It was 25th November.
Mehendi ceremony (Henna ceremony)

I hope this day would be spent well. I met Jaylene at our meet up point and left for our friend's home.

But not before paying back.

I found one store of recharge dealers and did a prepaid recharge on his number.

It wasn't even seconds when he called me.

"Hello?" He said.

"Yes."

"You did this recharge?"

"Yes," I sat inside the auto-rickshaw with Jaylene.

"Tum pagal ho?"
(Are you crazy?)

"Shayad."
(Maybe)

"Arey I already have a prepaid recharge of 1-year validity going on."

"It's alright."

"It would go to waste now."

"It's okay." I shrugged.

"You are crazy for real! Why did you do that?"

"I had to do it and I did it. I don't like if anyone spends on me." My limbs were getting cold despite the warm weather.

"Achha. Itne gusse me kyu ho?"
(Ohh. Why do you sound so angry?)

"I am not."

"Oh?"

"Yeah just called someone to meet. If he doesn't want to come then good for him."

"Ohh, whom did you call?"

"Tha koi chutiya"
(Some asshole.)

"Ohh," he chuckled. "Are you outside?"

"Yes"

"Where are you going?"

"Hangout."

"Oh with whom? Boyfriend?"

"No."

"Mom?"

"If I was with mom I wouldn't be talking to you like this."

"Ah, then friend? What's her name?"

"Tum itne anjaan kyu ban rahe ho har cheez me?"
(Why are you acting so unaware of everything?)

"No, when did I?"

"Where are you going? With whom? Like I didn't told you anything!" I snapped at him.

"No seriously, you just told me you're going at your friend's house. Not with whom."

"Okay. Jaylene is with me."

"Ohh Jaylene. Where did you reach now?"

"Why? Are you coming?"

"I can come anytime."

A micro mini hope tingled in my heart.
Is he messing with me?

"Yeah yeah sure. You couldn't even come when I asked you." I brushed off that hope as soon as it came.

"Yaar esi baat nahi hai."
(No, it's not like that.)

"Phir kesi hai?"
(Then what's it like?)

"What if I wouldn't have liked your gift? Your efforts would have gone to waste. By the way, what was it? At least tell me now."

"Kya fayda bata ke? Choro raat gayi baat gayi"
(What's the use now? Let bygones be bygones.)

"Nahi abhi to din hai. Batao kya tha"
(No it's not gone yet. Tell me what was it?)

I sighed.

"C'mon"

"Diary deti tumhe," I said in a small voice.
(I would have given you a diary)

"Achhhaa diary. Apne haatho se likhi hui?"  His voice got deeper, messing with my brain and heart at the same time.
(Ohhhh diaryy! Written by your own hands?)

"Abey khaali. Blank!" My voice got higher with each word. He was getting on my nerves but wasn't leaving a chance to twist my stomach. 
(Blank! blank!)

"Ohh blank." He chuckled.

"Yes with a pen. For you to write." I felt like explaining to a nursery kid.

"Now look I don't like to write much. Isn't it good that you didn't bought it?" He concluded.

"Yes very good." Sarcasm was my best buddy at the moment.

"It would have just lied down in a corner," He carried on with his explanation.

"Absolutely."

"You are looking quite angry right now. Doesn't want to talk maybe. Shall I cut the call?" I don't know where his politeness was coming from.

"I don't know. Your wish." I replied in a monotone.

"Hmm. Okay, then I'm going as you are quite angry."

I didn't say anything.

"Hello?" He said, when he got no response for a few seconds.

"Yes?"

"Okay I'm hanging up"

"Fine."

"Okay then, bye"

"Bye"

I don't know why I got even more frustrated when he actually cut the call. I didn't want him to do it.

'But you are the one who was talking rudely Hayat. What would he have done otherwise?'
My subconscious mind answered.

But I wasn't angry for no reason!

I looked at Jaylene and asked, "Was I too rude? Or harsh with him?".
Guilt was crawling up inside me for no reason.

"Absolutely not. He deserved it." She replied.

"Yeah. He deserved it." I repeated after her to reassure myself more than agreeing with her.

The rest of the day went great just like a perfect henna ceremony.
Hands full of henna, photoshoots with the bride, aunties gossiping in corners, and food! Yum yum!

Jaylene and I were getting special treatment with Lina, our bride, as we were 'Dulhan ki saheliyan', (Bridesmaids) which also gave me the privilege of being the DJ for the day.

It was my first time being a part of a gathering with a mixture of friends and family, and I kinda enjoyed it.

.
.

********

26th November 2021

The wedding day!

I woke up with excitement for the day ahead of me, doing necessary chores with mum when his thought crawled up in the back of my mind.

Was I too rude to him?
Should I call him?

My brain said no but my stupid heart won over.

And welp! I ended up calling him.

He picked up after two rings.

"Hello?"

"Ji" (yes) he answered politely.

"Are you busy?"

"No"

"Okay"

"Hmm say"

"I called because we couldn't talk properly yesterday, as I was quite angry."

"I see. So are you sorry for that?"

"Why would I be? I haven't done anything wrong"

"Ohkay"

"We couldn't talk properly that's why I called."

"Hmm sure. What's up?"

We talked normally for a while, and our meet up got brought up again in the conversation.

"To be honest, I was actually shy to meet you," he admitted sheepishly.

"What?!" I got surprised.

Shy?
With me???

