baat hi aisi thi." He was smiling ear to ear. "Jaldi mein toh nahi ho na?" He asked. "Woh maami ne bataya ke tum log airport jaa rahe ho." He added.

"Nahi baba, we have to leave after like half an hour." I told him. He sat on my bed and signalled me to sit beside him.

"Aaj Fajr ke baad mujhe neend hi nahi aarahi thi so I went for a morning walk. When I returned, ammi told that she and abba wanted to talk to me..." he spoke. He told me that Phuppo and Phuppa talked to him about Lubna and said that they'd love to take this rishta further. So Shehry is getting engaged soon and I'm seriously very happy for him.

"Abhi tak Hussain ko bhi nahi pata iss baare mein." He chuckled. "Ammi, abba se baat hote hi, I came to tell you." He added, making me smile.

"I'm so so so so happy for you." I genuinely told Shehry. He smiled and hugged me. I hugged him back.

"Breakfast kiya?" I asked him, as we broke the hug.

He shook his head 'no'.

"Maine bhi nahi... chalo saath karte hain." i said, getting up.

"tum karlo, main ghar jaata hoon." He said.

"Breakfast karke chale jao." I retorted. Since he probably knew that I wont let him go without having breakfast, he didn't argue. I grinned at him and picked up my dupatta from the chair. I placed my dupatta on my shoulder, letting it hang on its own. I grabbed my mobile from the dressing table and we made our way downstairs.

Shehry and I had our breakfast since Ammi and Abbu already had it earlier. We talked about various things while eating.

"Zaid... Zaid hai na tumhare cousin ka naam?" Shehry asked, sipping his chai. "Kitna attitude tha uss bande mein." He chuckled making me laugh.

"Come on yaar! Bacha tha woh jab." I laughed. "But you remember him?" I asked.

"Of course I do. Jis tarah usne mera mazaaq uraya tha, main kaise bhool sakta hoon." He replied and I remembered the second and the last time Shehry met Zaid. It was an Eid party, months before Khala shifted to the States, where Shehry's juggling went all wrong and Zaid had made quite a lot of fun of him. I laughed at the memory.

"You guys were like 13 and 14 back then." I said, still laughing.

"Haso, aur haso..." He said, trying to hold back his laugh himself. Soon he joined me and we shared a good laugh.

"I dont know why you both dont like him." I wondered out loud.

"Mera reason toh you know..." he paused, "aur Hussain ko shayad lagta tha ke jab tum uske saath hoti thi, tab humein ignore karti thi..." he explained.

"Whaaat? Maine aisa toh kabhi nahi kiya... at least not that i remember." I defended myself. He just shrugged his shoulders making a pata nahi face.

We finished our chai while talking about a few more things and then he spoke.

"Chalo ab tum log niklo.. kahin late na hojao." He said. "Main bhi ghar ke liye nikalta hoon." He added, getting up.

"Okaay.. I'll see you soon. Maine Zaid ko tumse milwaana hai aur yeh dekhna hai ke woh incident usey bhi yaad hai ke nahi..." i told him and he laughed.

"Main maamu, maamu ko Allah Hafiz bolke aata hoon." He said once he was done laughing. I nodded.

Meanwhile, I cleaned up the table by placing all the dishes in the kitchen, inside the sink.

When I walked out of the kitchen, I saw Shehry walking towards the main door.

"Allah Hafiz." He said, smiling as he saw me. I smiled back and replied with Allah Hafiz.

---

"woh dekho, aagaye." Ammi said, smiling wide as she looked at the doors from where the passengers were coming out.

I smiled as I saw Khaala, Khaaloo and Zaid walk outside. Zaid looked around and smiled when he saw us. They walked towards us and we met each other. Ammi hugged Khaala while Abbu greeted Khaaloo.

"Kitna boriat ka kaam hai na inko milte dekhna?" Zaid spoke in a low tone.

"Abhi tak wese hi ho tum." I looked at him. He laughed.

"Kaisa?" He asked, raising and eyebrow as he smirked.

"Ek dum gadhe." I said and he laughed out loud.

"Tum bhi wesi hi ho." He stated, earning a questioning look from me.

"Khoobsurat." He winked and I shook my head.

As soon as our parents were done meeting each other, we walked towards our car and settled in. We drove to our place. Although they were gonna be staying at Khaala's in-laws', Abbu thought it'd be better if they freshened up at our place first because khaala's in-laws' place was quite far.

Soon we reached our home and got inside. Everyone got freshened up and I made chai, fried some kababs that ammi always has ready in the freezer and dished out some readymade snacks. Since our maid was at her village for a few days, I did all the work myself.

When I was done, I kept all the stuff on the food trolley and walked outside to the living room where everyone was sitting and I served them the tea and snacks. We all talked about various things while eating, Zaid with the least participation in our conversation.

I suddenly remembered that I had kept my phone in the kitchen and it was on silent so I excused myself for a while. I walked to the kitchen and grabbed my phone from the counter. I was about to leave the kitchen when the screen of my phone lit up. I took a look at the caller ID and it read 'Hussain'. I received the call.

"Assalam Alaikum." I greeted through the phone.

"Walaikum Assalam." He replied.

"Kaisi ho?" He asked.

"Bohat achi... tum batao." I replied. Hussain has been calling me like everyday to talk about nothing in particular, just like that. He usually talks about almost every incident that has ever happened with either of us, almost all of our memories, minus the engagement.

"Main.." he was about to speak but stopped as soon as he heard Zaid's voice.

"Yaaaar! Kitni baatein hai mom, dad-" he stopped midway when he saw me on the phone. "Sorry," he mouthed. I smiled mouthing 'its okay.'

"Who was that?" Hussain asked. His voice was suddenly so different. I couldn't get what was that in his voice.

"That's my cousin, Zaid." I replied, trying not to show him that I even noticed anything different in his voice because its most probably just me. "Mujhe khud hi do din pehle pata chala so I didn't get the time to tell you guys that Khaala was coming over. Shehry ko bhi aaj subah hi bataya when he came over." I added. He quietly listened. "Hussain?" I called his name out.

"Haan? Yeah its cool. Tum busy hogi... I'll talk to you later." He said quickly and hung up. What's up with him now?

I brushed away the thoughts and walked outside to attend the guests.

Hussain's p.o.v.

"Haan? Yeah its cool. Tum busy hogi... I'll talk to you later." I told her and hung up.

Itna bura kyun lag raha hai, Hussain? I asked myself and I had no answer to that. I mean yes, I know I love her but is this love making me jealous of someone I don't even know properly?

Jealous?