16. Sealed forever <3

"Bhaiiiiiiiiiiii"

Zarminey was speaking at the top of her voice and Wali had to place the phone on arm's length, "I don't believe this, aj tum ne kaise phone kar liya?", her pitch was not decreasing

"zarminey!, araam se", he finally managed to bring the phone near his ear.

"ok! Sorry!", zarminey realized the volume of her voice, "but first of all, thank so so so sooooooo much for the lovely anniversary gift!, itni pyari chezian thin sari!, thank u sooo much", the volume was again rising but not as previous time.

"u are welcome"

"lekin mujhe abhi bhi yakeen nahi ho raha k wo sari chezian tum ne li thin!, bhai tum  ne kab se itni achi shopping shoro kar di", her voice was ecstatic.

"tumhare gifts main ne nahi liye they, farah ne liye they", he normally said, finally starting the REAL conversation.

"farah kaun?"

"she works in an add agency, and she is a very nice girl"

"ohhhh..nice girl..hmmmm…kia baat hai tum.."

zarminey I am getting married to farah,

And suddenly there was complete silence on the other end

"don't think I told u late, its was all decided yesterday"

Still silence

"we are getting married tonight"

A deep silence

"zarminey?"

"OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG", and the silence was compensated with a loud scream! "tum shaddi kar rahe ho bhai?, ufffff..OMG! WOW!", Wali was sure that she was jumping", "tumahin koi larki psnd a gayi, WOW!, aur tum us ki tareeef kar rahe ho!..awwwwwwwwww….aur ye kia?, aj raat ko kar arhe ho? OMG! meri baat hi karwa do, koi picture hi mail do plz"

"merey pass picture nahi hai koi, aur baat sham ko karwa don ga", he said and then he heard her voice breaking. "bhai I just don't belive this, uff, mian itni tense rehti thin a k pata nahi tumhain koi larki psnd aye gi ya nahi, tum itnry chup rehtey ho, uffff, I am sure farah is  one in a million!

And Wali approved this in her heart – she was surely one in a  million!

"tum soch nahi sakte main kitni khush ho!, main hamesha dua karti thi k tumhari life main koi aisa aye jo tumhra partner ban sake, I am so happy!, kash main tumhare pass a sakti, I so wish I was there with u", her voice was getting weak due to tears.

"zarminey plz ro mat, main sham ko phn karon ga", he hung up the phone, because his heart was caught In a fist listening her sister cry and he didn't even know how to console her, what to say to her.

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I really don't know what to say!

Shehna had repeated this sentence for the 15^th time and almost completed 500 rounds of the lounge since farah had told her that she was getting married. Manzar was also sitting there seeing his wife burning her calories at a super speed.

"I don't believe this, tum ik ajnabi se

"stop it shehna", manzar's patience was finishing, "kia mtlb manzar, ap ne di ki batein suni hain, asiey shaadi karne wali hai.."

"tu kia hua??"

"tu kia hua?,", she couldn't believe manzar said those words, but she turned towards farah, "di tumhain pata hia k he is an illegal resident in Canada, us k apss

"legal passport nahi hai", farah completed her sentence, "mujhe us ne khud bataya hai , per tujhe ye sab kasie pata hai?'. she looked into shehna's eyes who got tensed,

"wo actually main ne..

"pata karwaya ..right?", farah knew her sister very well and shehna nodded

"agr tu ne pata karwaya tu ye bhi pta chala hoga k he is a gem of a person"

"di!, mujhe ajeeb lag raha hai, u are a legal citizen, may be he is just trying to secure his residency by marrying a legal Canadian citizen, us ki application bhi tu process main hai, wo shiyed tum se pyar nahi karta..

"shehna stop it will you!, manzar said in a very stiff voice, because he noticed tears brimming in farah's eyes, 'for the first time in  life she is heading forward and u are giving her pessimistic approaches"

"manzar mian tu bus, ", shehna tried to clear her stance but manzar turned to farah, "dekho farah, jitna bhi Wali k bare main hum dno ko pata chal hai, it is enough to prove that he is a nice person, a very nice person. I agree with shehna that the fact he is an illegal citizen is bothering, but a Canadian passport cannot guarantee happiness to you, but I have noticed a wish of living happily in u, and i am sure the person responsible for this wish cannot be wrong, so all the very best, my best wishes are with u," he said in one go with a sweet smile, leaving farah and shehna speechless, and farah hugged him, "thank u so much manzar, I can't explain how much these words mean to me", he hugged her back ligthly, " u are welcome, just stay happy", farah broke from the hug to see shehna standing with teary eyes, "tujhe gale nahi lagna hai merey?', she asked pouting and shehna's heart melted, as she hugged her, "di just stay happy!", shehna's voice was also breaking and manzar separated both of them, "ok fine, no more crying,", he said when he noticed araav was trying  to climb the sofa, "be careful arrav", he immediately went to pick him up leaving shehna and farah alone .,

"shehna, I can understand your problem", farah held her hands, which she was nervously entangling in her scarf, "di, main bus.."

