Ishq

Part 3

It had been a week since Aaina and Sheheryar were avoiding each other.

Aaina was sipping on her morning tea when her phone buzzed, indicating that she was getting a call. She smiled on seeing her mother-in-law's name flashing on the screen.

"Aaina beta, aap tou bhool hi gayi hai hume." Fatma complained the second she heard her daughter-in-law greeting her.

"Mama aisa nahi hai. I had online exams since the past four days. Aaj last paper tha and I was going to come visit you today." Aaina walked towards her closet and picked out a beige embroidered joda, the one that she wanted to wear since such a long time.

"Mujhe yakeen hai ki aapke papers ache hi gaye honge. Acha tou raat ko dinner par aana hai aapne aur mere useless bete ko bhi saath laana hai. Aapki mama aur Jannat ko bhi dawat di hai maine, bohot time se mile hi nahi hai hum." Aaina smiled and replied saying that she was too excited to spend time with them.

Aaina sighed the second she hung up. She wasn't on talking terms with Sheheryar and she didn't know how would she inform him.

She shot him a brief text and got a response almost immediately in which he told her that his father had already informed him about the dinner.

She was about to throw her phone on the bed when it started ringing. She picked it up without seeing who was calling her.

"Raat ko tayyar rehna, I'll come pick you up at sharp 8 pm and please pretend that you're happy. I don't want our parents to be worried about us." Sheheryar said or rather ordered Aaina, which pissed her off.

"Oh really? Well just so that you know, I always have to pretend in front of them because in reality I'm never happy with you." She hung up on him and pulled her hair in frustration.

Sheheryar on the other side rolled his eyes at her dramatic answer. "Pata nahi kaunse pagal kuttay ne kaata tha jab main shaadi karne ke liye raazi hua tha." He mumbled to himself and then turned his attention to his laptop.

•••

Aaina smiled at her reflection as she was satisfied with the way she looked today. Her kohl-rimmed eyes made the emerald color pop out, her cheeks were naturally pinkish and she had chosen a nude lipstick for herself.

She sprayed her favorite perfume and kept her phone in her clutch. She was surprised that Sheheryar had reached home at dot 8 pm and she quickly glanced at her appearance once before rushing downstairs.

Sheheryar looked outside the window for the umpteenth time and then sighed and started scrolling through his phone yet again. It was almost 9 pm and he had asked her to be ready by 8.

He looked outside again and breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Aaina rushing towards the car. He shook his head seeing her running in heels. She opened the door and shut it loudly, making him tighten his grip on the steering wheel.

All of his cars were too precious to him but at this point he couldn't afford to get into an argument with her.

He looked at her and almost smiled at how pretty she looked. He noticed that her lipstick had smudged a bit so he extended his hand and wiped it off with the pad of his thumb.

Aaina inhaled sharply and her cheeks became crimson red as she felt his warm thumb touch the corner of her lips.

"Uh- wou your lipstick had smudged...so I" Sheheryar mumbled trying to reason out but fumbled funnily making her snicker.