Shards Of Glass

2. It was only an Us thing | Anayat

* a district somwhere in Punjab *

"Wake up!" a tall figure franticly hovered  besides my bed.
"Wake up already! Anayat!" he whispered pleadingly.

The room had these purple luminescent walls which had been installed to glow, as per the orders of my thirteen-years old self. My novelty for Mujtaba adapting to punjabi fuedal attire, attitude and Allah knows what not was depleting.

This light deprived aesthetic made him look like Eddie Kruger from the Nightmare On you know what. 
Upon this horrifying realization, I screamed so hard at him that he had to cover my mouth with his hand to calm me down.

"For fucks sake, Anayat!" he excalimed agitatedly,"Its me Mujtaba."
"Yuckk..." he hissed as he unfastened the grip on my face with unrepressed disgust, "who were you dreaming of with this much drool?" he joked as he grabbed a corner of Nihal's dupatta to wipe his hand. I could almost feel Nihal whacking her brother.

"Chris Hemsworth, duhh?" Azmara suggested.

I spun my head around to see her face, which was obviously unclear, "Are you guys insane?" I yelled.

"Pretty much. And will you keep it down?” Nihal rolled her eyes, as she sat besides me “Please?" She sighed.

"Now will you get up, Your Highness?" Mujtaba requested.

I heard Azmara mumbling how she felt.

"Ughh WHY?" I groaned, slamming my face into the silk pillow, "We still have..what? Eighteen more hours to go?" I grumbled after catching a phoney peek of my watch. The thoughts of tomorrow night's gathering started clouding my mind. “And besides its not like any of you have had enough sleep in the past day” I said shaking my finger at the bags under his eyes, even though it was a solid guess, given the acute dimlit environment.

"Nice try ” he scorned, it seemed like I had hit a nerve.
“The only thing visible in this quarantine, you call your room, are those midnight eyes of yours'...." his voice much heavier now.
There was a pause before his voice broke, "have you been crying?"

"Ughh NO," I spat, relieving everyone or rather outraging them when I shot my phone's flashlight right at my eyes, which were pulled down very obscenely by my fingertips, exhibiting the insides and the fact that I absolutely hadn't been crying.

"Eww, "they complained, “wth” sounding more pissed off than a dragon trying to blow out birthday candles.

God! Annoying the brains out of them was such a fetish and it felt so damn satisfying. I mean who'd refuse an oppurtunity like this.
Man. I missed them.

"Oh my God, I'm gonna lose it. There's simply no going discreet with this girl. AT ALL!" Azmara taunted as she pulled the duvet off of me.

This lot had serious issues. I mean the place was huge, if someone were practically crying their ass off, not a single soul would notice and besides Baba and Abbu's rooms were on the third floor. Also, they probably weren't even home at this hour as the dera would be swarming with locals rn.
I walked right over the bed with long strides and straight outside the room, while everyone stared at me as I came back inside comically to grab my shawl from couch, placed near to the door, and then left again, this time followed by them.

Stomping with enough anger to eat one of them alive I lead them to the terrace, overlooking Zaffar Baba's workshop, where he'd work on stunning pieces of sheer craftsmanship, but only in his leisure hours.

The crickets chirping, dusky, colors subdued in the fading light, first buzz of mosquitoes starting, the sun setting and the real drama unravelling.

~

"Where did youu, show up from?", I inquired, sincerely concerned, "Also, wasn't Nael chachu with you." All three of them exchanged glances with each other.

“Ok I'm just gonna spill it out, so... I got a call from Ranya and she told me that she was coming tonight too and I asked her why because I thought it was only an Us thing but then she said that everyone's coming, her mom, her dad and even Rafay's mom– "

"Wait who's Rafay?" I interjected. "Rafay's a friend. Also the guy she's getting hitched too."

"Whaa—" How long have I been sleeping? I thought. "Get to the point dumbass," Mehr finally made her signature entrance. I always wonder how she can hear so well from such a distance.

"You're ALL getting rishta-fied" and with that Nihal shell-shocked me and the other 3 unfortunate aswell.

"Every...Last...One of you" she sounded even more dramatic than she had intended to be. Little did she know... God! Ignorance sure was bliss for her. The irony still hurts.

"But hey... if we can't stop this maybe try to talk them into letting us choose?" Mujtaba made a failed attempt at condoling with us and tragically received ruthless glares at him, making him feel outnumbered and out of place.

But how could he really just bluntly say that, I mean he was implying to choose one us.

Now I understood why Nael chachu wasn't here, he must be sulking in one of his favorite spots in town, personal, like the ones in Lahore that were usually a rooftop of some corporate tower or at times even polo lounges would do, but I doubt he'd find any, here in this district.

For a moment I feared that he might've made some reckless decision to go to Firdous Nagar because he had the most to worry about since he was the eldest amongst us. Oh did I forget to mention that he's my confidante and about our age, although older than another cousin of mine, Ayaan, Azmara's brother and Zaffar Baba's son.

I wonder where he is though but all I can think of right now is how much each of us envy him at the moment. Surprisingly Azmara mentioned him as she stared cluelessly at the starry sky. "How does Ayan bhai get away with everything...maybe he wouldn't mind lending us some of his magic luck," she innocently let out a long sigh of despair.

Suddenly the instant at which she said his name, a chill ran down my spine, the wind howled, so much colder now and it started biting and nibbling on the skin that was bare that I eventually cloaked with my shawl. Why did I feel this way towards his name? I felt my chest tighten.

"Come on, let's go inside. It said in the forecast that it would be pouring tonight, " someone offered, “plus we're going back to the estate in an hour.”

I groaned inwardly, and even the inconvenience of driving all the way there only because it was a rule made by Abbu (who always said that it was imperative that we observed slumber in the prescribed property) was a concern, other problems had begun plaguing my mind already, so I gave in without protest.

Everything dropped dead silent, with only the hooting of the owls assuring us that this was real and not a dream.

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Glossary (urdu/punjabi):

dupatta - a long scarf, traditionally worn over shalwar kameez.
Abbu - father
dera -  a place situated near their residence for Fuedal lords to conduct every day dealings/meetings
chachu - paternal uncle
bhai - brother