“Tell your mother to make room for me at the table,” Gohar said. “I’m coming over.” She cut the call...
COVER STORY
“Hina,” Gohar’s soothing and gentle voice came from the phone in Hina’s hand. “Tell me what’s wrong. Are you still mad at Amani?” Hina’s sobs were the only reply.
“I’m coming over,” Gohar said.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Hina managed to say through her tears. “It’s almost fast-breaking time.”
“Tell your mother to make room for me at the table,” Gohar said. “I’m coming over.” She cut the call.
The table was laden with food, ready for them to break their fast as soon as the call for prayer was sounded. The family sat at their usual places at the table. Ray and Hina were models of propriety in the presence of their parents. They both knew that any behaviour regarded as disrespectful by their parents would not be tolerated. When precisely ten seconds were left in the countdown to fast-breaking time on the TV, Gohar walked into the dining room, escorted by the maid who had let her into the house.
The parents turned to stare at her. Hina raised her hands to her mouth to stop herself from reacting; she had not expected Gohar to actually come. It was Ray who got up and offered a plate to Gohar. The parental disapproval was noticeable enough for Hina to take Gohar with her plate of food into the drawing room.
“Gohar, you’re an idiot,” Hina said, once their plates were clear of food.
Gohar smiled. “I’ll gladly be an idiot if it means that you will talk to me. What’s the matter?”
“I would tell you, but it’s a secret,” Hina replied.
“Oh, secrets, I love secrets.” Gohar leaned closer to Hina. “Tell me, tell me.”
“Don’t tell anyone, but…” Hina looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was within earshot. “I don’t know how to tell you.”
“Is it that kind of secret?” Gohar said. “Should we go into your room?”
Hina nodded, and quickly ushered Gohar into her room, closing the door behind her.
“Oh!” Gohar suddenly stopped and put her hands to her mouth. “Hina! There can only be one secret that’s making you so … secretive! You’re … you’re ….” Gohar stared at Hina without speaking further.
“I’m getting married,” Hina said without a single change of facial expression.
“But, Hina,” Gohar lowered her hands from her mouth and extended them in Hina’s direction. “why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Actually, I’m not supposed to know that myself,” Hina explained. “My parents are going to tell me the day they come with the ring.”
Gohar’s mouth fell open. “Who is he?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea and I’m not interested in knowing,” Hina said.
“But ... Hina,” Gohar gave Hina a look. “how can you say that? You’re going to spend the rest of your life with him.”
Hina glared at Gohar. “Don’t you remind me about that!”
Gohar let out a giggle. “Hina, you’re being funny.”
There was a knock on the door, then Ray opened it and poked his head into the room. “Hina, Amani’s on the phone.” He held out his phone to Hina.
“How does she have your number?!” Hina stared at Ray.
“I would be more surprised if she didn’t have Ray’s number,” Gohar said, reaching out for the phone.
“Whatever you do, don’t tell-” Hina had only begun to whisper, when Gohar put the phone to her ear and blurted out, “What do you know, Hina’s getting married, too!”
***
“Oh!” Gohar suddenly stopped and put her hands to her mouth. “Hina! There can only be one secret that’s making you so … secretive! You’re …you’re ….” Gohar stared at Hina without speaking further.
“You’re saying WHAT?” Hina pounded on the arm of the sofa.
“You heard me.” Ray said, not looking up from the screen, where the scene from his videogame glowed in the darkness of the room. “Your engagement is on Eid ul Adha, not Eid ul Fitr.”
“You mean to tell me,” Hina said, grabbing a sofa cushion, “that instead of the upcoming Eid, which is a couple of weeks away, my secret engagement is actually more than two months away, at the time of the next Eid day?”
“Yes,” Ray said. “It’s not a secret, though. You’re the only one who doesn’t know.”
The cushion dropped from Hina’s hands. “You mean …?”
“Ammi and Abbu are going to invite friends and family to the event, aren’t they?” Ray replied, smashing the buttons on his videogame controller. “So they went ahead and told the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to get some fancy clothes made for the occasion, but not to mention it to you.”
Hina slid limply onto the sofa and from the sofa onto the cushion on the floor. “What exactly do Ammi and Abbu think I will do if they tell me beforehand?”
“I can’t say, but I think they consider it unladylike for a girl to know too far in advance that she’s getting engaged,” Ray said.
“Unladylike?” Hina sat up straight. “It’s unladylike to sit with your legs all over the place, it’s unladylike to slurp your soup, it’s unladylike to talk back to your elders, but this? They must have something else on their mind.”
“Like what?” Ray paused the game to look at Hina.
“Maybe …” Hina looked down at her hands clasped in her lap. “maybe they think I’ll run away.”
Her statement was met with a gale of laughter that smacked into her eardrums with full force. Ray had tumbled onto the floor in his wild amusement at what she had said.
“What’s so funny?” Hina demanded.
“You? Run away? You don’t even walk to the corner store for a soft drink,” Ray said. “Where on earth would you run away to?”
“Gohar’s,” Hina said.
“Yeah, and she would keep you in the henhouse?” Ray raised his eyebrows at her. “No room! Plus, her parents would never allow it.”
“Amani’s …” Hina frowned.
“You know that I know how it is with Amani,” Ray said. “Nobody is allowed on her personal turf apart from scheduled meeting times, even though her parents wouldn’t care if she had the whole college over.” He took a good look at his sister’s defeated expression. “Anyway, all this talk of running away is purely hypothetical, so it doesn’t matter that you have practically nowhere to run off to.” He leaned towards Hina. “Right?”
“Right,” Hina said. “Back to the topic. I have how much time left?”
“About six, seven weeks,” Ray said. Hina looked thoughtful.
To be continued...
