"This is going to be the last chips I promise, mama." Malaika raised her brows at those lines. She smacked her daughter with the same chips packets but added that one in her cart anyway. Mashal grinned ear to ear and went on to search for another snack to purchase.
"Ohmigod, this flavour was just released recently, I heard that it's so yummy. Can we buy this one as well, please? Mama..." She pouted cutely, hoping for her mother to fall for those tricks, "don't forget that I have passed on those looks to you, darling. It won't work on me. You have enough snacks for a week. Get going now. I have to do grocery shopping as well." Her mother retorted exasperatedly and walked away with the cart. With a sheepish smile, she still slipped the biscuits into the cart and followed her mother behind like an innocent child.
"I saw that," a new voice which came from behind, startled her in surprise. She gave a confused look to the stranger who was smiling at her with a knowing look on her face. The lady looked like someone of her mother's age, she had an elegant aura around her.
"I saw you slipping the biscuits in your mother's cart when she asked you not to," the stranger whispered to her with a mischievous smile.
"Mama pretends to be strict, but she doesn't mind, as long as we don't waste what we buy it's fine by her," Mashal whispered back with a chuckle. The stranger chuckled along making Malaika stop and turn around. She now had a surprised look on her face.
"Amina, what a sweet surprise." Her mother exclaimed in amazement before engulfing the lady in a brief hug.
"Assalamualaikum." Both the ladies greeted together and laughed at the coincidence before replying to the salaam in chorus again. Another laughter followed suit.
Mashal looked at both of them in amazement as she smiled at the sight. Looks like the lady was her mother's long lost friend or something.
"Is she your daughter?" Amina now turned to look at her with a wide grin on her face, Mashal felt a good and positive vibe from this stranger. She nodded with a smile, as she admired her Kurti. It was from her favourite designer.
"Masha Allah. She's so pretty. Looks so much like you," Amina muttered cheerfully, "Hania appi said that you guys visited last week. I was planning to invite you all to my house this week actually."
"Yes. It's been so long. We should definitely meet up. How're your daughters?" Malaika asked her as they walked to select vegetable side by side.
Mashal felt left out in the conversation and took it as a chance to run to the corner of the chocolate section. Without thinking much, she grabbed almost every flavour with the exception of everything that included nuts. She hated nuts and chocolates mixed together. Whoever invented that was surely very crazy.
She took out her own cart and placed all those Chocolates inside and walked aimlessly towards the snacks corner again, hoping to find something else to eat. Her eyes twinkled brightly as she spotted ice-cream boxes. Just as she opened the fridge's door, another hand held the handle at the same time as her.
Their hands brushed for a brief second before that guy pulled away. She felt her breath hitch as that familiar cologne invaded her nostrils. How could she just identify him so easily like this?
He stood behind her, waiting for her to take one ice cream and move away. But she couldn't get herself to move her legs nor was her mind working properly.
"Can you please hurry up?" Came his familiar yet annoyed voice.
Why is he always so annoyed?
Feeling stupid, she walked away from there whilst leaving her cart full of chocolates behind and not taking the ice cream which she was so excited about. A huff left escaped her lips as she stood farther away from him and gawked at him angrily. She was angry at herself the most, for giving a stranger this much power over her feelings.
What was she going to do with this crush of hers!?
She successfully spent a whole week without peeking out of her window and managed well to completely ignore everything about him. That's how she wanted to deal with this whole crush thing, but the moment he appeared close to her, she seem to lose all her sanity.
Why was this so difficult?
"You like him!" A voice startled her, taking her off guard.
"What? No." Mashal lied with a straight face and looked away from Murat as he did grocery shopping. Gosh! Why does he look so handsome in just the normal and plain t-shirt and sweatpants?
Stop with this fangirling, Mashal! She told her off for the nth time.
"Your pupils dilated as you watched him longingly, which means you surely like him," Amina acted like a teenager who was happy for her best friend.
"God! Am I that obvious?" Mashal pouted, feeling sick. How could she be so stupid and let someone know about her true feelings? But at this point, she just felt like venting out all of those thoughts that were beginning to eat her alive.
"So you do like him." Amina grinned with a clap of her hands.
