chapter 6

Chapter 6MishalAfter I wrapped up my work, I came out into the lounge and found Rayaan playing his PS on the TV. I sat down next to him on the couch. ‘Rayaan? Can we please watch something else?’‘I’m on the finale round, Baaji. Please don’t break my focus,’ he said enthusiastically, focusing on the TV. I groaned. ‘God.’‘Why don’t you join me in the next round?’ he suggested. ‘I don’t want to.’ I started checking out my Instagram feed on my phone. ‘Where’s Amma?’ I asked him. Just then, Amma walked in from the main door, taking the mask off her face. ‘Amma, where have you been?’ I asked, looking up at her. She hung the keys on the key holder. ‘I was at Nigar’s.’I was suddenly intrigued. ‘What were you doing there? Did you go and meet her? I asked, trying not to sound so curious. She came and sat down next to me. ‘I did go to meet her, but she was sleeping at that time.’‘Oh.’She looked at me.I patted lightly on her arm. ‘You can go in some other time.’‘I didn’t know her son Daniyal had come already. I just saw him today,’ she told me. I pretended like I did not care. ‘Really? Didn’t you know that before?’‘Did you?’ she asked, raising a brow.I was alert all of a sudden. ‘Amma, would it matter if I knew?’‘He’s here after so many years, Mishi. Doesn’t that affect you in any way?’‘Why should that affect me, Amma? It’s not like I care about him.’‘Why don’t you?’ Amma asked, her brow furrowed. I shook my head quickly. ‘I can’t believe we’re having this conversation, Amma.’‘What do you mean?’ She seemed a bit annoyed now, just like I was. Rayaan passed us a curious look. ‘I have to dispatch the orders, Amma.’ I stood on my feet and walked away into the kitchen. Rayaan continued playing the game in the background, but I knew his eyes and ears were on us. As I had expected, Amma followed me into the kitchen. ‘Haven’t you met Daniyal yet?’ she asked, standing in the doorway.I turned around, frowning. ‘Amma, why do you care? It’s not even important, and you know that.’‘Will you keep ignoring him for the rest of your life?’ I stifled a laugh. ‘It’s not like I have any other option.’Amma paused before talking further. ‘Listen, Mishi, I know why you’re upset about this situation, but trust me, meri jaan, what happened in the past should stay in the past. You need to move on.’‘Amma, I can’t forget what I did to him!’ I exclaimed. ‘I just can’t.’‘Mishi, he doesn’t even know what you did. He’s not aware of anything. Neither Nigar is. You should just act normal around him.’‘It’s not easy for me, Amma. Whenever I look at him, I am always reminded of what I did to him.’She stepped closer to me and took me by the shoulders. ‘You did nothing wrong, Mishi. Trust me.’‘How can you be so sure, Amma?’ I asked, my shoulders slumped. ‘Whatever we did, we did for our family’s respect. Okay? We did it to protect ourselves from getting into major trouble.’I nodded, a tear threatening to come out from the corner of my eye. ‘So, please, never feel guilty about doing anything wrong. You did nothing wrong, okay?’ I nodded again. ‘That’s like a good girl.’ We hugged each other for a long while. Amma retreated back, looking at me. ‘By the way...’‘Hmm?’‘He has turned out to be really handsome,’ Amma said, a mischievous smile on her face.I raised a brow as I looked at her. ‘He looks like a complete gorah, I’m telling you!’‘Amma, I need to pack my orders now. So, please, let me,’ I said, changing the topic. Amma guffawed and then left the kitchen. I was left behind, thinking about Daniyal. Amma was right. He was damn good-looking. I do not think I have ever come across such a good-looking person in my life. As I thought of him, Brownie lightly rub around my leg to greet me. Smiling down at her, I picked her up and wrapped her in my arms. ***Later that night, after dispatching the orders and having dinner with family, I went into my room upstairs. That night, I decided to go to the terrace, sit in my favorite spot, and wait for him to come outside. I had decided not to worry too much about the past. What Amma said was true. I should not think about the past too much. Whatever I did back in the past should just stay there. Also, what I did, I did it only for my family’s sake. I was also partially relieved because Daniyal knew nothing about it. Yes, I