Leilah Usman awaits an acceptance from a university abroad so she can leave the country she never loved when she stumbles upon an ancient diary. Through the eyes of Mahrosh Irfan, she finds herself in a world so completely different from hers.
One w...
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Embroidery did not require a lot of talent or effort, her mother had always said. Only patient hands and eyes that could follow the swift needle as it went in and out of the cloth, slowly forming a beautiful pattern.
But Mahrosh did not have patient hands and her eyes swayed to the open door of her father's study a little too often for her to follow the needle till it pricked her fingers for the fourth time and she let out a low hiss, pulling her hands back and wrapping her dupatta around her finger.
"I would have encouraged you to keep on learning embroidery, Mahrosh," Dadi spoke from her charpai, "If I had the slightest doubt in the fact that you have no passion or mind of learning it."
Mahrosh glanced her way sheepishly. "I've almost gotten the hang of it, don't you think?"
"Far from it, dear. But do tell me, what made you pick up the needle and thread after months of leaving it isolated?"
Mahrosh frowned, before she noted Dadi's suggestive glance towards her father's study from where the voices of two men remained low but audible. The glint in Dadi's eyes did not go unnoticed either and Mahrosh' eyes widened, her face flaming up as if it were the furnace. "That's not it, Dadi!"
Dadi grinned, her voice lowering to a whisper. "Don't worry, it's not like I am going to tell anyone else. I was once a young woman like you too so I know how it feels to want to impress your man —"
Your man! Mahrosh wanted to cry at how far from the mark her grandmother was. "Dadi you've taken it all wrong! Astaghfirullah. Such a thought did not even cross my mind. Pakka Promise."
Dadi frowned, sitting up straight and crossing her arms. "Why are you embroidering, then?"
"Because Ammi lectured me today!"
Dadi blinked, before her eyes narrowed and she gave up, settling back on her charpai. "Alright, alright, no need to get so defensive. You look like I suggested something completely preposterous. I was approving of it, you know? Not —"
"Dadi!" Mahrosh buried her crimson face in the pillow, hearing her grandmother's laughter echo in the courtyard.
"Alright, alright, no more teasing," Dadi promised, and Mahrosh finally raised her head, sniffing.
"Promise?"
Dadi blinked before a sly smile crept to her lips. "Can I just say one more thing? It'll be only one."
"Dadi!"
"Only one small little comment —"
"Mahrosh."
The call from Abbu's study startled her and Mahrosh' shoulders perked up. She shared looks with Dadi before she raised the dupatta to her head and walked over to the study door, peeking inside and keeping her bare feet hidden behind the door. "Jee*, Abbu?"
