A Midsummer Weekend (The Extended Version)

16. The Meeting

Farah

Don't look at him

Don't look at him

Don't look at him

I repeated to myself as I opened the door to the drawing room. My erratic heartbeat, I knew, would only make me blush harder and stammer profusely if I looked at him before I had a chance to acclimatize to the rest of his family.

Don't look at him

I told myself again as I stepped through the doors and silence descended on the room. But despite my resolve and self cajoling, the neural connections in my brain fired off on their own.

In that room of more than ten people it only took a second for our gaze to meet. His warm brown eyes embracing my tired puffy ones, cast a spell on me, melting everything else around us into oblivion.

Oh boy

I could feel my jaw drop yet had no control over it.

He was not the same man I had met more than 4 years ago. His hair looked like it was freshly cut, shorter on the sides longer on the top instead of the unruly locks that would fall over his forehead back then. There were black stylish glasses instead of the harry potter style round rimmed ones, and a clean shave instead of the scruff on his face. His shoulders were somehow broader, the rest of him more toned. Or maybe it was just the well fitted navy blue suit with cream-colored shirt and a steel grey tie, instead of the worn out jeans and sweatshirts he had worn back then.

Whatever it was, he was not the same man. He was hotter by hundreds of degrees. And he was mine...in theory at least.

Breathe Farah

I gulped. He blinked. His lips turned up into a slight smile and he rose from his seat.

"Assalama Alaikum", he said softly.

"Wa-walaikum Asalaam", I stammered.

My mother magically appeared next to me, and I heard her whisper, "Beta pehlay baroun ko Salaam karo" (First say Salaam to the elders)

I tore my gaze away from the him, releasing a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. And became painfully aware of how nicely everyone in that room was dressed up while I stood there in my crumpled blue scrubs and sneakers, pushing my hair out of my eyes as Ameerah's hairclips lost their battle with the frizz in my hair.

"Sorry...", I muttered, sure that my face was beet red by now.

I said Salaam to Nano, who was the eldest in the room, and then headed towards Tanvir Uncle who too stood up and put his hand on my head, "Walaikum Asalaam beta, good to see you", he said with a smile.

"Kya haal hai beta?", Beenish Aunty asked as she hugged me. (How are you)

"Bilkul theek Aunty, aap ka kya haal hai?", I asked her politely, as Komal winked at me with a huge grin on her face and made space for me to sit on the sofa with Aunty and herself. Ahad an Akbar Bhai sat across the room close to their younger brother. Both smiled and gave me a quick nod of acknowledgement. (Absolutely Aunty, how are you?)

I caught his gaze again as I sat down. He smiled, his full lips framing those perfectly aligned pearly whites. I had forgotten how cute his smile was, or the way it would make my heart skip a beat.

Abu said something to him making him look away, forcing me to focus on my future mother-in-law and Nano who strategically sat next to her, on her special chair with adequate back support.

"Hamari Nawasi bohat mehnat se doctori parh rahi hai. Aap ka uss ke baare mein kya khyaal hai?", I heard Nano loudly ask a familiar question to Sadaf Aunty, who seemed take aback at first but then put her arm around my shoulders and gave me a quick squeeze.