The ninth one!

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«The Universe has a cruel sense of timing.»

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"Do we really have to do all this?" Asked Humaira, looking up from her textbook, which her tutor had assigned her to read.

Umair spared a plain glance at her, questioning his life and how he ended up with her as his pupil. He could have been anywhere, teaching a classroom full of students and filling his bank, but instead, he was here, being a substitute for his father to one of his dear students who had no interest in studies.

"I'm not a psychologist who would know what you're thinking just by your expressions. Speak."

The book he was holding made a sharp clapping noise when Umair shut it closed following Humaira's statement. Keeping it on his desk, he said, "As a literature student, I expect you to understand more about expressions and actions than any psychologist."

"Pardon?"

Umair had a cocky smile," hmm... " He rose up from his chair, "use of pardon instead of sorry; someone is learning."

"Yes!" Humaira grinned, "I'm getting this degree to use 'pardon' instead of 'sorry'." Her eyes were following her tutor who was walking towards her.

" You have potential, Humaira. I want you to use that." He was now standing in front of her desk.

" What did you mean- when you said that as a literature student I should know more about expression than any psychologist?"

His head dipped slightly, and his arms crossed over his chest," What do you picture when a character is tapping their foot or playing with their dress? "

"Umm... " Her eyes wandered for a second before answering, "The character is anxious? Not comfortable with their surrounding? "

Another nod followed by a question," The character is not making an eye contact while speaking?" He asked, addressing her current action. She was examining everything about the room instead of holding his gaze while answering him.

Humaira didn't miss the root of his question, she looked at him sharply, "Sir, may I remind you that I'm here to learn aspects of language from you? My knowledge of literature is decent enough to score average. So, please, " she plastered a sweet mocking smile, "Polish my below-average knowledge and spare everything else."

Umair scoffed, shaking his head, smiling to himself, "God, I swear- I've never seen someone so satisfied with their mediocrity."

"Well, not everyone wants to thrive in life and be a part of the rat race. Some just want to live..."

"Live for what exactly? I don't see you with any purpose, Humaira. You're the rebel with no cause-"

Humaira chuckled, stopping him, "From where did you get the idea of me being a rebel, Sir? I'm not revolting against any system or... anyone. I'm just a bad student who bunks college, nothing else."

" You bunk college? "

" Was that a surprise? " She mocked his surprised tone.

He sighed," no. "

"Then why that tone of surprise?"

"I wondered if you were trying to improve your grades, so, you were supposed to put more ef-"

"Uh-uh," Humaira interrupted him, "You are supposed to level up my grades while I stay as I am." She bowed a little to give a dramatic touch.

"That I will." Umair's voice was firm, as if he was accepting an unspoken challenge. Maybe that was how he saw it. When his father told him that he'd have to take over one of his students who was repeatedly failing in a linguistic paper, he made a mental note on how to guide that person, but when he came face-to-face with that student, he knew he was in for a rough ride.

He vividly remembered his dad's dear student Humaira, who technically lived at his father's place and used to be the playdate of his younger brother, who never wanted to play with her but their dad made sure his student got her wish fulfilled. She used to play Saad's wife and feed everyone her dreamy tea and food cooked by her. Even the fourteen-year-old Umair and the ten-year-old Saad had to sip on those empty cups, as well as praise the imaginary beverage.

"What are you smiling at?"

"Your childhood memories."

Humaira blinked after listening to his reply. She tilted her head a little, "My childhood memories?"

Childhood memories and her... it might be the first time she was hearing those two words together. She had no one who told her what she was like or what she did as a child. She wasn't even aware that there might be people who remembered something about her.

"What? You weren't always a 24-year-old idiot; you used to be a 7... 8... 9; married to my brother. " Umair teased.

"Ha! Ha! Very funny."

"Well, do you still cook biryani and samosa daily or have you lost the talent to do so while growing up?"

"Yup, I'm still a master chef in cooking khayali pulao."

"Poor Furqan, he'd die of hunger before old age." He clicked his tongue, making a pity face for her fiancé.

Humaira rolled her eyes, "Do I need to remind you again about how rich he is?"

"No, I vividly remember his posh car standing outside our house."

"Have heard he has more." She bragged.

"Good for him. Back to your study."

Humaira rolled her eyes again before slamming the book on the table, pretending to go through the words scribbled on it.

"Read out loud." Umair's command earned him a look from his student that said 'Are you serious?'. He shrugged, "What? Didn't you hear me? Read out loud. You cannot fool me by only running your eyes over pages without actually going through the words. I know you too well to-"

"Be fooled by me. Ya, yeah... You said that in the beginning. " Humaira interrupted his words in a bored tone.

"Wish you were this good at remembering the prompts for your answer as well."

Flashing a grinning smile, Humaira began to read out loud like a seven-year-old showcasing her reading talent in front of a room full of students. Umair shook his head and continued with his ongoing work- he paused when he remembered something and decided to inform his student about the same;

"Uhm... Humaira?"

"Yes, Sir?" He had her attention.

"There won't be any classes for the next two weeks." He informed.

She nodded, "Yeah, even I need a leave next Wednesday. It's my engagement. But, why do we need two weeks?"

"Saad is getting married next Friday and I'll be looking after all the preparations."

"Next Friday?" Humaira bit her lips, scribbling in her textbook. Umair didn't fail to notice the shift of her emotions; from carefree to... disappointed?

Resting his elbow on the desk, he looked at her, "Why? You didn't know?"

