“That’s should not make you unhappy! It is exciting to have your family around you when you are all dolled up on your special day!” Gohar said....
STORY
“Y” You’re awfully quiet,” Gohar said. Hina, Amani and Gohar were out doing some emergency pre-wedding shopping.
“I’m just thinking,” Hina said.
“Thinking about having fun at the wedding, hopefully,” Amani added.
“Fun? Since when does anyone have fun at their wedding?” Hina asked.
Gohar and Amani looked at each other.
“Of course, you’ll be nervous,” Gohar said.
“You’ll be worried about your bridal makeup,” Amani said.
“That’s should not make you unhappy! It is exciting to have your family around you when you are all dolled up on your special day!” Gohar said.
“You’re going to look the best you’ve ever looked in your life,” Amani said. “It’s a day to celebrate yourself!”
Hina frowned. “How do you get comfortable with your choice of who you’re about to marry?”
Gohar suddenly looked very worried. Amani raised her eyebrows. “You’re still hung up over that?” Amani asked. “This is what happens when you don’t know your fiancé before you marry him. Now, look at me for example—”
“We know, we know,” Hina said, rolling her eyes.
Amani continued as if she had not been interrupted. “I already knew Moeed before I became interested in him romantically. When we got engaged, I made sure to check with him everything I wanted to check, then I was satisfied. Hina, you just haven’t checked enough with Sameer. I don’t know why your mother arranged your wedding so soon, but you need more time.”
“Tell me something I don’t know!” Hina said. It was Amani’s turn to roll her eyes. She walked quickly ahead of Gohar and Hina and busied herself in checking out some fabrics in the market.
Gohar put her arm on Hina’s shoulder. “Remember what Ray said about you having the option to back out of this?” Gohar asked.
“Ray told you about that?” Hina asked.
“Yes,” Gohar said. “You just have to let me or him know and we’ll take you out of this situation, OK?”
“I know,” Hina said. “It still doesn’t give me what I want.”
“Maybe you don’t know what you want?” Gohar asked.
“I am absolutely clear,” Hina said.
The first day of the wedding celebrations – ubtan - arrived with Hina decked out in pretty yellows. Her cousins sang wedding songs and clapped to the beat, but Hina just sat on the stage and stared off into the distance, occasionally being interrupted by Amani or Gohar as they pointed something out to her. In the middle of the dholki, when Hina stepped out of the main room for a minute, Gohar immediately grabbed hold of her and dragged her into a quiet corner.
“What’s wrong with you?” Gohar asked, more than a little annoyed.
“Is anything supposed to be right with me? Let me go,” Hina said.
“You won’t listen to Ray, but you need to listen to me,” Gohar said, yanking Hina’s arm. “It won’t do to sit there absent-minded on your own wedding celebrations. You need to be all in or all out, and right now you are neither.”
Hina pulled her arm away from Gohar and stared at her. “I’m doing what I think is right. Both of you need to stop bothering me.”
“We care about you,” Gohar said, tears coming to her eyes.
“What’s going on in here?” Amani flipped the light on. “You two mumbling among yourselves again? Hina, you need to get back out there. It’s your event, after all.”
“I’m just worried about Hina,” Gohar said.
“Leave Hina’s life to her,” Amani said. “If she’s so sure about what she’s doing, she certainly has a plan in her mind.” She gave Hina a harsh look. “Even though she acts like she’s hypnotised when she’s in the limelight, people generally don’t take the bride being mentally out of it as a bad sign. That’s how she can get away with whatever she’s up to.” She flipped her hair, turned on her heel and left the two of them.
“Go ahead,” Gohar said in a small voice. “I’ll join you in a little bit.” She turned her face to the wall.
“I can’t leave you here crying all by yourself,” Hina said.
“That’s why I’m here.” Ray walked up to them out of nowhere. “Hina, if you want to leave quietly, you can do that and I can make an excuse for you. Otherwise, go back and sit with everyone.”
Hina looked at them, Ray with his arms around Gohar as she cried. She took a deep breath and stepped back into the show.
The mehndi function was no different. Everyone clapped and danced. Gohar worried. Amani ignored. At one point, Amani as the official bearer of Hina’s cell phone during her wedding events, showed her the phone screen. A text from Ray, currently on the other side of the hall partition, read, “Let me know if you want a ride out of here.”
“How can he write that when he’s been dancing his legs off is beyond my understanding,” Amani said, turning the screen off.
“He’s just being supportive,” Gohar said, shooting Amani a glare.
Hina just smiled. It was the first time, amidst the cheer and laughter of the evening, that she had smiled.
Hina was tired to the bone after the event was over. She went to her room, kicked off her heels and fell into her bed. Immediately, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in,” Hina said.
Ray came in. Hina looked up from where she had collapsed in her bed in full mehndi dress and laughed.
“Are you serious about that ride that you keep offering me?” Hina asked.
“Absolutely,” Ray said.
“Even though today was the first big event of the wedding? After celebrating that together with all our family and friends, you’d take me out of here if I want to?” Hina asked.
“It really is the last moment to do that,” Ray said. “Tomorrow is the barat. Tomorrow you’re going to get married if you decide to go ahead with this.”
“I know,” Hina said.
“What’s your answer, then?” Ray asked. “Do you want to go to the barat tomorrow or not?”
Hina stretched the aches of the day out of her arms and legs and rolled over. “Let me see…”
To be continued…
