Deceptions

Chapter 9

"Ma Sha Allah(may Allah protect ypu from evil eyes)! You look beautiful, my daughter!" Saif's mother exclaimed when she saw me enter through her house door.

I smiled and hugged her back, "You look wonderful yourself, Aunty."

Their house was pretty huge, and they had this whole peach and rose gold theme going on. Ours was a bit smaller and more on the contemporary side. We walked into the living room, and Dad smiled at me from the couch.

"My princess! Come here!" He smiled.

I walked over to him and sat down, hugging him. Saif came over, and Dad greeted him, and they did their man-hug thing, patting each other's back vigorously.

The dinner party began with nothing much happening until Uncle Raza walked in with his two daughters. I hadn't seen Sania after what happened at our house. Her parents were acting normal, and I figured they did not know she had literally crashed my wedding night, drugged. Mahi raced over and threw her arms around me while her sister, who was now supporting bags under her eyes and had made a weak attempt at hiding them by using  a concealer, glared at me from across the room.

Instinctively, even though I was still mad at Saif, I looked at him. He was also staring at Sania before looking at me. He closed his eyes once as if to reassure me that nothing would happen.

"Ma Sha Allah! You look so pretty!" Mahi exclaimed, pulling away and looking at me. I liked her. Unlike her sister, she was genuine and sweet.

Uncle Furqan came over a little later, and as everyone got ready to have dinner, I heard Auntie Rihanna talking to Saif's mother.

"Dev is back in Pakistan. He told my husband he'll come for dinner," she said. "Furqan is a little sceptical, but I'm sure he'll be here. After all, he just got married again. He must want to show off his wife."

"He did? When? And what about his son Shehri?" Auntie Tara replied, her voice laced with surprise. I guess she didn't know this before. "Did you know about this, Ayra?"

I shook my head, "I haven't even seen him since the Covid Pandemic."

"Shehri is a grown man now. He doesn't object to what his father does or say. Plus, you know he doesn't feel like he has a right to anyway," Auntie Rihanna went on to explain.

"The boy is pretty shy. Him and Mahi used to study in the same class together," Mahi's mother, Auntie Laila, chipped in.

I listened to them discuss Uncle Dev's marriage for a bit before excusing myself to use the restroom. As I stood in front of the mirror on top of the sink, I wondered if anyone had suspected that Saif and I weren't speaking to each other at all tonight?

Maybe Sania noticed.

I'd been with the women way too long to notice where everybody else had gone. I walked out into the hallway and towards the room door under the stairs. I could just look for them a little later.

I walked into the room and closed the door behind me to go into the attached bathroom. After I was done, I was looking at my makeup in the mirror before turning around to leave.

"You really don't know?" A female voice came from the other side of the door.

I paused. That sounded like Mahi.

"How long are you going to pine after her, Saif?" She continued, and my hand froze on the handle.

"I don't know, Mahi. I don't think I have the guts to confess just yet. Not when I got married so suddenly," Saif answered, and his voice sounded sad.

My heart sank.

He lied to me.

He did have someone in his heart. And that someone was the reason he could not open his heart to me.