Chapter 1
"Heer! Get up!" shouts my aunt, Daljeet, loudly in my ears. I turn my head towards the other side of my bed, ruffling my pillow on my face. DJ chachi, slams her fist to her head. "Uff, ye ladki bhi na!" she says. Chachi shakes me again. "Heer, get up! Some ladke wale are coming to see Zahra today, and I want you to be ready in time." she says, all in one breath.
"What Chachi, can't I sleep?" I ask, get sitting on my bed, ruffling my eyes. I roll my hands on my eyes as I yawn. I strech my arms.
"No you can't Heer. I told you already. Some ladke wale are coming to see Zahra for wedding preparations and I want you to clean the house up and cook some good food." she says in a voice that looked like she was ordering me to obey her and if I didn't then it would be the worst day of my life. "Now hurry up and get ready. It's 11am already and they are coming at 2pm. Aur haan, they will be having lunch here aswell." That's all she says and then she leaves.
After she leaves, I stay on my bed, thinking about the guy that would be coming to see Zahra. I hope he is a good human being. I then smile thinking about my marriage and when my dream will come true but that was no where close to come. I didn't have any parents, or even anyone living close enough to be called 'my own.' I only had my Chacha, Chachi and my elder cousin Zahra but it was not the same feeling as having someone really close to you. I then smile, trying to hide my pain and get up to get ready.
I come back out of the washroom in 15 minutes. I come out wearing a light pink Anarkali Indian attire, that had no beads, no nothing. Just a simple pink dress. I then comb my hair and put on some lipgloss and a pair of pink earings. After I am done, I go straight to the kitchen to grab myself a glass of orange juice with a muffins. I then sit on the kitchen table and start to nibble on my muffin and drink my orange juice. As I am doing so, my thoughts keep racing back to the guy that would be coming to see Zahra. I had been to weddings before but that was a whole different experience. Here, it was all happening in my own house and to my own cousin. And I knew, it was something totally different to see such weddings happening from far away then having it all happen in our own house. As for the guy, the only thing I had heard was he was the chairman of Juneja Industries. I know I know, things may not work out between that guy and Zahra, but nothing is wrong in assuming, plus all I knew was they were made for each other. Zahra loved business and he was a business man himself, so they are meant to be together.
"Made for each other..." I mutter. I knew that him and Zahra were made for each other but this is just a assumption. If he had come to see me, I don't know about him, I would have said 'No'. It's not that anything is wrong with him but the word Business just makes me run away. It is like, him and I would never be a perfect pair. Him being all of a businessman type and me, being a girl to live in my own fantasy world. How would me and him ever be 'Made-for-each-other'. Just thinking about it made me feel wierd.
"Heer, tu bhi na." I say, giving myself a light pat on the head.
I take my dishes from the table and put them in the sink. I then get hard to work with cooking up some appetizers, lunch and dessert. After I am done with my cooking, I smile at the food, cooked my the great chef aka Ms. Heer Mann and go and knock on Zahra's door.
"Hello? Zahra?" I say, knocking on the door and then opening it and peeking inside.
"Zahra?" I say again as I enter her room, looking around for her. And there, I finally see her, standing at her closet. I roll my eyes as I walk towards her.
"Zahra!" I say, a little louder this time.
Zahra turns around to look at me. "Heer! Thank God you are here! Now help me. What should I wear today?" she asks showing me her wardrobe that was full of everything else but Indian attire. I roll my eyes, and she looks at me in a "What-is-wrong-manner".
"Zahra, the groom and his family is coming to meet you. So today, all this jeans will not work. You need something Indian." I say, trying to make her finally realize that she had picked the wrong clothes.
"Now what shall I do?" she asks, looking sad.
I bite my lip, trying to think of something. "Hmm, acha, wait a second." I walk over to Zahra's closet with all her bedsheets and everything and take out 2 Pillow cases that had a ancient Indian design on them, a bedsheet that had a pink flower on it. I then get hard to work cutting the pillow cases and bedsheets out to make the final product of a Fashionable saari. Zahra is in a complete 'awe' of the saari and looks at me with wide eyes while I simply smile at her.
"Heer, this is...A.M.A.Z.I.N.G" she finally manages to say.
"Thank you." I reply.
"How did you manage to learn all this?" she says.
"Just a little passion." I simply reply. "Now go get ready."
I smile and leave.
~End of Ch 1~
Edited by *Shifali* - 16 years ago
