Kahi Ankahi

Chapter 32

We were all sitting in our living room. Everyone had come over since we'll be leaving for the airport in an hour. Its about 3am now and we'll be leaving at 4. Since I had slept a lot during the day today, I was pretty fresh now.

After talking for another twenty minutes, I excused myself to go and get ready.

"I should go and get ready now." I said standing up.

"Okay beta." Ammi said, smiling.

I walked up to my room and went to the bathroom to take a shower and change. I was wearing my favorite navy blue floral top paired with a black skinny jeans. Wearing my black flats, I picked up my handbag and the jacket that I was keeping to wear in case I felt cold... which is very unlikely to happen because I love the cold. I walked out of my room and towards the staircase. I stood there for a while and inhaled deeply. Three months without ammi and abbu. I thought to myself. For someone like me, this is very hard because the longest time I've spent without Ammi Abbu is two weeks... C'mon, Qirat! Its just three months... I told myself. With that, I walked down the staircase. I went to the living room and everyone looked at me.

"I'm ready!" I grinned.

"Bohat pyaari lag rahi hai meri bacchi." Phuppo said and everyone agreed.

"Main tumhara suitcase le aata hoon." Shehry said, getting up.

"Thank youu." I told him and he smiled.

"Qirat baji! I'll miss you so much!" Sara said, walking to me. She wrapped her arms around me. I smiled at this.

"I'll miss you too, jaanu." I told her. "Besides, its just three months na... I'll be back before you even know it." I added, making her smile.

"Yes! Insha Allah!" She smiled wide. I repeated 'insha Allah' after her.

Soon Shehry came with my suitcase in his hand.

"Chalo jee." He said, as he placed the wheeler on the floor.

We all walked outside to our cars. As we were going towards the cars, my phone rang. I took it out and smiled as I saw Ayesha Baji's name on the screen. I answered the call in no time.

"Assalam alaikum.." i greeted, smiling.

"Walaikum assalam, meri jaan." She replied. "Nikal rahe ho airport ke liye?" She asked.

"Jee bas nikalne hi waale hain." I replied.

We spoke for a while. We had met a couple of days ago when she was leaving for Karachi with Ahmed bhai. Since she knew she wouldn't be in Islamabad today, we had spent a lot of time with each other then.

"Chalo, apna khayaal rakhna and message me once you reach the States." She said.

"Insha Allah I will." I replied, smiling.

"Insha Allah." She repeated. "Allah Hafiz." She added.

"Allah Hafiz." I replied and we hung up.

By the time I ended the call, everyone was already in their cars and I got in mine. Abbu drove the car and we talked a lot on our way to the airport. We reached the airport and got out of our cars.

"Sooo... milte hain teen maheene baad, insha Allah." I said, smiling. I hugged ammi and abbu.

"Ammiii... ro'en toh mat.." i told ammi as I saw her eyes well up.

"Chacchiii ro kyun rahi hain?" Iqra asked keeping her chin on Ammi's shoulder. "Teen maheeno mein waapis aa toh rahi hai yeh.." she added. "Tab tak aapki doosri beti hai na aapke paas." She said and that made me smile. Ammi smiled too.

"Haan meri bacchi." Ammi smiled, placing a hand on Iqra's cheek.

I met and said Allah Hafiz to the rest of the elders and then turned to my jaanoos.

I first hugged Sara and she hugged me back tightly. "I'll miss youuu.." she said.

"I'll miss you too..." I replied. "Mere aane tak Iqra ko khoob tang karna, okay?" I told her and she chuckled.

"Pakka!" She replied, making us laugh.

"Very. Funny." Iqra said, narrowing her eyes which made her laugh even more.

"Acha aap sab gaadi mein jaake baithen... hum isse tasalli se milke aate hain." She said to our parents and they agreed to it.

"Haan haan, kyun nahi..." Abbu said.

I hugged ammi omce more before they, along with Sara, walked towards the cars. I turned back to Shehry, Iqra and Hussain.

"I'll miss you guys so so so so so much!" I said, pulling them in for a group hug. They hugged me back.

"We're gonna miss you moooore!" They said almost together.

We broke the hug.

"Chal you should go now... kahin late na hojaye." Iqra hurried and I nodded.

I hugged them one last time before walking inside the airport.

I walked through the familiar airport and went through all the procedures. After some good twenty-five to thirty minutes, I was finally in the departure lounge. I got myself a cup of coffee and sat down in the waiting area, waiting for the gate to open. I took my phone out and messaged on our group.

Me: in the departurs lounge now.

Hussain: when will the gates open?

Iqra: dude! I was gonna type that!

I chuckled at this and then typed.

Me: the gates will open in twenty minutes.

Shehry: great! Tab tak humse baat karo.

We had been chatting for about fifteen minutes when I heard the announcement.

Me: acha chalo. The gates have opened. I'll message you guys from the aeroplane and then from New Haven, insha Allah.

I quickly typed in and waited for their response. Shehry and Iqra typed 'insha Allah' almost at the same time while Hussain was still typing.

Hussain: insha Allah :) Allah kare tum kheriyat se wahan pohanch jao. Aameen.

I smiled as I saw his message and whispered 'aameen summa aameen'. Shehry and Iqra messaged 'Aameen'.

I placed my phone back in my bag and walked towards the gate.

---

I finally settled down on my seat. The old lady, in her mid 60s, who was sitting next to me smiled at me and I returned the smile. I then took my phone out and messaged ammi abbu and the group once more before the air hostess announced telling us to switch our mobile phones off. I messaged Zaid that that plane was about to take off before switching my phone off and keeping it in my handbag.

Soon after the aeroplane took off, I fell asleep.