Unexpectedly

16 | The Duraid Family

© All copyrights belong to StarsAndMoon1447 on Wattpad

*

Syra

"I'm so sorry for being late." I said as Musa and I took a seat at the dining table, after we had greeted everyone. "Pata nahin tha shaadi itni thakadeti hai." I smiled sheepishly.

*"I didn't know weddings can be this tiring."

"Koi gal nai, bachay." My mother-in-law smiled reassuringly at me.

*"It's okay, dear."

They had a circular dining table placed in the dining room, which was a nice change. The chairs were grey faux leather with silver frames. 

I don't know why, maybe it was the warmth of the family, my own relatively confident personality, or a mixture of both, but I didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable at all. In fact, to my relief, I felt quite at ease.

"We had no idea what you'd like so we arranged for both eastern and western." Shaila pointed towards the dining table where I saw pancakes, as well as nihari and naan.

"You guys didn't have to do all this. I'd be happy with just bread and jam. I really like the mango jam here." I smiled at her. 

"Noted. We'll have it stocked." My sister-in-law said.

"No, it's not necessary..." I shook my head. 

"Of course it is. The house is stocked with everything the members of this family like." Farid Uncle said. 

Upon my mother-in-law's encouragement, I took two pancakes and spread honey over it, before adding a few pieces of freshly cut fruit to my plate. It gave me flashbacks of when we used to go on road-trips, and over breakfast I used to always order pancakes, soaking them with maple syrup and then complaining that they were too sweet.

"Othay wi valaiyti khana khandi ho, bachay?" Aisha Aunty asked me.

*"Do you eat this western food there as well?"

"Valaiyti meaning foreign, right?" I confirmed, and as my father-in-law nodded, I replied. "Mix khati hoon. Mere Papa ko desi khana pasand hai, to hamare ghar desi hi pakta hai normally."

*"I eat a mixture. My father likes desi food, so desi food is cooked at our home normally."

There was a twinkle in Aisha Aunty's eyes as she asked, "Kya paka leti ho?"

*"What can you cook?"

I froze, my cheeks burning up. The question that I had been dreading.

But Aunty laughed. "Fikar na karo, bachay. Ai cheezan mainay nai rakhdin." 

*"Don't worry, dear. These things don't matter." 

If my mother hadn't always praised her mother-in-law (my Dado), I would have pinched myself. Because in the desi world, this was not how a Saas was.

"Pehle hi din bachi ko tang kar rahi ho." Uncle teased her.

*"You've started teasing her on her very first day."

And with this casual and relaxed conversation, we had breakfast. The family did everything to make me feel at home.

*

As Musa discussed the Valima arrangements with his parents after breakfast, I asked if I could look around the house. From what I'd seen and heard of Islamabad, it was a gorgeous place, and I saw the beauty of the capital city as I paced the garden outside. It was so nice and peaceful here.