did him wrong, but he was unaware of it. He could never possibly blame me because he was oblivious to the truth. Standing in front of the mirror, I set my hair loose and let them fall over my back. I applied a chapstick and some mascara before heading out onto the terrace. A book was already waiting for me on the swing chair when I stepped outside. I picked up the book and sat on my favorite spot, taking a deep breath. I flipped open the pages of the book, and then from the corner of my eyes, I stared out at his terrace. To my dismay, he was not on the terrace yet. I was not completely hopeless because I had decided to stay there for a bit long, and I was certain he would come out any other minute. A few minutes passed, and I read a couple of chapters, hoping to see him again on the terrace. However, there was no sight of him. Where was he? Why was not he coming out onto the terrace? If he liked spending time out in the open air, he should have been out now. I stood on my feet and walked towards his side of the terrace, leaning against the wall that connected our houses. I craned my neck to see his balcony window and saw that the light in his room was still on. That indicated he was awake. I took a step back, thinking he might be watching some movie or doing something else. Disappointed, I walked back into my room. ***Because I could not get to meet him on the terrace the previous night, I decided to pay a visit to Nigar aunty’s place, hoping to catch a sight of him there. I prepared a meal for Nigar aunty so nobody could doubt my intention of visiting there. Dressed up in a deep red kurta and beige trousers, I put the mask on my face and held the shopping bag as I stepped out of the house. I rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door. A few seconds passed by, and someone came on the door. As the door began to creak open, I smiled inwardly because I would finally see him. I was also hoping to have a small talk with him, where I could introduce myself to him. I hoped he remembered me, though. But, I was fairly disappointed to see the person who had just opened the door. It was not Daniyal but Hammad on the door. My face almost fell when I saw him instead of Daniyal’s face. ‘Hi, Mishal. How are you?’ Hammad asked, a welcoming smile plastered his face. ‘I’m good, thanks. How’s Nigar aunty?’ ‘She’s doing much better now.’‘That’s great. I brought this food for her. I would really appreciate it if you pass it on to her.’ I held out my hand to hand over the shopping bag to him.‘Sure, I will give it to her.’ I tried glancing over in his background but could not find Daniyal anywhere. ‘Thank you. I should take a leave now.’‘I would have called you inside if we weren’t so much cautious of COVID, you know.’‘It’s okay. Some other time.’‘Sure.’‘Bye.’ I came back home, a look of disappointment all over my face. I dressed up for nothing. Was Daniyal really avoiding me just like I was a few days back? Or was it just my bad luck that I could not get to see him again?‘Mishiiii…’ I heard Amma call me from her room. Throwing my bag on the couch, I walked to her room. ‘Look, your best friend is here,’ Amma told me. I looked at her and then at Sana, who was grinning back at me.‘Sana! When did you come?’ I was surprised to see her because she never mentioned visiting me that day.‘I thought I should surprise you!’ She reached me for a hug. ‘What a good surprise, indeed!’ I hugged her back. ‘Array, she hasn’t told you the real surprise yet.’ Amma chimed in. ‘What does that mean?’ I asked, confused. ‘Here you go.’ Sana presented a mithaai box in front of me. ‘Take the one you like.’Furrowing my brows, I picked a Gulab Jamun and took a small bit of it. ‘What’s there for?’‘My marriage is fixed,’ Sana told me. ‘What?’ I asked in shock. ‘What are you saying?’‘Haan na, didn’t I tell you about the proposal last time?’I thought hard and nodded. ‘Yes, you did.’‘So, it’s final now. My parents liked the guy and his family, so it’s fixed,’ she said with a smile.‘God! I can’t believe it. I’m so happy for you, Sana!’ I gave her another, endearing hug. ‘Thank you.’ She whispered in my hair. ‘Chalo, I’ll let you both chit chat now. Don’t let Sana go back without having dinner, okay?’‘Okay, Amma.’ Amma left the room while we giggled, and I got the chance to tease her a lot about her upcoming wedding. After a while, we moved back to my room, taking the food with us on our plates. Sana had given me all the information about her would-be in-laws and husband. She even showed me a picture of him. From the photo, he did look pretty decent. As we carried on our conversation, Sana brought up Daniyal’s name. ‘Hey, how’s Daniyal?’ she asked teasingly. I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I did not meet him.’‘Not yet?’ she asked, raising a brow. I shook my head. I did not feel like telling her about the brief interaction I had with him a couple of days back. It counted as nothing. ‘Guess what I’m about to tell you!’ Sana said, sounding excited all of a sudden. ‘What?’‘That Daniyal boy is talking to Anna these days.’‘Anna?’ I knitted my brows together.‘Anna, Sahiba’s best friend.’ Sana clarified. Sahiba was Sana’s younger sister, only a year younger than her. ‘What are you saying?’ I whispered in shock. ‘Anna, the same Anna who eloped with some Islamabad guy last year?’‘Yes, yes! The same one!’‘I can’t believe this. How do you know?’‘Sahiba told me yesterday that Anna was talking to some Australian guy named Daniyal these days. I got confused because the only Daniyal I could think of was your neighbor. So when she showed me his photos, I was sure it was really him.’‘Photos? What photos?’‘His photos, the ones he had shared with Anna, and then she had forwarded them to Sahiba.’I was literally shocked to hear this. Was this the reason Daniyal seemed so busy these days? Was he really taking an interest in some girl and talking to her day and night?‘But, I can’t figure this out. How did they both meet? They don’t know each other, nor do they have any connection.’‘Babe, they met on Bumble.’‘What?’ I was shocked. ‘Daniyal was on Bumble?’‘Why are you much shocked about him being on that app? Of course, he’s a foreigner. It’s not new for him, I guess.’I considered what she said. ‘But, look at Anna, yaar! I mean, what guts! Just last year, her family faced so much humiliation because of her, and she hasn’t learned anything from her lessons. She’s repeating the same mistakes, back on the same track.’I could not care any less for Anna or what she was doing. I only cared for Daniyal. I could never expect him to do such kind of an act. I thought he would not be into such things. Online dating that is. How could he even like talking to a girl who never deserved to talk to him in the first place? I was disappointed in him. But, more importantly, I was disappointed in myself. All this week, I had been trying to catch a glimpse of him, or even better, speak to him, but I guess all my efforts went in vain. There was no point in talking to him and getting to know him because, apparently, he was already taken by someone else.DanielThe next few days seemed to have gone by in a blur if you ask me. Between taking care of my mother and keeping in touch with the COVID-19 updates and situations back in Australia and Pakistan, I came across this girl called Anna on Bumble. She was based in Lahore, Pakistan, and was 22, only two years younger than me. She had just graduated in Arts and Sciences from a local university and was now looking forward to applying for her Masters. Besides being a confident, fearless, and intelligent person, she was stunningly beautiful. What started as casual chats between us on WhatsApp turned into having long-hour video calls. I really admired her confident personality. Unlike most South Asian girls, she wasn’t the shy type at all. She had no qualms in sending her sexy selfies. Perhaps that’s why I was attracted to her in the first place. She wasn’t shy when it came to talking about sexuality, love, and relationships. When she first sent me a few sexy photos of hers, she instantly asked for mine in return. Hearing such things from a girl in Pakistan was rather flabbergasting for me because I thought usually girls here were extremely conservative when they spoke to guys online. Most of the time during our video calls, I sat in front of her, shirtless whereas she never shied away from wearing tank tops and shorts in front of me. Soon, our normal texting turned into sexting, day and night. Within a few days, we were smitten with each other so