Samreen Hammad lived a simple life, in a nice cozy home, with a well paying job and had a happy family. The only thing she regretted was losing her heart to Adam Ali, someone who had broken it in a blink of an eye. Indeed unrequited love hits hard...
My eyes drew to Sohail, as he stood at the door, he raked his hand through his hair and set them back. His lips curved into a small smile. My eyes drew to his losely tied tie, a blue waist coat over his white shirt, and his coat resting on his left arm. I gave a small smile, stepped aside and welcomed him inside.
"Oh my my, is it my son in law in here?" Dad walked to the door and wrapped his arms around Sohail, even though he was two inch smaller than him but couldn't stop squeezing him in a tight hug.
"Dad, you might suffocate him to death." I added. Dad realised what I was saying might be right, he let go of Sohail and smiled.
"My daughter doesn't want you dead at least." Dad was terrible at joking and worst he would do was laugh at them all by himself. I was so embarrassed at what he had said. Mom nudged his arm and forced a smile. I fake smiled at Sohail and wondered how idiot we all were to welcome him like that for the first time.
"My husband.. well forget about him, please come inside. Samreen why don't you give him a tour of our house. In the meantime, I'll make some tea." Mom said, I nodded and walked further, letting him follow after me.
"You guys are cute." Was the first thing he said once we were alone. I chuckled and opened the door to our backyard.
The fresh air and the beautiful garden with flowers and butterfly was a sight one wouldn't want to miss. "This is our garden,"
"It's so beautiful and colourful, let's just stay here and walk around?" He suggested. I wouldn't object to that, giving someone a house tour was boring and awkward. And I was least interested in showing my room, no wonder what mess Mahreen would've made in the meantime.
"Sure," I said as I stepped my bare foot in the grass, we silently started walking back and forth until I initiated conversation. "So does your parents know I'm coming?"
"Oh yeah. I wanted to talk to you about that, Mom didn't take it very well when you left with your parents on our wedding night. All the guests bombarded her with questions and she didn't seem happy about it." Sohail said. The woman should be grateful that I saved them from embarrassment, instead she's being impractical and rude. I forced a smile and flashed at Sohail.
"I know it's already hard for you but please don't mock her back just listen to her this once, I'm sure she will love you once she gets to know you." Sohail was being sweet but I was worried, I should've been on her good list at least on my first few days.
"I'll apologise to her." I offered.
"You don't have to. I've told her not to bother you about it. I'm just telling you incase she does." He clarified. And them there was a dead silence between us thankfully Mom called for us.
"Samreen, Sohail. Where are you guys? The tea is getting cold." Mom called, we both walked inside and sat on the couches. I didn't sit close to him, I didn't want to. I was worried about what he had told me and didn't want to go back anymore. Or may be I was being to sensitive?
"So Sohail, how is work?" Dad initiated conversation, I looked down at the table where Mom had placed biscuits, plain cake and tea.
"It's great, Uncle but it can be tiring sometimes..." he rambled on and on and I couldn't stop thinking about what to say to Aunty Laila.
Finally it was time to leave, after shedding of some tears and hugging everyone goodbye, I silently got inside the car. Ahmed put my luggage in the trunk of the car and waved us goodbye. Sohail got inside, sat on the driving seat and started the engine.
I rolled the window down and waved at them. "I'll come visit. Allah Hafiz." They gave there blessings until Sohail drove away, I rolled the window back up and put my head on the chair.
The drive was silent until Sohail spoke. "You are quiet, is it because of what I said before?" He asked, not that he needed to ask that it was pretty much clear.
"No, no I'm fine." I lied and closed my eyes so he would question me anymore.
To my surprise it worked, the rest of the drive was silent and perhaps I fell asleep. "Samreen, we are here. Wake up." I woke up, rubbed my eyes and sighed. Shit! Now I needed to brush my teeth. Why did I fall asleep? My mouth stinks and I must've a bad breath now.
"Here." Sohail handed me a fresh up and I couldn't suppress the smile that crawled up my face. "I keep it with myself before I go off to the meetings." Sohail added. I nodded and chewed the chewing gum for five minutes, after spitting it away we both walked out and rung the door bell.
Within seconds the door opened and Aunty Laila welcomed us inside their house. "Asalamualaikum, finally our little princess is here." She said, I didn't it if it was a mock or she called me princess out of love. I didn't know what to do so I just wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her in a hug, eventually she hugged back and patted my back. "I'm glad you are back." She added.
"So am I," I said. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience I have caused you." I added. She smiled at Sohail and then the small smile landed on me.
"MashaAllah, MashaAllah.. my daughter in law is here." Uncle Ghana walked out of somewhere and wrapped me in a hug. I hugged back and flashed a smile at him.
"I'll ask, Bilal to bring her luggage in my room." Sohail dismissed himself.
"I'll serve dinner in half an hour, let me show you your bedroom till then." Aunty Laila took me upstairs and opened the second door to right after passing through the huge TV lounge. She gently opened the door to Sohail's bedroom and helped me inside after turning on the bedrooms light.
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
My jaw dropped down at the beautiful decor in front of me. This room was beautiful, beyond beautiful. On my left was the door to bathroom, two steps ahead on the left wall was the huge bed with wooden side tables, on Sohail's side of the bed was a side table and on my side of the table was a couch and foot rest. There was a bench in front of the bed, perfect for the TV view. The room was well carpeted and everything seemed perfect.
"It's beautiful." I muttered.
Aunty Laila smiled at me. "I know, Rania re-decorated it." I forced a smile back not having the same feeling for this room anymore.
