She grabbed the door handle leading into the living room but paused to look back at Ray...
COVER STORY
“Life after engagement is a mystery,” Hina said. “Isn’t that the perfect way to look at it,” Ray said. “You don’t know what it is, but you get to discover it.”
“There’s nothing to discover,” Hina said. She grabbed the door handle leading into the living room but paused to look back at Ray. “Don’t follow me in here,” she said. “My friends are here.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t listen in on your conversations,” Ray said. “They are sure to fill your head with all manner of thoughts about the mysteries of being engaged.”
“Be quiet,” Hina said as she slipped into the living room.
“We could hear you talking,” was the first thing Gohar said.
“Naturally,” was all Hina said.
“What happens after an engagement?” Amani was ready to dive into the subject. “It’s a new time for a new love and new adventures.” She smiled. “Moeed was especially romantic when I called him up in a bad mood and we went for an ice cream drive.”
“I know about those drives,” Hina said. “Someone told me it was all over Snapchat.” The someone was Ray, but Hina wasn’t about to bring him into the conversation.
“It doesn’t matter where it’s shared,” Amani said. “Everyone has their stories. Gohar, have you forgotten your story about getting to serve ice cream to the cousin group and the thrilling moment you gave Jamil his share?” Jamil was Gohar’s fiancé, and Amani never let her forget that he was her cousin.
Gohar blushed and said, “Amani, you do exaggerate things. I just handed him a bowl.”
“Don’t skip the part where it was the most thrilling moment in the world,” Amani said, and Gohar’s blush deepened.
“OK, so, ice cream dates are one thing that people do after engagements,” Hina said. “What else?”
“Do you want a list?” Gohar asked.
“No, just a general idea. I have no idea what to expect,” Hina said. Amani and Gohar squealed and grabbed Hina’s hands.
“You have no idea how much fun it is,” Amani said. “It’s the beginning of your courtship. He will declare himself to be everything you want him to be and more. Oh, it’s so much fun.”
“There’s so much to look forward to,” Gohar said. “You have to be on the lookout to really see him; otherwise, you’ll take too long to notice and by then other people are already looking at both of you, so you can’t look.”
Both friends squeezed Hina’s hands in their own excitement, and Hina tried to squeeze back, but she didn’t really have her heart in it.
***
Nothing happened. Hina herself huffed and puffed to herself and called it “one big nothing”, she talked Ray’s ear off asking why guys were so useless, and she remained careful to maintain appearances in front of her friends who jokingly “awaited news”, as Amani put it. No signs of any sort of mention of Sameer in the household emerged. Hina felt that she could not ask her mother straight out about Sameer, but then Ammi never brought up the topic, leaving Hina feeling rather hopeless. Abbu, removed from the mainstream family comings and goings either behind the newspaper or in front of the TV, was the last person she would ever consider to attempt to get news of Sameer.
As usual, Hina found herself knocking on a familiar door, entering the same old room with the same old flickering screen in front of which sat the same old Ray, fist bumping his large hand and settling into a seat next to him.
“What are we doing today, ‘why are men unreliable’ or ‘why does nothing ever happen even when life events happen to me’?” Ray asked with the same easy smile.
“I’ll take number two, please and thanks,” Hina said, unsmiling. Ray punched her on the shoulder.
“Wake up, Hina!” he said. “Life is still here and still worth living, even if the magic cell phone number exchange never happened.”
“You know about that?” Hina asked.
“The rate at which you three go in the living room, I suppose even Ammi knows about your little names for things,” Ray said.
“I don’t think Ammi realises anything about any of this,” Hina said. “I’m surprised how even she herself got married.”
Ray laughed. “You must know how she got married.” Hina stared at him with eyes wide open. Ray grinned and said, “The old-fashioned way. Introduced on the wedding day.”
“Ugh!” Hina shuddered. “Is that why nothing is happening?”
“I’ll put it like this,” Ray said. “Nothing unexpected is happening, and nothing that is not happening is being missed.”
“Huh!” Hina crossed her arms. “On Ammi and Abbu’s part, more like! On my part, things that are expected are not happening, and they are being missed.”
“You only expect them because your friends told you so many stories,” Ray said. Hina sent him a good kick in the shin. Ray dodged and grabbed Hina by the arm. “You have to accept that your engagement is not going to be like theirs.”
“How am I going to survive? I will have nothing to tell them about,” Hina said, tears leaking from her eyelids.
“Is it important what you tell them? Tell them anything,” Ray said.
“Anything?” Hina asked, in the middle of wiping a tear.
“Anything,” Ray said.
Hina paused, considering it. “I could tell them that he got enlisted in the army and sends me letters and I could fake the letters?”
“You need to put on the brakes a little,” Ray said.
“I could tell them he calls me every night in secret?” Hina said.
Ray paused, considering it. “How about, instead of lying about it, you actually try to get ahold of his cell phone number?”
To be continued...
