A Midsummer Weekend (The Extended Version)

15. The Truth

Komal

One Month Later

There was less than a week left till Ahad's wedding. Preparations for which were in full swing at our house. This wasn't the first time we had a wedding in our house, but the last time we did this Akbar Bhai had appeared on the very last day and quietly followed our instructions. Ahad on the other hand was far too involved in his own wedding, which I am sure Maham found cute and all, but just irritated me to no end because the guy had no clue about any housework at all. 

However, even in the midst of him and I arguing over the kind of flowers that should adorn the doorway and the way the shaadi house should be illuminated, or the Aunties that visited daily to advise my mother on clothes and jewelry, there was an underlying angst that we all felt. 

"Heard anything yet?", Ahad whispered to me as we both supervised the gardner. 

"Nothing. You?", I asked him a rhetorical question. 

"Obviously nothing. Why would I be asking you?", he shook his head at me. 

"That makes no sense at all though. You have to talk to Ami and Abu and convince them to call Mariam Aunty and ask again"

"You don't think I've tried? They're making it an ego issue now. Besides maybe Farah's moved on", he shrugged. 

"That is impossible..."

It had been just over a month since Ami and Abu had and sent a proposal for Farah on Kamran's behalf. I had been there when that conversation happened between my parents and Farah's Nano. But since then there was complete radio silence from them. 

I hadn't heard anything from Farah, Ami and Abu had given up hope on hearing anything from her parents and were adamant they would not be contacting them again in this regard, and Kamran...poor Kamran, was devastated. 

"Have you spoken to him?", Ahad asked me, his concern for his brother clearly shadowing the excitement of his own wedding. 

"I did, a couple of days ago. Since then, he hasn't been picking up the phone"

"Call his roommate and ask him where he is. He better not end up missing my wedding"

Call Safdar?

In the midst of the craziness that was happening in our family right now, Kamran had mentioned in passing that Safdar may be interested in sending a rishta for me. I was dying to follow up on that, but Kamran had been so distressed, I didn't have it in me to probe him further.

"Do you want me to call him?", Ahad raised an eyebrow at me. 

"No, I can do it. It's no big deal", I told my brother with a straight face, even though in reality my heart was thumping against my chest so loudly I was afraid even the gardner would hear it. 

No one in my family knew about my little crush on my brother's roommate, or the fact that part of me always compared a potential suitor with the stories I had heard about him. It had been a dangerous place to be in when I didn't know about his reciprocal feelings, but now that I had an inkling it was making me oscillate between crippling euphoria and anxious desires. 

Focus...there is way too much to do right now

I took a deep breath and dialled his number, waiting with bated breath to hear that deep, sensual voice that always induced butterflies in my stomach, even when it was only speaking to my brother on the other side of the video call. 

"Hello...", said a sleepy, gruff voice that came through my cell. 

Oh crap...it's past midnight in Seattle