The Wedding Planner

Chapter 7

"Sanaaaaaa! I hope you haven't forgotten about our annual Riyaz family dinner", Asim said, as he walked into her cabin. He was nervous and it was quite evident in his voice.

Sana was used to seeing this side of Asim every year. Asim had 3 members in his family: his dad Mr Asaf Riyaz, his elder brother Umar and him. He had lost his mother at an young age and his father was a disciplinarian, because of which their temperaments never matched. He did love his dad, but his father never liked his carefree attitude. Ever since Sana met Asim, she was a part of this gala family dinner. The dinner was held on the eve of his late mother's birthday. It was a family tradition even when she was alive. The dinner had always been a silent affair ever since the passing of Mrs Riyaz until Sana walked into their lives. Mr Riyaz was extremely fond of her and it was only because of Sana that he had allowed Asim to invest in the Wedding planning company. He was also grateful to Sana to make a man out of the child that Asim was. Sana too was fond of him and learnt a lot about business strategies from Mr Riyaz.

"I can never forget it. You please relax. It's just a dinner. Uncle ke saath please normally baat karna. Kha nahi jayege tujhe", she reminded Asim to behave as she knew how the father son duo was.

"Yeah yeah right. You always take his side. I am toh no one naa?", Asim said pretending to be hurt and upset.

Sana rolled her eyes and said, "stop whining and pick me up at 8."

Mr Riyaz was more than happy to see Sana. He was fond of the girl and treated her like his own daughter. But he threw a small tantrum, pretending to be angry with her. "Beta, tum toh uncle ko bhul hi gayi. Ab kya sirf occasions pe hi madam ji se mulakat hogi?"

"Arey uncle. You know na. It's peak wedding season so dher sara kaam tha. I promise after the workload reduces, ekdin aapse milne aa jaungi. Promise".

Umar, the older brother also came to greet Sana. Since Asim had never shown any interest in the family business, he had to take over after their dad retired. He loved his brother dearly and with Sana joining them, he felt a kind of relief as he was tired being the peace maker between his brother and dad. They all settled to have dinner. All of Asim's mother's favourite were prepared. Everytime the situation would become awkward, Sana would manage it with her hilarious story. All of them enjoyed it in her presence. And the mansion felt lively with her laughter echoing. It was after dinner was done and Asim and Sana were about to leave when Mr Riyaz asked them to meet him in his study.

"Sana, my child, I wanted to talk to you about something important", looking at both of them.

"Ji uncle. Anything serious?", she asked slightly nervous.

"I don't talk to my son much and he doesn't share anything of his personal life with me in details. But from what these old pair of eyes have seen, I am sure he is fond of you. Romantically", he said, making Asim stare at him with an open mouth. "Unbelievable", Asim muttered under his breath.

Sana sensed where the conversation was going and as much as she wanted to avoid it, she knew she couldn't. She loved Mr Riyaz like a father and didn't want to hurt him.

"I have never seen my boy so happy. He is much more responsible now , all thanks to you. His mother had left us long back. And had she been alive, I am sure she would've had the  conversation with you, which I am having", he continued. "If you feel the same way for him, then there's no one I would want for my Asim but you. I do hope to see you as my daughter-in- law one day".

Sana didn't know what to tell him. He was just a concerned old parent, wishing to see his son settled. She just looked at Asim with a 'what do we say now' look and Asim had a 'idk dude. Let's run away from here' look on his face. She handled the situation well and said, "Uncle we are still so focused on our business that we never gave all this a thought. Let things die down a little and we will see what can be done. Abhi ke liye toh let's just say, we're just friends".
Asim, although grateful to Sana for controlling the situation, felt bad at the 'just friends' remark while Mr Riyaz was upset that the kids were not what he was thinking. He bid them good bye and soon they left the Riyaz mansion. 

"Jeez. What's up with dad. So filmy the scene was babe", Asim said while driving. Both of them didn't take it seriously.
After dropping her home, he was left with his own thoughts.  Although it was pretty awkward, but this stunt pulled by his dad got him into thinking. Sure he liked her romantically. But he somewhere had his doubts where her feelings were concerned. He always felt Sana was with him just for the sake of it.
But recently he had seen her change, take efforts. Was there a possibility of a serious future between them? He thought.
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Yo guys!!!

Since there's no Sidnaaz scene in this one, some of you might find it boring. But Asim's feelings towards Sana need to be shown.
And him being an important character, it's important to know about his background as well.

There will a similar chapter on Nityami as well before the wedding happens. Also, I will be exploring Sana's background which has a role to play in their breakup.

And the past will be out soon.