Intekhaab✔️

Chapter 9 - Razamandi (رضامندی)

"Kya? Kon?" Asked a shocked Falak to her daughter, who claimed to like someone.
When her question only received silence, she thought maybe her daughter isn't comfortable in telling her this. To make Laiba comfortable Falak made her tone softer.

"Beta koi zabardasti thori kareyga apke saath..kon passand hai apko..aap hume bataiyeh..hum baat karenge" Falak said holding Laibas chin, giving her confidence to speak.

But confidence to speak the truth wasn't something laiba needed right now. She needed creativity right now. Who does she say she likes? In reality she had several crushes but she didn't like anyone, they were all childish crushes.
Laiba looked into her mother's hopeful eyes. And she couldn't lie to her.

"No one" Laiba said pouting and keeping her eyes low, ashamed of almost lying to her mother.

"Beta koi bhi esi baat ho tho aap humse bejhijak khaiyeh.. aur agr esi koi baat nahi hai tho beta aap ek bar sochyyga zaroor.. aj kal ke zamaney me shayad ek pasand karne wala shaks apko mil bhi jaye..Lekin ek jaan chirakne wala khandaan, nayaab hai".

"Me sochongi" Laiba whispered.
——-

To her it was just unimaginable to think of Arif as anything other than an older cousin. But it's true when he confessed to her, she couldn't see him as an older cousin either now.

It was 11.00pm, laying belly down in bed, she scrolled through her Instagram feed on her phone. Biting her lip she contemplated, should she stalk him?.
'What's worse that could happen?' She thought and typed his name in the search bar.
She kept scrolling but couldn't find his account, it annoyed her. But then she realised she had never had him added on any social media app, maybe he never made any such accounts.

Tutting the idea of stalking him away, she realised what she was doing. 'Hold up Laiba..you're stalking him? Does that mean you're actually considering this? Ewww laiba!' A voice in her brain spoke.
Her face had a disgusted expression and she threw her phone to the other side of the bed. Shaking her head, she cleared her mind. And shut her eyes forcing herself to sleep.

But sleep! Damned sleep wouldn't come near here.
It was now 1:30am and she lay like a zombie in bed, staring at her ceiling just praying for sleep to take over her. Her mind kept drifting to weird ideas.

'Imagine you married him..you'd deffo be ruling that household..they all love you'
'Everyone of them are so nice, to think about it he was always nice to me too...but what if he changes?'
'What if he steals all your favourite chocolates..Kit Kat '
'What if Kit Kat stop sales in Pakistan?'
'And he eats the last Kit Kat of the country which you saved for yourself?'
'How will you survive without Kit Kat's?'

Many such weird thoughts came to her mind. They started at him, drifted to something else but ended back at him.

"SHUT UP!" She scolded her brain.
———

The next morning Laiba made her presence at the breakfast table with reddish under eyes, showing her lack of sleep.

"Asalamulaykum" she said as she sat in her chair.

"Walaykumasalam" her parents responded in unison.

"Kya hua mera beta soya nahi ache as?" Asher asked. He had began calling her beta since the hair cut as a joke but he got used to it and it stayed.

"neend hi nahi akey derahi thi"

"Aaj ki chuti karlo.."

"Khabardar! Bohat days off leliyehe apki sahabzaadi ne, abh aur nahi" Falak warned.