Light Upon Light

#53 Old Ends and New Beginnings

I'll keep the authors note short. This has been a long time coming. I kind of love this chapter and feel like it needs more work too.

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#53 Old Ends and New Beginnings

The best part to coming home apart from the family reunion, is the reunion with the most awesome group of friends. To think I had lost all contact with my Dubai friends in less than a year, yet six years I've been away from Salimabad excluding the occasional visits, and the bonds that I formed before leaving have only gotten stronger.

My girls Lia, Najwa and Shikha came to Ashiana the very next day after my arrival. I had a great start to the day already, having breakfast with the family and sitting with Dadi for a while in her room. When Dadi had laid down to rest, I slipped out of her room. I saw Samir in the courtyard, making a presentation on his laptop, a bunch of files piled up next to it on the table. Faiz was also there, he was on what looked like a conference call.

"So much for vacation, you guys have jumped right back into work," I said, sitting down on one of the wicker chairs next to Samir. Faiz shushed me and continued talking to whoever was on his iPad screen. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Funny how Mr I-Hate-People ended up choosing a career path that requires for him to be in constant communication for the sake of the company.

"I won't ask you to leave if you won't distract either of us," Samir commented without looking up from his laptop.

I mimed zipping my lips shut, locking them and throwing the key away. Pulling out my phone I scrolled through Instagram, saving some pictures for my design inspiration board. If I get to open a boutique as per plan, I want to put up all the latest trends out there. I had most of it figured out, and part of my plan included Murshida Bi and her children and students.

There was still a lot of fine tuning to do and more importantly, I needed a space for my boutique and capital. I will have to borrow from the family and then pay back as I earn. I was not really sure about how far it would work out for me. Passion I had and I was willing to work as hard as it would take to set my store up. It was permission and money that I needed.

Kashaf came running down the spiral stairs and straight towards me. She was closely followed by Ihsan who was struggling to break free from Bhai's grip on him. Bhai looked so cute with a baby bag slung over one shoulder and his son finally hooked over the other. I clicked a picture before he could stop me. Iqra Bhabhi was all grace as she came down the stairs bearing a sleeping Kanza.

"Ju Phups, we are going to Ammi home!!" Kashaf squealed as she jumped into my lap and hugged me. Faiz shook his head and I heard his muffled apologies as he stood up and went to the gents' living hall.

"Awesome! Give Dadu and Dadi and Khala my Salaam Kashaf Jaan," I said pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Okay. No salaam for Z Mamu?"

Iqra Bhabhi had great timing. I secretly wondered if she had taught Kashaf to mention her 'Zee Mamu' to me. Or maybe you Ms Junaina Javed Ali are doing that thing again with your head, it's called overthinking.

"No salaam for Z Mamu?" Bhabhi echoed with a teasing glint in her eyes. Samir stared at us, looking from one to the other. Kashaf was doing the same. Raising my brows in incredulity, I shrugged Bhabhi off and took my phone from Kashaf's hands. She was staring at the picture Samar had taken.

"Ju Phups, you and Mamu took a picture with only Ihsan and Kanza baby. No Kashaf," she whined.

Samar had shared the picture in the cousins group as promised. Alhamdulilah he had the sense not to do so in the Ali family group. That would have been impossible to evade. As it was, I was given a hard time till Samir put a stop to it.