Puranay Rastay ✓

chapter ‣ 2

Abu drove down to Lahore for the weekend. He had been informed by Ami on how Aqib's parents wanted to meet us for a formal marriage meeting.

Abu mirrored the same sentiments as me, that despite welcoming Aqib's family over, we would take our time to do the character evaluation and make our mind, because we weren't exactly looking.

A wedding hadn't been on our agenda for that year. Graduation and a summer trip to Abbotabad was. We were only welcoming fate and taking solace from the fact that we could plan all we want, but it was Allah's plan that would be best for us.

It being my first official proposal and all, I was still having mixed feelings about the entire thing. Sara had been trying to convince me that nearly every girl went through a myriad of emotions when it came to something as long term as marriage, but I had been reciting the istikhara dua for the past couple of days, and yet didn't feel any sort of inclination or repulsion towards Aqib. Instead, I felt an odd let's see how far this goes feeling.

"Are you nervous?" Kainat asked me as we walked to the beauty salon at the corner of our street. Aqib's family along with Sara's mother were coming to visit us that evening.

"I don't know, should I be?" I wondered.

"What do you think, Khaled bhai?" Kainat questioned Khaled who walked parallel to us a few feet away. He was on bodyguard duty right then, escorting us places we could easily go on our own.

"I wouldn't expect Rida to behave like other girls," he honestly told us.

"Well excuse me, both of you, I am very much like any other girl."

"We know you better than that, baji."

I tried ignoring Kainat's comment and hurried ahead.

I did have to admit that I was perhaps less shy than most girls, but nonetheless I was just like the rest. Nothing special, always part of the crowd, an anonymous existence within countless others. It was what I strived to be.

I had always been acutely aware of the fact that my existence was a speck of dust in the vast universe. The fragility of life, it's time span which was equivalent to a blink of an eye, had always fascinated me. It was what I had grasped on to from as early as I could remember, forming my habits and interests around that belief. I never allowed myself to get too attached to something or someone which could be easily taken away from me. I always picked up hobbies that would benefit me one way or another, like cooking or stitching clothes.

So meeting the Chaudharys didn't particularly excite or scare me, but that didn't mean I was anyone extraordinary.

"What are we having done today?" The beautician at the salon asked me after we had exchanged greetings and I had undone my veil.

"A facial and some threading. I'm meeting my potential in-laws," I said, seating myself in a revolving salon chair.

"Isn't that exciting! Do you want light makeup too?"

"Alya baji you know the condition of my skin, once I get acne it doesn't go away," I reminded her. She had been my hairdresser and beautician for as long as I remembered. She had seen how wild my skin had been over the years.

"You're right, but I got these new natural products all the way from the US." She tied back my hair and slipped on a terry cloth headband over my forehead. "You know my uncle lives in Florida so he sends me all the products I need. By the way, you lived in Florida too, right?"

"New York," I corrected, watching her grab a brightly colored tube from one of the shelves.

"They're near to each other, yeah?"