"Where's mama, auntie?" She tried to change the subject.
"She's talking with your grandmother, don't change the topic now. Tell me you like him," Amina surely behaved like her sister Meher right now. She didn't seem to grow out of that silly childishness. She was so different from all those gossip aunties that she knew back at her old home. This one seemed genuinely kind and good-hearted. Maybe she could be helping her with this whole chaos? With an inward sigh, she decided to tell everything to this practical stranger, who was also her mother's friend.
"I think I have a crush on him. Please don't tell to mama," Mashal finally admitted that aloud to someone. And gosh, it felt so good. She wanted to talk about it to someone for so long but was scared of what they'll think about her. This person in front of her though didn't seem to judge her one bit. Which was a big relief.
"He's my neighbour. We moved to this city recently. I kinda began to like him despite his grumpy behaviour. And I really don't know what to do," she fidgeted with her fingers, feeling quite nervous.
"Oh, my silly, silly girl. It's completely okay to have a crush. Or to like someone," Amina caressed her cheeks gently, "it's your age. I have seen girls do far worse things but you just developed a crush on someone. It's pretty natural. You'll figure it out, chill." Her voice was soft and calm this time.
Mashal nodded, feeling hopeless, "I know. It's my age but aren't good Muslims supposed to avert their gaze and marry the man of their parents' choice?"
She felt bad about this one the most.
"I tried to ignore my feelings towards him. I almost did, auntie. But the moment he appears in front of my eyes, I seem to lose myself. Why am I not able to just forget him?" She felt tears brim her eyes which she quickly fought away.
Amina smiled sympathisingly, "I know, sweetheart. We are supposed to avert our gaze. It is frowned upon, rightly so. But if you do like someone sincerely, you can open up about it with your parents. They're amazing human beings, I'm sure they won't brush it off like others usually do. They'd genuinely see if that guy is a good match for you."
"What if they don't think he's a good match for me?" She voiced out worriedly.
"Do you want them to think he's a good match for you?" Amina grinned mischievously.
"No, auntie. I was just curious." Mashal tried hard not to blush. What was wrong with her?
"Right. If they are not happy with him, you shouldn't give false hopes to your heart and move on with life. Because parents only want what's best for you," Amina smiled knowingly. She nodded with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"You're right, auntie. Thank you for not judging me. I really appreciate it and please don't tell this to mama, I'll do it myself if I'm sure about whatever this is," Mashal whispered in relief and happiness. It felt nice to acknowledge her feelings to someone and it felt even nicer to receive this good piece of advice.
"Of course not dear. Who am I to judge you? I'm proud of you, actually. You were trying to stick to your deen knowing very well that it's wrong to think about someone like that. You didn't act upon your feelings and started dating him like half the world does these days. You didn't want to turn out into a bad Muslim and tried your best to ignore your feelings, which is amazing. Mashal. Don't think like that." Amina replied softly.
"I feel so much better now. Thank you," she sighed inwardly and gave her brightest smile to Amina, who grinned back before going for a hug.
"What's happening here?" Malaika's curious voice startled them, as they broke apart.
"Nothing mama, I just told her she was just like Meher. Didn't seem to age all that much. So dramatic," Mashal lied again. Amina joined in the lie and laughed along.
"I know right, Amina is still the silly one. Hania was talking about it last week." Malaika grinned as she passed the cart to her daughter, "buy your chocolates soon. We need to get going."
Mashal's mouth went in an 'o' as she had completely forgotten about the cart of chocolates. With a facepalm, she ran back into that direction only to be bumped into that familiar someone.
It's him again! Why?
His strong manly hands held her waist securely as she gazed into his black orbs, which stared back at her quizzically. Her breath hitched at the closeness before she pulled away quickly. It was just too much for her to take in at the moment.
"Careful." He grunted before walking away. While she took a solid minute to compose her poor heart.
Damn that grumpy punk! Why is he so annoyed all the time?
With a huff, she took out all those chocolates from her old cart and placed those in her mother's ones. She couldn't meet both the ladies eyes. God. How did she forget that they were here the whole time?
"I think I passed on my clumsiness to you as well." Malaika chuckled softly making her sigh inwardly. Thank goodness that her mother was not mad about falling onto a stranger like that. He wasn't exactly a stranger but her mother doesn't know it anyway.