Humaira chuckled, "Nope. Haven't received the invitation yet."

"Since when do you need an invitation to attend an event in this household? And Zoya is your best friend."

"Why wouldn't I need an invitation? Now I'm not shameless enough to gatecrash a wedding."

Umair rose from his chair and started walking towards her, "What rubbish are you speaking? As much as I remember, you are the one who used to plan Saad and Dad's birthdays and send ME the invitation for the same. Now you're the one waiting for an invitation? Dad would kill me if he saw a card addressed to you."

"I'm not a family member," she reminded  softly while highlighting random lines on her notes, "of course I'm going to need a card to en-"

"Seriously?" He stopped in front of her desk with his arms crossed. "You're still upset about that? I did apologize for it, remember?"

"You apologized for mishandling me." She retorted.

"Mishandling?" He was shocked, "When did I mishandle you?"

Humaira looked up at him, "Then what? You were swinging me in your arms when you held me harshly?"

" I didn't hold you harshly." He defended.

"Okay. You didn't." Humaira shrugged and brought her attention back to her notebook.

Umair stood there silently, looking at her. He was trying to recall the incident and remember if he was harsh or not. Heaving a sigh he concluded that it wasn't for him to decide. If she felt hurt or insulted, it wasn't his place to decide otherwise. He knew that he had lost his cool and now, he was guilty for it.

"I'm sorry if you felt that way. I didn't mean to be harsh- neither with my words, nor by action. But I'm sorry..."

He sounded very sincere.

In response to his apology, all he got was two tiny nods. Humaira didn't even bother to look up at him. He wanted to have her attention but chose to respect her agency. While walking back to his desk, he stopped, remembering something. "When is your engagement? Wednesday?"

"Yes."

"Date?"

"25th April 2018. Why?"

"It's... Saad and Zoya's Haldi. They are getting married on 27th April."

"It's fine." Humaira shrugged casually, "I wasn't going to invite you. You can-"

"You don't want Dad to be a part of it?"

"I'd love to," she smiled, "but I cannot ask him to ditch his son's wedding event to attend mine, right? Doesn't make sense."

"You can-"

"Furqan is leaving for Singapore the next day. Some business seminar," she chuckled, "he managed to fit in our engagement in between his busy schedule." She leaned back trying to remember something, "actually not a seminar. It's some project." She informed, "he's staying there for... Uhm... till June and when he comes back, I'll have my June wedding." She smiled.

"June wedding?" He smiled back. Humaira nodded, "Well, I wanted a September one, but Furqan couldn't wait for that long."

"Hasn't he like... waited enough?"

The teacher-student duo looked at the direction of the speaker: Saad.

"What? He has waited for 3/4 of his life. What's the point of marrying if he doesn't-" Saad's words were left hanging after hearing a 'shut up' from his brother.

Humaira rolled her eyes, shaking her head at Saad's remark, from which she was getting fed up. He didn't leave a chance to mock the age gap between the couple.

Saad came inside and knelt in front of her desk, holding her hand, "You won't attend your first husband's first wedding event?" His voice was laced with sadness. Umair bit on his lips to suppress his chuckle, and Humaira gave Saad a bored expression, "Seriously?"

"Come on, Humaira. It was your friend's idea to hide our relationship. I don't know or care if you guys have sorted it out or not. I want my first wife-" Umair smacked his brother's head, making him correct his sentence in the next second, "my childhood friend to attend each and every moment of my wedding. Even help my brother plan it... because, it's only you who knows what my wedding should be like." He smiled, then whispered, "marking that you and I have had many."

He knew Humaira wouldn't miss the important day of his life, but he still didn't want her to feel that her silence or aloofness wasn't seen by them. He was doing everything to convince his friend to attend his wedding; and to Humaira, he felt like a warm sunny day after a hurricane.

Saad and she always had a Tom and Jerry bond. She had been present for as long as he could remember, so he didn't want her to be absent on his special day. Zoya could have been busy with her bridal preparation but Saad couldn't wait for her to mend things with her.

Humaira laughed getting her hand off his and smacking his head lightly, "shut up."

"Come on, Humaira." Saad stood up and sat beside her, "You'll come right?"

"It's my engagement, Saad." She pointed apologetically.

"But... You will help with the planning?" His eyes reflected the hope he had.

"Why do you need her help? Don't you have any faith in your brother?" Umair was offended.

"Bhai, with all due respect. You weren't the one marrying me 15 times." He was dead serious.

"Saad!" Humaira pushed him hard to make him fall from the bench. Umair smirked muttering a 'well deserved' under his breath.

"Now get out and let Humaira complete her studies. Out." Umair pointed towards the exit.

"God," Saad stood up wincing in pain, but he had a peace within that his Jerry was back, or else she wouldn't have pushed him off. "I'm forgiving you only because I want you to attend my wedding." He boasted walking out of the room, leaving the two to continue their business.

"What a drama." Umair sighed at his brother's unplanned performance, "and you, madam, back to your studies. That was enough distraction for one day."

"It's only good when you're the one distracting me." She complained, picking her note to her eye level.

He smirked, "Let me introduce you to the term- 'hierarchy', it comes with its benefits."

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Oops...

After 15 weddings Saad and Humaira realised that they are better of as friends! Haha.

The engagement & haldi dates clashed guys!

What do you all think would happen next?

Saad is such a cutie! Having a male friend like him is a blessing man. Lucky Aira!

Aira se yaad aya...

Which nickname do you like better for her:

Huma, Aira or... Jerry?

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Tata!