"You're going to be my present and my future. You're going to hold all my babies because I'm going to be the lucky man to marry you. You're going to love me again, Maryam Khan. Slowly and then all together. And I will watch you as you do."
Imran and...
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"Arbaaz wants to click pictures of the three of us outside," Talha murmurs into my ear in a voice so low I could barely make out the words.
"Tell him to stay away," I whisper, nodding my head with a smile at a random Uncle who stood a couple of feet away from me.
"Arey, yaaro!" He groans, falling back on the cushioned chair beside me on the stage. "You're acting as if what happened yesterday was a real feud between you two."
"Maryam thinks it's true. And I'm in no hurry to pop that bubble of hers."
And that was the truth. I am ready to pick up thousand more fake fights if it meant Maryam telling me 'I'm yours' and holding my face between her tiny warm palms. Her brows puckered with that look in her big globs of brown eyes.
Talha lets out another groan. "Can't we take a single group photo at your wedding reception?"
"Ye baat kal apna muh kholne se pehle yaad karna tha." I say sarcastically. "Wo to shukar manao Arbaaz sahi time pe entry mara. Otherwise, humare begum ye sochte the ki uska shohar ek number ka snitch hai, jo apne good-for-nothing doston ke saamne uski burai karta, wo bhi nikah se pehle."
(Should have thought about it yesterday before opening that mouth of yours. Be grateful Arbaaz came at the right moment and saved the day. Otherwise, my wife would think I am a big snitch who tells things about her to his good-for-nothing friends. And that too, before getting married.)
"So?!" Talha exclaims. "It's human nature. Baat karte log man halka karne ke liyea. You are accusing us as though Maryam doesn't talk to her friends about you."
"Why don't you go ask your sister." I sass. "She calls herself Maryam's best friend, yet she didn't know who I was until last week."
"Oh, yeah! Isi liyea Raees muh phulake baithi hui hai. Right." He says, nodding to himself.
"Seekh isse, how to keep your mouth shut." I add.
"Bus! Yeich baaki tha. Ek hafta hua nikah hoke, kal rukhsati hui, aur aaj valima. Itne time me bangaya tu biwi ka ghulam."
"Ghulam ki baat nahi hai. Apna muh band rakhne ki baat hai." I turn to my right when I feel a tug on the sleeve of my suit jacket and smile at Maryam. "Haan, baby?"
"Uff!" She rolls those big brown eyes of hers at my word of endearment. "Not you, I wanted to speak to Talha bhai."
A menacing snicker comes from my left, causing me to sigh. "Shohar hai na saath me? Talk to him. Doosron se baat kyu karna hai?" I shoot her a playful frown.
"Shohar se to kabhi bhi baat karsakte. Kahi bhi nahi bhaagra shohar. Ab hato, I need to talk to him."
