“All right,” Hina said. “My turn to ask the question related to your field of work. What’s your favourite work of architecture?”
COVER STORY
“You called me again,” Sameer said.
“Yes, that’s what happens when I want to talk to you,” Hina said.
“I mean, I wanted to be the one to call you this time,” Sameer said.
“Too late,” Hina said. “I beat you to it.”
“Ah, well, there’s always next time,” Sameer said.
“We’ll see about that.” Hina grinned.
“What do you want to talk about?” Sameer asked.
“Why don’t you choose today,” Hina said.
“All right,” Sameer said. “As an English Literature major, what’s your favourite story?”
“You mean, out of the ones we studied in our programme?” Hina asked.
“Yeah, why not,” Sameer said.
“Hmm.” Hina paused to think. “I’d have to say, out of the Shakespearean plays we studied, I found A Midsummer Night’s Dream the most intriguing.”
“How come?” Sameer asked. “What made it special?”
“Have you read it before?” Hina asked.
“No, I haven’t read much literature, actually,” Sameer said. “Apart from what we read at school.”
“Let me tell you about this story, then,” Hina said. “What I like about it is the fact that there are two couples who like each other, and there’s the plot point of a love potion to set them both up with each other. Only, they get paired with the wrong person through the love potion, so the couple matchup is all mixed up. It gets fixed in the end.”
“You’re so technical in the way you talk about it,” Sameer said.
“It’s work for me, of course it’s going to be technical,” Hina said. “I’m not done talking about it yet. You asked me what made it special. What makes it special is the love potion. If you could take a love potion to immediately fall completely in love with someone, would you take it? It would make it so much easier to navigate the world of love. It would remove so many hurdles that couples face. Don’t you think?”
“I will disagree with you on this, actually,” Sameer said.
“Why, though?” Hina asked. “You’re saying if you could take a love potion to fall instantly in love, you wouldn’t?”
“I wouldn’t,” Sameer replied. “Loving someone is something that takes time and effort. It develops and matures over time. Taking a love potion would be like arriving at a destination but forgetting the journey.” He paused. “I’d rather have the journey,” he added.
“All right,” Hina said. “My turn to ask the question related to your field of work. What’s your favourite work of architecture?”
“That’s easy,” Sameer said. “I’ve always admired the gardens by the bay in Singapore.”
“Gardens?” Hina asked. “How do gardens count as architecture?”
“You haven’t seen it, then,” Sameer said. “The gardens by the bay combine architecture with nature in a way that’s really impressive. Even though I’m an architect, I love nature, so combining the two is the best look of all.”
“I never thought that nature can count as an example of good architecture,” Hina said. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Don’t take my word for it,” Sameer said. “Google it right now and tell me what you see.”
Hina took a minute to run a google search on her phone. “This is ... really different,” she said. “They used a lot of very interesting shapes.”
“It looks brilliant, right?” Sameer asked.
“It’s not my field, so I don’t know how brilliant it is,” Hina replied.
“You can take my word for it now,” Sameer said. “It is.”
“All right,” Hina said. “I will.”
As they came close to wrapping up their call, Sameer asked, “When do I get to talk to you again?”
“We decided you were going to be the one to call me this time,” Hina said.
“I remember,” Sameer said. “So, I can call you anytime I like?”
“Sure,” Hina said without thinking about it. When the call ended, Ray gave her a significant look.
“What is it?” Hina asked.
“You’ve got guts, telling him he can call anytime, when you know Ammi and Abbu don’t know that you two talk on the phone like this,” Ray said.
“I’ll deal with it when the time comes,” Hina said. “It’s no big deal.”
********
“I’m so glad both of you are here for me today,” Gohar said to Hina and Amani as the three of them walked along the middle street of the clothes market.
“It’s just a shopping trip,” Amani said. “Of course, we were going to come along with you. We weren’t going to let you make bad choices by yourself. I’ll be your personal stylist. I’ll protect you from outdated fashions and overpriced mistakes.”
“It’s going to be so much fun doing your wedding shopping,” Hina said. “Where do you want to start first?”
“Let’s start with shoes,” Gohar said. “I don’t know how to look for a bridal shoe.”
“We’ll fix that soon,” Amani said, steering Gohar into the nearest shoe shop.
Five shoe shops later, Hina groaned at the top of her voice. “How many stores does it take to find some heels?”
“They have to be perfect,” Amani said.
“I liked that one in the second store,” Gohar said in a small voice.
“I told you, that one is too standard,” Amani said. “We need to get you something special. Let’s go to the boutique shoe store across the street.”
“That will probably be too pricey,” Gohar said.
Amani turned around and looked her square in the eyes. “You’re getting bridal heels. They are supposed to be some of the priciest shoes you’ll ever get! Now follow me!” She dragged Gohar and Hina to the boutique shoe store. Gohar’s face lit up as she looked at the shoes on display. “These are really pretty shoes,” she said. “Amani, there aren’t any price tags.”
“You have to ask for the price here,” Amani said.
“Oh.” Gohar’s face fell. “That’s going to be absurdly expensive.”
“Let’s just choose something first,” Amani said.
Gohar chose some heels but her face remained darkened. “These will be fine,” she said.
“These are lovely!” Amani said brightly. “Let’s get these.” They paid for the shoes and left.
Later, while having post-shopping sandwiches at a nearby restaurant, Hina said to Gohar, “How excited are you for your wedding?”
Gohar considered the question before replying. “I’m excited for the wedding preparations,” she said. “It’s fun to go shopping and stuff like that.”
“What about the wedding, though?” Hina asked.
“I don’t know,” Gohar said. “So much is going on that I can’t really say that I have many feelings about the wedding itself. It’s just going to be a day that happens when it happens.” She shifted in her seat. “I just wish that it happens the way I want it to happen,” she said, frowning slightly.
“What do you want to happen?” Hina asked.
Amani interrupted. “Gohar, you’re going to be perfectly fine,” she said. “You’re just getting some pre-wedding jitters, that’s all.”
Gohar nodded slowly. “I know...”
“You have nothing to worry about,” Amani said, “apart from accidentally calling Jamil ‘brother’ after you’re married, considering you’ve grown up together as cousins.”
“Will you stop bringing that up,” Gohar said. “We’ve been engaged some time now. I haven’t called him ‘bhai’ since.”
After their outing concluded, Hina was all set to spend a routine evening by herself when she received a call on her phone. She picked it up.
It was Gohar. Crying. “Hina,” she said. “I need your help.”
To be continued...
