To The End And Beyond ***ON HOLD***

How it all begun - Part 4

WRITER'S NOTE

Thank you for reading my story people! It's nice to see people appreciating your work :) If the story is slightly slow, please bear with me; it gets better as the chapters go by!

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RECAP

Aqsa shook her head, wondering if the child in them would ever disappear. As she looked up, she noticed a pretty middle-aged lady staring at her from a few tables away. Aqsa locked glances and gave a small smile. The lady looked away quickly. Then she whispered something to the person next to her and she also looked at Aqsa, and shrugged. Aqsa looked at this exchange in bewilderment. What had all that been about?

"Aqsa! Aqsa!"

"What?" Aqsa replied, looking at Ahaan.

"Dad wants to talk to you. Come quickly", says Ahaan, pulling Aqsa up and striding quickly to the table where her father was sitting and chatting with other relatives. Aqsa ran to keep up with him. When she reached the table, she was surprised to see the 2 ladies who had been staring, and apparently conversing about her, also at the table.

Amir looked at Aqsa with a smile and gestured for her to sit next to him. Ahaan remained standing, with his arms folded and an unreadable expression on his face.

"Sweetheart I want you to meet the family. This is Mr and Mrs Ahmad, and this is Mrs Siddiqui and Mrs Yusuf."

"Assalamualaikum," greeted Aqsa shyly. She wasn't used to being put in the spotlight like this and especially hated being introduced to adults.

"Walaikumsalaam," the adults all replied, the ladies literally checking Aqsa out from top to bottom!

After a little chit chat, Aqsa excused herself to go back to her friends.

Manaal and Eliza were urging on Suhaila about something. When Aqsa dropped into her chair, grateful for escaping the scrutinisation, Suhaila turned to her with a pleading look. "Aqsa help me out! I'm your childhood buddy. I know you love me so much!"

Aqsa looked at her over-dramatic friend, rolling her eyes. "What have these 2 evil witches done now?" She smirked. Manaal and Eliza gave her an offended look. "And how are you so sure that it's us and not the other way round?" chirps Manaal, the most strong-headed of the four friends.

"Isn't it obvious? Suhaila can't hurt a fly, though she's the cleverest of us all. I've known her like forever and she cannot instigate anything." Eliza raised her hands in mock surrender, "Ok yeah its the 2 of us, as usual," she says, winking. "We started a game of truth and dare and we kind of hinted at Suhaila to choose a dare..." Suhaila interrupted with a shout, "Noooo they forced me to!" Aqsa tried to calm her friend down, seeing that quite a few heads had turned their way. Luckily, the nasheeds were still playing and people were also talking between themselves at their respective tables, so not much notice was paid to them. Apart from a table a little further away. A table which had some loud laughter bellowing from it. A table full of young guys. One of whom was staring at Aqsa as she tried getting the frazzled Suhaila to sit down again.

Aqsa looked their way and groaned.

Manaal and Eliza turned their attention to Aqsa and shifted their eyes to where she was looking. They also groaned in unison. Suhaila was the only one totally unaware.

Zain smirked as he stared at the girls. Armaan and Farouk looked at him, waiting for the outburst. When he stayed quiet, they stared at each other in surprise. It wasn't usual for Zain not to have a reaction on seeing Aqsa. Zain turned his attention back to them. "What?" he inquired as he saw their looks. "Nothing" shrugged Armaan and Farouk. They went back to their usual banter while Zain thoughtfully twisted his empty glass around in his hands.

"Aqsa please don't let your mood get spoilt now," urged her friends. "You were asking what we asked Suhaila to do right?"

Aqsa gladly shifted her attention back to her friends. Anything to keep her eyes and mind away from Zain. "We asked Suhaila to go up to that lady over there and talk to her for 10 minutes." Aqsa's eyes widened. "You did not!!!!" They all knew how shy and timid Suhaila was, she hardly talked to her friends when they were together, despite knowing them for so long, how would she talk to some random stranger? And that too, a lady who could be one of the inquisitive ones for sure!

"You guys are truly evil. You belong in one of the Marvel movies, you would make awesome villains," Aqsa says, rolling her eyes.

Manaal and Eiza beamed, taking it as a compliment for their acting capabilities. "Yeah, those guys don't know what they're missing out on by not discovering us."They start batting their eyelashes and fanning themselves, behaving like famous personalities.

Aqsa bursts out laughing, shaking her head. "Come on Suhaila I'll help you out. Let's show these b*****s that they can't get away with pushing you around." She crosses her arms and asks Manaal and Eliza which lady they were talking about. They pointed her out and Aqsa realizes, to her horror, that it was the same lady who had been talking about her and who had been at her father's table, Mrs Yusuf or something. She sighs, but not wanting to back out now, grabs Suhaila by the shoulder and approaches her.

"Assalamualaikum again," Aqsa calls out, guiding Suhaila into a chair next to the lady. Suhaila mumbles the greeting too. The lady looks at them in surprise and her friend stares in shock.

"Walaikumsalaam," they reply, getting over their initial reaction and forcing smiles onto their faces. "Ermmm as you know from awhile ago, I'm Aqsa and this is my best friend, Suhaila," Aqsa says, wondering how she'll keep the conversation going for 10 minutes! She glared daggers at Manaal and Eliza, who were watching them like hawks, trying not to laugh at their discomfort. Suhaila was no help as she sat stiffly, looking down at her hands clasped in her lap. Aqsa sighed inwardly. "It's a great wedding isn't it? Beautiful décor, awesome nasheeds, nicely dressed people...." She took a deep breath, realizing she was rambling on about a wedding being a normal wedding!! The ladies give her an eyebrow-raised look.

"Oh MashaAllah! You're getting along well with everyone Aqsa! This is a first for you I must say!" Aqsa looks at her Dad, who beamed at her fondly, and then looked at the 2 ladies. When did he sneak up to this table? Aqsa wonders. Then she realizes the lady was blushing. She was totally bewildered. What was going on? And why was her father so happy about her talking to this lady? Why did she have this horrible feeling that whatever it was, she didn't want to know about it?

Her dad patted her on the head and went back to his table as dinner was now being served. The lady finally spoke. "As you know from awhile ago, I'm Mrs Yusuf, and this is my cousin and friend, Mrs Siddiqui" she says, her eyes twinkling. Aqsa didn't know whether to laugh or be upset at her dialogue being used, so she smiled uncomfortably.

She saw Manaal and Eliza gesturing wildly that their 10 minutes were up and breathed a sigh of relief. She stood up, pulling Suhaila with her, gave the ladies an "Enjoy your dinner and nice to meet you again" and almost ran back to their table, eager to put as much distance between them as possible. Manaal and Eliza cheered for Suhaila carrying out her dare, and were nice enough not to rub in the fact that Aqsa had done the talking.

The rest of the time passed quickly, with everyone enjoying the scrumptious Biryani, Kachumbari Salad, Jalebi and the traditional Lassi.

It was around 1 am when Aqsa, Ahaan and their father reached home and collapsed into bed, totally exhausted.