"shehna his thought compels me to remain in sense "shehna looked at her in disbelief, "I have not tasted alcohol since i met him shehna, and he knows that I used to drink, aur tujhe pata hai k wo hisa meri life ka sab se painful hisa hai, aur jab koi mujhe aisa mil gaya hai jis ko us se y farq nahi part tu mian peche nahi hat sakti shehna, I have longed to see that respect in someone's eyes on the mention of my past, plz!, mujhe nahi pataus se shaadi karna sahi hai ya nahi, per jab wo mujhe dekhta hai tu I feel secure,jab merey sath hota hai tu I feel the ultimate happiness ', shehna wiped off her tiny tears, "u know I asked that how did he come to know abt my drinking so he said it is not important, tu bol shehna!, main kaisey mana karti??, he was not interested in talking about that, he said he just wants to believe me around him, shehna wo bura nahi hai, he is not the wrong person, u know when I said that I am addicted , he said you WERE addicted, main..", farah's voice started to break, it felt that she was a lonely stranded girl speaking who had found out water in desert, shehna saw the helplessness in her eyes, she just couldn't let go off him, she was so scared that may be this happiness would also go away, after their parent's death she become so vulnerable, and especially that they were angry with her, she had just longed to see love and respect in someone's eyes,  , "thek hai di" shehna hugged her, thek hai, plz ro mat", she started patting her head slowly when araav came running  "massi u are getting married?",

Shehna and farah broke from the hug and wiped their tears ", umm, yes baby, who told u?"

"dad told us", it was rohan this time, and farah smiled sitting on her knees, "yes I am getting married",

"wow!, who is the lucky guy?,", rohan asked

"is he smart?, is he handsome?"

"does he earns well?'

Both of them were asking at a spree and farah couldn't help laughing, "yes, he is smart, he is handsome and he earns well! And he is not the lucky guy I am the lucky girl!", she said, picking them in her arms and went to kitchen, shehna was standing there seeing all this when manzar kissed her check, "its ok shehna, relax!", he placed his arm around her shoulders and all she could do was smile.

The time was running and farah's pulse was increasing every moment

"I will come in the evening", his words were again and again colliding with her ears and every time pink color took over her cheeks, how it would feel to be married to him, the feeling was just too over -whelming for her to explain.

Manzar and shehna were at her home. She decided to wear red shalwar suit and left her hair open.,she  applied her gloss and eye-liner.

Her heart was just not being able to bear the excitement anymore. What would he do?, how would he come?, what would it feel like to be married to him?, how would his home be? How would he take her home? What would he say? Will he even say something or not? She had never seen him smile, may be after marriage he would smile a bit, his home!, his nearness, the feeling of being HIS! The emotion of being…but before she could think more – the doorbell rang!, "Wali", she heard shehna's foot steps towards the door "shehna main kholti hon", she rushed out of her room to the door and turned the knob with irregular beats. She opened the door to see him standing there..looking ever so handsome!

"hi",' he said and farah thought she would die at the sight – he smiled! and he had dimples!

 "ander nahi bulao gi?", he spoke up after realizing that the staring session was prolonging, farah lowered her eyes, moving away from the door, he stepped in. They moved a couple of steps together, Wali could hear voices in the hallway. "meri bhen aur merey brother – in law hain ander,", she said, knowing he was curious, he nodded 

"chalo", she nervously stepped ahead, and Wali was walking behind her, they stepped in the lounge and manzar was already stinging the door, he smiled fully seeing Wali, "hi..i am  manzar", he extended his hand and Wali took it, "Wali", they moved in, where shehna was standing, "this is shehna, my wife, farah ki behn", shehna smiled and extended her hand, and Wali was speechless seeing shehna – she wore glasses, just like his own sister,  his heart was warmed by a strange affection, "hi shehna", he smiled and shehna saw a purity in his eyes and sincerity in his smile, which wiped off her fears to some extent, she smiled back. Farah was very relieved seeing gunajn smiling genuinely, she could make out her smile easily and then looked at Wali.

They all sat down, while farah went to make coffee, she could hear all of them talking, mainly manzar and Wali, she was sure shehna was busy observing his manners, she set the cups in tray when guanjn came and took the tray, "main le jati hon di, tum tum tyarri karo, hum coffee k baad ja rahe hain, tumhri shaadi karwane", she kissed her check and this was the final assurance she wanted from gunajn,s he saw the acceptance in her eyes.

She went in her room, stealing a glance at Wali who was busy talking to manzar, she went in the room, to pack her things.

