Saliha and Zara had been summoned by the elders to receive the most recent news.
Ma'Amina advised them, "So now that you know, you two should be ready for shopping early tomorrow morning."
Loharani told them in his grand style of speaking, "Girls, you should buy any outfit you wish." he furthermore noted, "A credit card will be issued to you for the purchasing."
This improved Zara's dismissive attitude. She appeared to have broken up with Yahya, the man she had planned to marry soon. The family had a temper tantrum as a result of this terrible news. Even Loharani was upset by the news, but she did not tell the man's family because the elderly had been totally disregarded.
"What are you going to wear, precisely? Saliha had worked up the nerve to inquire in an effort to ease their tension since that episode, as they hadn't spoken much since."
"I should be asking you," Zara boasted, "Most colors look gorgeous on me."
Saliha giggled back and complimented Zara on her appearance after swallowing her pride. "I'm not sure, I'm actually confused. But I am confident that you will assist me in finding the right outfit."
A more amicable conversation ensued, passing the time until they eventually stood up to pray their Isha. At that point, Zara started acting loose around her.
"I am so excited to go to the fancy restaurant!" Saliha revealed, grinning from ear to ear. Above all, she was nervous. She was undoubtedly not ready. She was scared. At bedtime, she texted Ma'Nosheen.
And her response was:
[Child, do not worry about this. You just do the right thing always. Speak when it is the right time for you to speak. And do not be hasty in making decisions. Allah shall Guide you. ]
[Thank you very much.]
"What are you doing?" Zara peeked at Saliha's phone. Saliha coyly closed the screen with her palms and switched the phone off. She did not want Zara to find out what she was conversing with her paternal aunt.
"You're so secretive,"
"What do you mean, ya? You know I never keep secrets from you..." Saliha mumbled, coming to her for a hug. She did not hug her back, but instead, squinted her face.
"You haven't had your night bath... have you?"
Saliha blushed, closing her face.
"OmG. Go and bath, Saliha! You smell sweaty, I swear!" She exclaimed, pushing Saliha away from her. "You're about to get married and you're still not changing for good," she stated, closing her nose.
Saliha frowned. "I'm not about to get married, i'm about to have a meet-up,"
"Still!"
"Yes, fine. I'm going now. I was planning to anyways," with that, she stood up and headed to the bathroom to wind off.
At night, she was too excited to sleep but could not, as she kept thinking about tomorrow's shopping. She gradually fell asleep after overthinking for so long that her head began to hurt. At fajr, Zara brought up the conversation about what they were going to wear.
"I finally decided on blue." Zara said, curious to know what she was up to. "Whatchu gonna wear?"
"eh, you know I love purple. I thought that would look great."
"Don't wear purple, wear pink. It's feminine."
"And what is a masculine color?"
"Blue," she quickly answered.
"Well, do men wear blue all the time?"
"This is a leading question, Sallu. Knock it off."
"That's why I simply think purple wou-"
"Ugh-- you don't like listening to good advices..." she poked Saliha's forehead. "Wear pink,"
"Fine..."
"I decided on a boutique we could go to already. They have fancy dresses there."
"Really? Tell me more!" Saliha squealed excitedly.
"It's quite far. About thirty minutes drive from here. But it's worth it,"
So they continued their girly chit chat.
---
Hugging his brothers and waving to his stepmother while grabbing his bags, Aabid left to the car. Ma'Naima ran over to them while he was ready to get inside it, waving an envelope in her hand. Aabid wondered what it contained.
"I completely forgot! Take this with you," she handed him the envelope. "I was supposed to give this to you,"
"Mami, what is in it?" he asked, with no expression on his face. However, he was still curious to know who directed her to hand it out to him. Aabid abruptly guessed it was his father's command. Yet, he mentioned nothing.
"Her photo Aabid." she stated and gave a wholehearted grin. He said naught, but simply got in and in a few minutes, the car left the residence.
"Why can't they just send it to me on my phone?" He mumbled, stashing the envelope in his briefcase.
Aabid discovered they were boarding the private jet when they got to the airport. This implied that his uncle was a part of the travelling team. Aabid only offered him a cursory welcome because he did not care of his uncle very much. He was the father of Yeccef.
As they waited for their departure, Aabid located a seat. He discovered the envelope that ma'Naima had given him when he opened his briefcase to study a file he was scheduled to send the Istanbul branch. He believed he was entirely uninterested in who she was, yet he was still inquisitive about her appearances. He hesitantly ripped open the envelope to see what was inside. It was undeniably a photograph of Saliha.
He didn't give much thought to it. There were no filters used, just her true face in a clear and authentic photograph. Nevertheless, he was unimpressed by her beauty. Aabid She struck him as being quite out of date, and he started to question if she could even speak well in any other languages but urdu and perhaps Turkish. Violet was more stunning than she was. She was more refined, accustomed, and glamorous.
Why is this local girl being set up for me?
Aabid thought of Loharani as a Nouveau-rich guy even though he was revered by many affluent houses. He regarded Loharani and his family, despite their riches and prominence, have still been antiquated in reference to other affluent households.
Aabid was abruptly taken out of his thoughts by Aydin's announcement, "Sir, the plane has arrived." He swiftly reinserted the photograph into the envelope and stood up after indicating a nod.
---
That it was maghrib was widely known to him. Nevertheless, he ingested the red capsule in the hopes that he would soon nod off. Aabid and Aydin immediately set out for the closest five-star hotel after their hour-long flight without pausing. He was too exhausted to visit the main Jalaludeen home and put up with his step-siblings' customary odd stares and murmurs.
Aabid attempted to fight off the grief he was bound to feel by swallowing around two glasses of water and wrapping himself snugly in the blankets. The young man cherished the thought that taking the red tablet would help him sleep better. He and Violet would take it after they had experienced challenging days. He shared a roof with her for two years. Almost all of their actions were performed in tandem, including the smoking and alcohol consumption.
Some time later, he slept peacefully, as if he had nothing to worry about.