"Yeah." He chuckled nervously.

"You haven't met a girl before?"

"Just twice. One was my friend, while the other was my ex. But I was quiet the whole time."

"Uffo." I pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Seriously I can't seem to understand what to say or talk about"

"I would have just given you the gift, sat for a bit, and then left. It's not like we were supposed to stay for the whole day."

"Yeah, but we need to know a person's likes and dislikes before giving them gifts," He fired at me.

"Yeah but for that, we also need to talk with them, and hang out," I backfired.

"Hangouts are possible for those who can meet weekly," He made a defense.

"You couldn't even come once!" I counter-attacked.

"I would have come happily if it was a packet of cigarettes."

Yeah, he smokes.
I didn't mentioned before,
did I?
At first I didn't believed him 1%, but soon realized he wasn't joking and had a full-on debate on it about pros n cons (mostly cons).

"That's whyyy I asked you whatt...youu.... wantt!!" I gave pressure on every word.

"But I don't want anything."

"Jeez," I sighed, pinching my nose bridge with thumb and index finger.

You can't defeat him bro

"Anyways. What's up?"

Our topic drifted to dramas and web series as I asked about his interests.

But he thinks of them as a time waste.

Because they are addicting.

He went on to tell me about his journey of Pakistani drama addiction he got a month ago, which turned him into a night owl. 

One night = one drama.

But just after two nights, he promised himself to never watch any drama or series again.

Our convo carried on as he told me about one of those dramas named, 'Mere paas tum ho' (I have you).

But soon the discussion turned into debate lol.

"I have heard a lot about it but never watched," I said

"It's a must-watch show. Best drama ever."

"I see. What was the name? Mere paas tum ho?"
My heart skipped a beat when I said those words. I know it's a drama's name but I wish I could mean those too.

In real
For once
For him

"Yeah. The girl betrays him." His voice brought me back to earth.

"I see. Poor him."

"Yeah. That's not even just a drama, it's actually a reality."

"Oh really?" I sat up straight at his comment.

"Yep mostly every girl is unfaithful."

"Including boys."

"Boys aren't like that."

"I have seen it."

"Boys are unfaithful when they don't truly fall in love with someone. But if they do, they stay loyal.

"But they are unfaithful, right?"

"Because they haven't fallen in love. But a girl can become unfaithful even after falling in love, that's what is shown in that drama."

You wanna fight Mr.?

"Nah, I don't believe it."

"They fell in love, got married, have a baby but she still betrays him."

"She didn't really loved him that means."

As simple as that bruh!

"She did, but she forgot."

"Love can't be forgotten," I chuckled.

"A girl forgets easily."

"She can't." I closed my eyes with a smile. He was boiling me up now.

"She can. You know why?"

"You are not a girl, just keep quiet." I snapped at him.

"A girl usually shows and feels all of her emotions in the starting, but a boy doesn't. And welp! She forgets easily. Then she thinks about starting a new life."

"Tumhari galat-fehmi hai ye," I concluded politely.
(That's a mis-conception of yours.)

"Okay as you say."

"Always remember, not everything shown in drama is realistic."

"That was a real-life story."

"Uffo. I'm telling you then she didn't love him truly," I huffed.

"She did," he kept on repeating.

HE IS SO STUBBORN

"Paancho ungliya ek jesi hoti hain?"
(Are all five fingers the same?)

"Ungliya pehli baat chaar hoti hain." He corrected me.
(First of all, there are four fingers.)

"Whatever. Are they same?" I huffed again.

"If you bend them, they can all become same." He moved my theory in a different direction.

"Uffo. I'm talking about their size."

For the tenth time,
He is so annoying!

"Yeah, but after bending they become the same. So what's the moral? If we all bend down, we all become equal." He concluded.

And here comes our philosopher Murat Ahmad.

"Yeah but I'm talking about their size. This means everyone is different in their nature and perspectives. You can't judge them all in one plate." I sum up my theory.

"Hmmm. It's just my thought."

"Haa to ye tumhari galat-fehmi hai ki sab ladkiya ek jesi hoti hain."
(Yes and it's your mis-understanding that all girls are the same.)

"Achhi baat hai meri galat-fehmi hai. Kyuki is galat-fehmi ki vajah se main in chutiyape wale chakkaro me padna nahi chahta."
(Yeah it's good to be my mis-understanding. Thanks to this mis-conception I don't wanna indulge in these stupid things.)

Welp!
Did I hit the spot?

"Hmm, that's fine too."

"Or agar insan ki galat-fehmi usko in cheezo se rok le to uski vo galat-fehmi nahi achhi-fehmi hoti hai"
(If a person is saved from these stupid things by his mis-conception, then it's his good-conception.)

"Achhi-fehmi?" I chuckled. "Use khush-fehmi kehte hai."
("Good-conception?" I chuckled. "That's credulity")

"Hum to achhi-fehmi kahenge, khush-fehmi nhi. Kyuki khush to hain nhi hum." He chuckled but I felt sadness in his voice.
(That's good-conception for me. Because I'm not happy)

A wave of silence crossed between us after his last line.

Happy?

How can you be happy, if you keep on running away from the things you want?

.
.
.

******************

there's a use of a pun above.

Urdu word 'Khush-Fehmi (خوش فہمی)' means credulity in English.
But if we see the word literally,
'khush- happy'
'fehmi- understanding'

So he used the word 'khush' in two different ways.