much that I was dying to meet her in person. However, we were only waiting until the COVID-19 situation got better in Lahore. According to reports, the government planned to lift the city’s lockdown and open restaurants, cafes, malls, and other public places, keeping mild restrictions in place. That meant I could get to meet Anna really soon. While I was having the best time of my life schmoozing Anna, I had to make sure Mum did not feel neglected. After all, I had only come here for her. Interacting with women was not a new thing for me. It had been more than two weeks since Mum was in isolation. I had only been here for almost ten days now. When Mum’s doctor advised her to get herself tested again, I volunteered to take her to the lab facility, sparing a trip for her husband and Hammad. Since I did not have any car here, Mum offered to take hers instead. It was a Toyota Corolla 2002 model. The reason I knew so much about the cars and their specifications was that my Dad had always worked for cars all his life. That made me a car fanatic since childhood. I had grown up watching my Dad bring new cars to his workshop and repair them day and night. Mum stepped outside the patio and into the garage, looking at me and observing her car. ‘I’m sorry, I forgot to ask you. Would you be able to drive here, in Lahore?’ she asked, her voice a bit throaty. ‘Oh, of course. I can. I’ve got the Australian driving license.’ I winked at her and then got inside her car. ‘That’s great, but you don’t have the Pakistani license,’ Mum commented as she sat in the passenger seat. I got inside the driving seat. ‘Is that obligatory?’She shook his head lightly. ‘Not really. It’s not like we are going too far. You can always show them your Australian license in case they ask you.’‘Too good.’Mum looked at my profile and smiled. ‘I can’t believe my son has grown up so much that he’s taking me out.’I chuckled. ‘I’m not takin’ ya out anywhere, Mum. We’re goin’ for your COVID test.’‘I know, but this is the first time in years, I’m going out with you.’ She looked at me and smiled. ‘Once you’re done with this shitty virus, I promise I’m goin’ to take ya out, like officially.’‘I like the idea already,’ she smiled. ‘Let’s go, Ma’am.’I pulled out the car from the garage and drove it down the road. With the help of the navigation turned on the Maps app, I could locate the nearest laboratory in our locality. Much to my surprise, the lab offered a drive-in testing facility, so Mum did not have to go inside the lab for the test. She could sit in the car comfortably and give them the swab sample. Clad in the PPE suit, the guy from the lab facility walked toward our car and asked Mum to roll down her window. After noting Mum’s details, like her name, date of birth, traveling history, etc., he made an invoice for her and asked us to pay the fee. I fished out my wallet from my jeans pocket and paid him the money. I did not miss the chance to convert a few Australian dollars into Pakistani rupees at the exchange center at the airport because I knew I would need them. ‘I can handle that, son,’ Mum interjected.‘Mum. I can take care of it. No worries.’Once we paid the fee, the guy in the PPE suit appeared on my Mum’s window side and took a swab sample from her nose in a few seconds. That was about it. I asked him, peering at him through Mum’s window. ‘When are we going to get the result?’The guy handed me an envelope that contained Mum’s COVID-19 test fee invoice. ‘You will receive a link via an SMS from the lab within 24 hours, and you just need to click on that link to check the result.’‘Oh, that. Sure.’ I took the envelope from him. We drove down the city, passing through the busy roads. Over time, the traffic on the roads and pollution had significantly increased. Mum mentioned that Lahore had become one of the top polluted cities in the world, with every year the city suffering from a bad smog situation. ‘That’s sad, Mum,’ I commented as I drove through the busy roads, my eyes shuffling back and forth from the Map app to the road ahead. ‘Don’t you like my car?’ Mum asked, out of nowhere.‘Uh, no, why?’ I asked, surprised by her question. ‘I noticed how you were checking out my car before coming here.’I snorted. ‘Yeah, so?’‘Just be honest with me, Daniyal. I know when you are lying.’