"Go to the billing centre. I'll say bye to Amina auntie and come back in a jiffy," she took the cart with an absent-minded nod and walked ahead.
She was wondering whether or not, should she inform her parents regarding this crush thing. But in a way, Mashal was very glad to have bumped into Amina today. She helped clear her mind.
"I'll let it slide for now. It might be an infatuation for all I know. I'll tell them only when I'm hundred per cent sure about my feelings and also if he was meant to be with me nothing can stop that anyway. I should get a grip on myself." Mashal pep talked to herself as she stood in her line.
The person standing ahead of her, turned around and passed her a judgemental look, to which she wanted to roll her eyes, "what are you looking at?" She snapped at the girl rudely, who turned back immediately. She wasn't the rude person but her mind was not in the right place today and she hated to be judged by unknown person like her.
"What has gotten into you?" Malaika smacked her arms and gave her the stink eye, asking her to behave.
"Mama, I'm a grown-up girl. Stop smacking me in public places," she whispered in a whining tone and pouted cutely.
"Stop behaving like a child then. Why were you rude to her?" Malaika narrowed her eyes at her daughter, "no reason. Anyways. Did Amina auntie leave? She seemed so cool."
"Yes. She left with her nephew, the same guy who you bumped into." Her mother's reply shook her from within. She opened her mouth to talk, but words fell short.
Did she hear nephew? That guy who she bumped into was her nephew? Oh no! Did she just blurt out about her crush to his own aunt? Can it get any weirder?
"That guy? The one who I bumped into! Are you sure he's her nephew? Or were you just imagining things, mama?" She asked horrifiedly.
"Stop being silly. Of course, he's her nephew. Why would I imagine things? As you went to pick chocolates, he took all of Amina's bags and told her that he'd wait in the entrance." Malaika explained calmly and noticed how her daughter's expression changed with each passing second.
"Is everything okay with you? Why is your face going like that?" Mashal had no idea how to react to her mother. This was so much to take in. Just when she thought she'd be happy and not think much about this stupid crush, this had to happen again.
From when did her perfectly normal life turn out this dramatic?
"Nothing, mama. Nothing at all." Except for spilling everything about her crush to his own aunt, nothing much happened. What a fool she had been!
***
"Khalla. Stop singing loudly," Murat exclaimed exasperatedly. She was starting to get on his nerves with her loud voice. He was tolerant at first but not so much.
He felt like it was the punishment given to him for disturbing his neighbour, who complained about the same loud music not a long back ago. What goes around, comes around anyway. He deserved it. But god, it was too much.
"Shut up, Murat. I'm happy today. Drive faster." Slapping his hands, Amina continued to sing happily. She was elated to know that her nephew can be possibly married to such a nice girl. She knew Malaika right from a young age, who happens to be her sister's school friend. Her sister was a known loner and wasn't good at maintaining friends but Malaika stuck with her all through highschool.They drifted apart after college and met only recently after so long and turned out, Saad was Malaika's husband's business partner. She was sure Mashal is an amazing girl.
They become family friends now. If everything turns out well, they could be so much more. Gosh! She couldn't contain her happiness.
"Khalla, you are creeping me out, but we're here." Murat eyed her weirdly. She was grinning non-stop. Something was fishy but he didn't care much. After talking with his mother, a week ago. He seemed to have gotten himself together. He felt a lot better now. His mother brushed off the marriage topic that day and advised him not to take any more impulsive decisions and talked about everything that didn't involve marriage, he understood why she did that.
She didn't want him to marry someone just to please her or her wishes. It wasn't a compulsion at all. She wanted him to marry only when he was genuinely interested. Which he wasn't and that was the truth. His mother was so understanding and he didn't deserve her kindness, but she loves him anyway.
But the memory of bumping into his little neighbour came back to his mind, again and again, the reason why he was so pissed right now. She just looked so much like her today. Which was why he walked away from there as fast as he could. He couldn't stand anything related to Eliza these days. Which included this neighbour as well. It wasn't her fault but she looked so much like her, which was a good enough reason for him to stay away.
He just hoped that he'd see her less in the coming days.