The Addiction of Love

III

"Noorie aapi," Seher skipped down the stairs and landed straight into the arms of her cousin, Mahnoor, who had just arrived from Bangalore.

The girls shared a long hug, before Seher parted away and embraced her Jabira phupho.

"I missed you so much," Seher murmured.

"I missed you too, mera bacha." Jabira kissed her niece's forehead lovingly.

The rest of the family members welcomed the guests as well with hugs and warmth. Aaliya had also arrived from her sasural in the morning to meet Jabira.

"Assalam alaikum, Ahad bhai," Mahnoor politely said. She was also intimated by him.

He replied back to her and kept his hand on her head as an elder brother. Then she turned towards Zafar. "Salam, bhai."

"How are you?" Zafar initiated a conversation as they all settled in the living room.

"Alhamdulillah! How is work going?" She asked.

"Everything is fine." Zafar replied.

The househelp served tea with breakfast as everyone indulged into different topics to talk about. After eating, Ahad cleared his throat and informed them that they had to leave for the office. Zafar stood up as well and both the men bid their goodbyes.

After Ahad was out of sight, the youngsters' body language relaxed. Gulping down the rest of the food, the four of them went upstairs to hang out.

"What are your plans after graduation?" Mahnoor asked Seher.

"I want to do something in art." Seher said, shyly.

Mahnoor was happily surprised.

"I spoke to Ahad bhai and he convinced Baba."

"That's great, kiddo." Mahnoor ruffled her hair, making Seher pout sadly at the word kiddo.

"Aapi, not you too." Seher whined, making the twins chuckle.

"Noorie aapi, how is your job going?" Sahil asked.

"I quit it." Mahnoor said.

"Why?"

"Because all I had to do in that office was make xerox copies of different files. It had been a year, and there had been absolutely no personal growth." Mahnoor had completed her MBA a year ago. Even though Ahad had offered her a position in the family business, she had denied it. She knew her maternal family was really influential, but she didn't think it was right to take advantage of it.

"So what next?" Shahid asked.

"Let's see. I have not thought about that yet."

__________________

In the night, after the men came back from the office, everyone sat down to eat dinner together. After a hefty meal, the twins decided on a game night.

So green tea was served to the elders as they lazed on the comfortable couches of the living room, while the young ones settled on the floor. The board of ludo was brought out. Ahad, Aaliya and Zafar had refused to play, so they were sitting on the sofa as spectators.

Seher and Shahid chose blue and red as their respective colors, while Mahnoor and Sahil were fighting over the color yellow.

"I said it first." Mahnoor pointed out.

But Sahil was no less. "So what? I'm younger than you, aapi."

Mahnoor made a crying face and turned over her shoulder to look at Zafar. "Bhai, ask him to stop fighting and let me have yellow."

Zafar was in no mood to intervene between their childish fight, but the way Mahnoor was looking at him, with her hopeful eyes, he couldn't deny her. So he sighed and said to Sahil, "You can take green."

"But, bhai.." Sahil whined, but one glare from Zafar had him shut his mouth. Mahnoor grinned as Sahil passed her the yellow tokens.

The game started fine, but it ended in a mess. Manhoor came first and jumped in joy. But when Sahil commented that she only won because she got lucky and if he had had the yellow tokens, it would be him winning, she had gotten mad and another fight broke out between the two. Meanwhile, Seher had tried to cheat by sneakily moving one of Shahid's tokens, but he saw it. That caused another argument. Irritated by the chaos, Seher just flipped the board. That got everyone shut.

The elders shook their heads at the kids' immaturity and padded off to their respective rooms.

Shahid casually flung his arm around Mahnoor's shoulder. "Noorie aapi, leave that idiot." He said about Sahil and took Mahnoor towards the stairs.

Sahil was about to retort back at his twin, but Zafar stopped him and they both left for their respective rooms as well. Aaliya trailed behind them.

Now the only ones left were Seher and Ahad. She picked up all the ludo tokens that were lying around and put them in its box. Then picking up the board, she stood up. Coincidentally, Ahad stood up from the couch at the same time, and they both banged their foreheads.

"Ouch," She muttered while rubbing her forehead. But as soon as she realised how close she was standing to Ahad, she jumped away. They both stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds, before he cleared his throat. "Be ready tomorrow at 10."

She frowned. "Why?"

"I'm taking you somewhere." He said while putting both his hands in pyjama pockets.

"Where?" She was curious.

He didn't bother replying and turned his heels and went away.

She huffed at his attitude and whispered under breath, "Khadoos!"

Putting away the ludo board, she skipped the stairs to reach her room as well. Before hitting the bed, she made sure that the curtains of the balcony door were closed. She absolutely did not want the morning sun to disturb her sleep. Then she put up an alarm for 8 in the morning. If Ahad wanted her ready by 10, that means she had to be ready by 10. Even a minute late, and she'd be in for a huge lecture by him about how tardy she was and didn't respect anybody else's time.

Ugh, he is so strict. Allah help his wife! That was Seher's last thought before she gave into her slumber.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

Short chapter ke liye maafi!

Aaj ka sawaal,

Atif Aslam or Sonu Nigam?

For me, it is Atif.