‘One of the advantages of being a Mum, right?’ I looked at her side and smiled.‘Of course.’‘Honestly, Mum, your car is nice, but it wouldn’t be so bad if ya upgrade it, you know.’‘Hmm. I like it, just like the way it is.’‘If you have any money problems, then let me know. I can always pool in some money and get ya a new car.’‘No, thank you. I’m fine.’‘You sure?’ ‘Yes, I’m sure.’‘Okay, Ma’am. As ya wish.’ I nodded. ***Later that night, when I was having a video call with Anna, I received a text message from the lab facility. I tapped the text message to open it and found a URL mentioned in it.‘Hey, Anna, I’ll call ya back in a few minutes, okay?’ I told her.‘But, what happened?’ she asked, suddenly her expressions changing in the camera. ‘Be right back.’ I ended the call without answering her and then tapped the link that came with the text message. After entering Mum’s details, I was able to view her COVID-19 report. Before seeing the result, I closed my eyes tightly and prayed for her as hard as possible. With shaky fingers, I held the phone in my hands and slowly opened my eyes. I scanned the report carefully and only read the part I was most interested in. Just next to the result, it was mentioned, “Not Detected.” I breathed a great sigh of relief when I read that part. Mum was COVID-free. She was not infected with the virus anymore; she had become immune to it. Carrying the phone in my hands with the report open, I dashed out of my room, headed downstairs, and walked into her room. Khalid Butt was making Mum drink soup when I dashed in. I just realized I had somehow invaded their privacy. I felt embarrassed, guilty for breaking in just like that, without permission.‘I’m sorry, I think I came in at the wrong time.’ I told them.Khalid Butt looked away and waited for her Mum to respond. ‘It’s okay, sweetheart. Is everything okay?’I nodded, a triumphant smile appearing on the corner of my lips. ‘Your COVID report is here.’‘And, what is it?’ Mum looked at me and then Dad, and then back at me. ‘It’s negative,’ I declared.‘Really? That’s amazing!’ Khalid Butt exclaimed, excited, and then reached her for a hug. She hugged him back with tears in her eyes. Watching them both getting this intimate made me jealous. I was not used to such scenes because I was gone away for a long time. ‘Daniyal?’ Mum called me, bringing me out of my trance. ‘Yup?’ I responded, looking at her.‘Come here; give your Mother a hug.’ Mum smiled. Smiling back at her, I stepped towards her and embraced her in my arms, both of us becoming teary-eyed. I had hugged her after so many years, and it felt so amazing. I had been missing this feeling for so long. ‘I missed you so much, son,’ Mum said as she hugged me.I hugged her harder. ‘I missed you more, Mum.’***With a cheerful mood, I returned to my room, closing the door behind me. I picked up an apple from the fruit basket on my nightstand and started to take a few bites. Just then, Anna video called me again, and I picked it up instantly.’‘Hey,’ I waved at her and then took another bite from the apple. ‘Hey, cutie, where did you go?’ she asked. ‘I have good news, mate,’ I told her, grinning. ‘What?’ She toyed with a strand of her hair as she talked to me. ‘My Mum’s got her COVID result. It’s negative.’‘Oh, that’s amazing news!’ ‘Yup.’ I nodded and then jumped onto my bed. ‘Now, I have some good news for you.’I set the pillow against the headboard and leaned my back on it. ‘Really? What?’‘My best friend’s throwing a birthday party this weekend at her place.’‘Mmhmm.’ I took another bite off the apple. ‘And, guess what? I’m invited.’‘That’s amazin’.’‘You wanna join?’I left another bite midway, looking at her. ‘Can I?’‘Of course, you can, babe. I’ll tell Sahiba that I’m bringing along a friend.’‘So does that happen here? Often?’‘Happen what?’‘Like you can bring in your friends to parties?’‘Of course, like all the time!’ She rolled her eyes dramatically. ‘Great. So, it is a date then!’ I declared. ‘Yay!’ she squealed with joy. ‘Would you like me to pick you up?’‘Sure, no worries. Just text me your location, and I’ll be there.’‘Sending you right away!’ She winked at me.‘Cheers, mate.’ I guess my weekend getaway was sorted. A date with Anna, at last. What else could I have asked for?