Wali was talking to manzar but he couldn't ignore that the two kids were staring him constantly, araav and rohan jumped from the sofa and came stood beside Wali,

"u are getting married to our massi? Rohan asked and Wali, manzar and shehna – three of them were shocked at his tone.

"rohan!, what is this way of..

"dad plz!", he stiffly said again turning towards Wali who was amused at the way he was narrowing his eye-brows.

"yes", he said.                     

"do u know our massi is a princess?, he asked again and farah came out of her room, standing in the door , seeing what her nephews were doing, Wali looked at farah, "yes i know", a pink color engulfed her cheeks and she went inside, she wasn't able to withstand the blaze in his eyes, so she listened standing inside

"so a princess should marry a prince!, are u a prince?, this time araav asked

"arrav, u,,"

"Mom plz", they were not in a mood to listen to anyone, "are u a prince?", araav got back to his question and Wali looked at the door of farah's room, he knew she was standing there, "I don't know, I guess ur massi will answer this", he normally said, manzar broke into a laughter and shehna couldn't believe that he was being so witty and farah's pulse increased, she just couldn't help smiling, and the blush on her cheeks deepened.

"masiiiiii", both of them shouted in chorus and farah came out of her room, trying to pretend that she didn't hear anything, "kia hua ?", she was trying hard to sound normal.

"massi is he a prince?", araav walked to her and farah wanted to dig a hole in earth and crawl into it, Wali was straing at her ardently and so was manzar, while shehna sensed that her sister was extremely shy so she decided to help,

"ummm, hum late nai ho rahe?,

Farah breathed a sigh of relief, "haan!, hum late ho rahe hain!", she immediately supported shehna, manzar got up and placed his arm around farah's shoulder, "hmmm, bht jaldi hai?",shehna and manzar both broke into a laughter, while farah smiled and Wali didn't smile, but his face did show that he was content.

They all came out of the home and Wali silently walked away, leaving farah totally shocked,

"Wali ne kaha wo khud hi a jaye ga!", manzar said, seeing a dangerous expression on her face

"khud ?"

"haan, we all are meeting at the silktop road temple!", he smiled and they all got seated on manzar's car. The kids were constantly chatting, manzar and shehna were also talking but farah was very silent. This phase in her life was coming so unexpected, she just wanted to absorb all the anxiety.

The night had completely fallen. They reached the silktop temple. It was a beautiful site, limestone material which was shining in night, they all had been here a lot of times before but today everyone was feeling different. They all took there shoes off, smart helped kids to take there shoes off. They started climbing the stairs, farah and shehna pulled their dupptas on their head, and on reaching the main temple yard, they walked in, and as they walked in they saw Wali standing there. His eyes were closed, hands joined, and he was praying. Farah's heart warmed, he was wearing white shirt and black jenas, his sweater sleeves were pulled up a bit and he was looking so innocent praying. After offering a monetary prayer, manzar patted Wali , he opened his eyes and greeted him, he saw farah standing behind him, her dupptta over her head, and she was looking heavenly!, one strand of her hair was flowing on her face, farah lowered her eyes,

"chalo beta Wali, sari tyaari ho gayi hai", pandit ji came in and Wali nodded, smart and gunajn started walking and so did farah. Wali was walking beside him and he slid his hand in her fingers, for a moment farah couldn't believe that was it a reality, but when she sensed the grip turning stronger, she accepted it – this was going to be her reality from now onwards!.

They reached the indoors and sat down for marriage rituals. They followed instructions form the pandit ji. During the whole process, farah was feeling contentment she couldn't explain in words. They stood up for the marriage rounds and completed them holding hands. All the rituals were finally completed, farah's head was graced by vermillion of Wali's name and her neck had the black beads of their marriage.

"mubarik ho , shaadi mukalmil ho gai hai", it was formally announced  and manzar hugged Wali and farah, and shehna hugged farah, smiling at Wali

"Congratulations!", they both said and Wali and farah smiled normally. Offering another prayer, they started coming down.

"ok!, ab hum chaltey hain, farah tumhra saman  tumhare ghr bhijwa zarminey hai",manzar jubilantly said and shehna was about to his farah again when manzar pulled her, "baad main chashmish, let them go  home now", he smiled and shehna smiled weakly.

Farah was feeling awkward at manzar's statement, farah kissed the kids and four of them sat in their car and went. They both saw their car taking a turn on the road. Farah nervously adjusted her duppata, pulling the shawl more close to her body, when she felt Wali's breath on her check, "chalen ghr?", he leaned on her ear, farah slightly turned her neck and nodded lightly. They started walking and Wali again held her hand, this time more tightly.

Both of them were walking, with farah feeling extremely shy and Wali feeling content and happy – walking as a married couple – sealed forever!