Dried Ink

26

Karima

True to Uncle Khalifa's words, Ya Kubra was in our house when I got home the next evening.

We exchanged pleasantries and I pretended not to know what happened.

"I thought you weren't coming down till a day before the daurin aure? " I asked.
She grinned. "I heard you on phone with him yesterday, you don't have to pretend to make me feel better" she whispered.

My eyes went wide and I felt embarrassed. "I'm sorry Ya Kubra, sorry things turned out this way" I apologized.

"Hey! Don't take me on a pity ride, I'm perfectly fine. Besides, I lost nothing too important" she smiled. So deep her dimples showed.

"I'm glad you feel that way" I smiled and she nodded.

"I explained it to all the parents, and they're all fine. No one is even calling Khalifa to come home" she looked around.
"But Baba called him and blasted him" she whispered happily.

I trust my father on that. He's such a drama queen.
We laughed and I excused myself to go freshen up.

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I glanced at my phone for the umpteenth time and there was no notification.
Anas sent a text this morning to check up on me but apart from that, I haven't heard from him all day and it was almost five in the evening.

My house was mostly crowded with people and Muflihah and Mufida made the mistake of not securing our room, so by default, we have a group of unidentified roommates.

Mama gave me the go-ahead to officially move to Lara's house until when the wedding was over.
The only bad thing about living with Lara's family is the fact that everyone wakes up at fajr and don't go back to sleep until the next night. Our curfew was immediately when maghrib was called and we had to pray all three prayers as a family.

Honking at Lara's gate, I breathed out as I remembered the house chores every morning. We had to wash Ammi's bathroom and clean the kitchen. I hate cleaning.

Lara excitedly waved from the parlour door while waiting for me to park at the parking lot. No way Abby is letting anyone litter his building with cars.

Smh

I dragged my luggage and wheeled it upstairs while Lara followed behind.
"Did you hear Abdallah? He wants to come and meet Abby and Ammi " she hissed.

"Lara, that's amazing" I beamed.

"Are you kidding? Do you not know the kind of person Abby is?" she asked her eyes wide.

True, her father could cart her to Abdallah's family the next Saturday.

"Did you explain to him?" I asked.

"He's glad that it could be a possibility" she hissed. "I'm no longer picking his calls" she added dropping her phone on the middle console of her room.

I don't blame her though. I could have tried convincing her but my own problems were too many to accommodate anyone elses.

"you've been gloomy since your call with Anas. What's happening?" she eyed me.

"I'm on my period" I lied.

"Ha-Ha, try again" she rolled her eyes.

I took a deep breath and explained everything to her. She rained profanities on him and even begged me to let her call him.
I also earnestly begged her to leave him alone.

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Avoiding Anas was extremely hard when you lived in the same house but I managed to pull it off during all the events.