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"Chaudvin ka chand ho, ya aftab ho,
Jo bhi ho tum khuda ki kasam, lajwab ho."
...
"Hothon pe khelti hain tabassum ki bijliyan..." He smiled looking away as if he remembered some dear old memory.
An Old Memory
"Allah, what is wrong with Aapi? Why is she blushing? As if she doesn't know
Anwar...ahmm...jeeju. 'Jeeju'. Kitna ajeeb lag raha hain? 'Jeeju'. Kal ke Anwar bhaijaan aaj se mere jeeju?" Zoya covered her mouth to stifle a giggle that her thoughts had induced. Dilshaad shushed her as she adjusted dupatta covering Zeenat's head and face. "Love marriage kar rahi hain. Jeeju ko bachpan se jaanti hain. Dono kitna time to saath bitate hain. Kaam bhi saath karte hain. Aapi business suit pehan ke board room hila deti hain aur ab sharma rahi hain. There...there she smiles and now it is gone." Zoya wondered looking at her Aapi's face through her sheer dupatta. "Jo bhi ho. Maashallah, meri aapi se pyaari dulhan aur koi nahi hongi." She happily thought craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the groom's face.
"Hmph...ye sehra...pata hi nahi chalta ke jeeju sharma rahe hain ki nahi?" Disappointed by not able to see Anwar's face, she moved her gaze and found that Asad was looking at her with questioning eyes. She made an action of pulling both of her cheeks and, the fresh graduate out of school of architecture who was now working on his first job, went red and looked away. Zoya had to cover her mouth to stop her from laughing loud both by the sight of the red-faced man before her and the memory of the auntie who had come to Bhopal after many years for the wedding and who on meeting Asad had pulled his cheeks just like old times. Her laughter stopped, when she saw that Qazi Sahib had arrived. Nikaah ceremony started.
"Anwar Ahmed Khan, kya aapko Zeenat Gafoor Farooqui se nikaah qubool hain?"
Her Aapi looked up and looked straight ahead. She didn't seem shy now.
"Qubool hain."
And, her eyes were lowered again, but she was smiling.
"Zeenat Gafoor Farqooqui, kya aapko Anwar Ahmed Khan se nikaah qubool hain?"
"Qubool hain." She didn't look up while saying those words, but once done saying them she had a radiant smile on her face.
"Yay...qubool hain." Zoya shouted and hugged her Aapi tight. Her father and Anwar's father were hugging and wishing each other. Dilshaad and Anwar's mother were doing the same. Guests were murmuring qubool hain' to let everyone present know that the bride and the groom had accepted each other as husband and wife. "Mubarak ho. Nikaah qubool hain." Zoya was wishing anyone and everyone, till while walking backwards after wishing a relative she crashed into something rather someone.
"Zoyaaa," Asad's exasperated voice was heard from behind her. He was holding her arms from behind to stop her from falling.
"Kya hain?" He asked when she had turned around to face him.
"Qubool hain." She simply said. His annoyed face was replaced by a pleasant one as he looked at his brother and sister-in-law. When he looked at her, he saw that she was also looking at the newlyweds, but something strange was happening. She was stealing glances at them and then looking away and it seemed she was not able to decide whether to smile or not because her smiles seemed fleeting. He didn't notice that her cheeks had colour. She just walked away.
"Ise kya ho gaya?" Asad looked at her with furrowed brows.
He found that the strange phenomenon lasted for a while. Anwar and Zeenat were seated together now and guests were wishing them. Zoya was with her sister. She smiled wide while greeting a guest or talking with her sister and brother-in-law and suddenly she would get a shy smile on her face. It lasted till it was time for photographs. She was fine later; back to her usual self chirpy self, giving a dimpled smile. What happened to her in that half an hour was a mystery and he remembered it well because it was a mystery.
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Nope, she wasn't feeling shy because of Asad's presence. Not at all. He had absolutely no role to play. She was surprised by how 'Qubool hain' had rolled off her tongue and she had liked it. That's it!
And, Asad has not figured it out till date.
And, we have second thread.
Thank you.
😊
p.s. This is a memory of past and it is not part of the flow of the story. Next update of the story will be sometime next week.
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