High On Life

32: The Concealed

"What?!" A short whisper just escaped my larynx.

"Haan to iss mein problem kia hai?" Dad says casually switching through channels.

"But papa, I..I'm not ready." I said, turning to him.

"Haan to hum kaunsa tumhaari shaadi kar rahay hain. Engagement hi to hai." He replies and I shake my head.

"Papa engagement to hai, pr itni kia jaldi hai? We're just 18." I say with my eyes widened.

He smirks at my sentence. "Yeh to mujhe tum dono se poochna chahiye." Bam ! He makes his move.

I could feel myself blush as I looked down. Okay, awkward. He's got a valid point. I stayed silent, unfortunately giving him a chance to pull another one on my helpless situation.

"Wohi jo roz roz aik doosray se chup chup ke milte ho, engagement ke baad to chalo, aik valid excuse to hogi na iss sab hanky panky ke liye."

My eyes widened as I nudged his arm jokingly. "Papaa !"

"Kia? Ghalat kaha meine?" He rolled his lips inwards to stop himself from laughing, while I just kept on getting uneasy and embarassed. He knows. He knows everything.

"Aik minute. Chup chup ke?" Mom suddenly barged in the baap-beti convo, and before I could give daddy the glares warning him not to tell her, he had already opened his mouth. Great !

"Ohho begum. Mein to waise hi chair raha hun isse." Phew ! I love you dad ! He hid a fist near my legs for me and I gave him a fist bump, winking at him.

Mom chuckled all of a sudden, breaking apart the silence that surrounded us. "Aap baap aur beti jo baray seyahn-pati ban rahay hain na, mein bhi sab kuch jaanti hun. Alhamdulillah aankhein hain meray paas, aur Irfan bhai bhi." She smirks and my jaw dropped. Irfan uncle. Ugh ! Guess he's too smart for Shehry.

Dad and I gave each other 'the look' and she continued.

"Wohi mulaqaatein chup chup ke, aur jo vase toota tha mera. Beta sab khabar hai mujhe. Aur parso jab salgira manaane gayi thi uss ke saath, hmm?" She nudged me and I just felt so weird and awkward and flushed and embarassed and...I don't even know what !

"Waise Asif aise maamlon mein kaafi strict hai, I think. I blackmailed Shehry at the door when they arrived and God ! You should've seen his expression. Hawaiyaan urr gayi thi bechaaray ki." Dad laughed out loud.

"Papa." I pouted.

"Kia? Ab mein mazaak bhi na karoon uss se?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Aap ko dekh ke to waise hi uss ki hawaaiyan urr jaati hain. Uppar se aap uss ke papa ko le aayein beech mein, heart attack denay." I narrowed my eyes.

"Kia heart attack. Baaz to woh phir bhi nahi aaya. Sab dekh raha tha mein uss time jo living room mein ho raha tha, humaare saamne. Kaise ghoor raha tha tumhein." He says with his eyes on the TV as he flipped through another bunch of channels.

Pyaar karta hai daddy jaan. Ghooray ga nahi to aur kia karay ga.

"Chalo jo bhi. At least baap ka darr to hai usse. Aapne to beti ko sir pe chardha rakha hai. Poori poori saheli hai aapki. Hmph." She turns away, showing a little attitude. I just rolled my eyes. Typical Desi maa.

"Begum apna waqt bhool gayi ho kia, aur kaise abu jee se chup chup ke mujhe milne aati thi roof pe?" He winked at mom and her eyes widened.

Dad and I gave each other a highfive and mom just shook her head.

"Astaghfaar. Itna jhoot Rizwan jee. Hudd hai. Sirf aik dafa mile thay hum. Uss ke baad shaadi ho gayi thi. Kiyun bachi ko bigaar rahay hain." She lightly slapped dad's arm from behind me and he laughed.