The tenth one!

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« She was either wildly naive or dangerously intelligent. »

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Here, the florist has confirmed both the venue and jewelry orders. Zoya's jewelry would reach her around noon, and the venue decoration would start early in the morning." Humaira informed Umair after disconnecting the call.

"And what flowers?"

"Yellow and orange marigolds for decor, and yellow roses with mogras for Zoya. I've mentioned it to them." She went through the checklist again, "I've also forwarded the designs... Just in case."

"Good." Umair appreciated and threw a can of cold drink towards her direction which she almost dropped, "careful!"

"Caught it!" She flashed the can.

"Should I drop you or-"

"Furqan is coming to pick me up." She informed, taking a sip from her can; to which Umair just nodded in reply.

"You're still not coming to the event?"

"For the hundredth time, Sir... It's my engagement."

"Dad's not happy about you missing it," Umair told her. He wasn't pleased after hearing that Humaira's engagement was clashing with Saad and Zoya's Haldi, as he didn't want to miss either but he had his own guests to attend. He showed his displeasure to Zoya who still couldn't spare time to meet Humaira to explain her motive behind hiding Saad and her relationship.

It It wasn't as if Zoya didn't want to reach out to her friend, but before she could do that, her family came up with their weird tradition that they had to follow: the bride stays home for at least seven days before her wedding, without access to modern-day technologies- mobile, laptop, TV, etc. The bride was just supposed to be looked after and pampered by her family and relatives.

"Neither am I," she took another sip, "but I cannot help with it. I wanted Sir to be present there-"

Umair cut her off, confused, "You wanted me to be present there?"

"No, Sir... I meant your father." She clarified.

Umair's eyebrows shot up in reaction to her statement. Since when did she start addressing his dad as 'Sir' and he questioned her the same. "Sir? But you call him 'baba', right?"

She nibbed her lips, "uhm... Just..." She wasn't sure how to put into words how his statement that day broke her illusion of having a father. "I... Uhm..."

"I, uhm, just.... Next what?" He was looking at her curiously.

Heaving a deep sigh, she looked at him and without any second thought, she spoke what she was holding in, "I used to call him baba because that's how I see him. A father figure. A family. But then I realised it's not true. Family will always stand for one another and an outsider would always be an outsider." She took another sip, "I'm one of his hundreds of students. Just because I've been here since... I don't know... 20 years? Doesn't make me part of this house and I don't believe in forcing my place into people's lives. If they want me, I'll be there; if not, then that is fine too."

Umair couldn't look away from her. When he said that Saad's life was a family matter, he didn't realise that his words would leave a deep scar in Humaira's heart. Though he had already apologised twice but it didn't seem enough for Humaira to go back to how it was. Umair was considering this no less than a miracle that his father hadn't crossed paths with his student in the last few days. If his father got to know that his beloved student was calling him 'sir' instead of 'baba', he'd make Umair pay 10 folds of what he could possibly imagine.

Shaking his thoughts off, Umair was about to say something, but before he could, a knock at the door caught their attention. Furqan was standing there with a bouquet of red roses. Humaira called his name, walking to him with a bright smile.

"For you, my young lady." Furqan presented her the flowers, which she accepted with the same smile, muttering a soft 'thank you'.

"How's the preparation going, Professor?" Furqan acknowledged Umair's presence. "You're keeping my would-be quite busy; first with all the homework and now these preparations." He joked, making Humaira chuckle.

Umair smiled at him, "It's going good. Your fiancée is of great help."

"Well... The help would be missing tomorrow." He informed and turned to Humaira, "I've booked your mehendi appointment. You're going full bridal."

"But it's engagement..." Humaira reasoned, "Wouldn't something simple..."

"Nah." He brushed it off, "Simple isn't for you, Huma. I want to see your hands adorned with the colour of love." He said while reaching out for her hand. Humaira's heart stopped for a moment with the touch. She didn't feel uncomfortable; his hold was gentle, but this feeling was alien to her.

"Your palms are remarkably soft and... that's a very pretty bracelet." He praised her feminity as well as the delicate piece of jewellery that was resting on her wrist. It had a silver chain and a blue moonstone surrounded by tiny white stones around it, giving it the shape of Saturn.

"Thank you." Humaira said again, gently taking her hand away from him, she held the bouquet with both hands, "The flowers are very pretty. I really appreciate it."

"That's the least I could do. Shall we?"

Humaira smiled at him nodding a yes. She was really touched by his gesture and admired his mature and kind aura. She turned towards Umair to sign her departure, who smiled at her with a soft nod and waved his hand briefly as she exited along with Furqan.

In this quick encounter, Umair realised what Humaira meant about Furqan. He was indeed very gentle and respectful towards her, and the way he looked at her was pure admiration and kindness. As a man, he felt that he could understand another man's intentions by the way he looked at women. And with Furqan, it seemed that he admired Humaira. The way he took her hand in his and didn't switch his behaviour when Humaira pulled out of his hold. He noticed everything. Even after all these, he wasn't sure about him, but again, it wasn't his place to say anything.

Humaira was sitting on the passenger seat, admiring her present with a pleasant smile, while Furqan was driving.

"Furqan?"

"Yes, Huma?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything, Sweetheart." He smiled.

Humaira felt her cheeks getting warm listening to him address her with an endearment. Her heart fluttered and with slight hesitation, she rephrased her question;

"I meant... can I ask for something ?"

He briefly looked at her with warmth in his eyes, "My response remains the same, sweetheart. You can ask me anything as well as ask for anything."

"Can we reschedule our engagement?"

He spared a swift glance at her before stopping the car at the side of the road.

"Reschedule? Why? Are you not sure about this?" His tone wasn't offended or rude, but firm, questioning Humaira's certainty about their marriage.

She quickly shook her head, "No, it's not like that." Humaira reassured.

"Then why? Everything is prepared, bacche."

(Child)

"I know and I am... I really want to attend Zoya and Saad's haldi." She confessed. Her tone was apologetic. Humaira knew that she was asking for too much but she had to take her chance. "One is my best friend and the other is my childhood friend. I don't wanna miss it. Please."

It was hardly a month after their first meeting. They didn't share texts on regular basis for another two weeks. After Humaira chose her ring, which was designed by Furqan himself. Yeah, it was later that she found out that Furqan was the owner of a jewellery brand and was a fine designer himself. He had designed four rings and Humaira chose which she found the best.

Humaira also came to realise that the day Furqan came to pick her up, he was supposed to take her to his office and not any store. Instead of putting up an argument or pursuing her, he accepted her turning down his plan with grace. Due to all the minor kind gestures done by him, here she was- taking a big risk.

"Huma... There are only two days left. How come you didn't say it earlier?" Furqan asked a genuine question.

"I wasn't aware of the program. I got to know about the dates after finalising our engagement." She explained her situation.

Furqan heaved a sigh, "What do you want me to do, Humaira? Cancel our engagement so that you can attend your friend's haldi?" He wasn't sure what Humaira wanted from him.

"No," she panicked, "I didn't say anything about canceling. Just that... Instead of evening, can we have it in... afternoon and... wrap it around sunset?" She suggested with a half smile, waiting for his response.

"Engagement. At noon?" Furqan repeated and Humaira just nodded. "Do you hear how absurd it sounds, Huma?" He scoffed. "But you know what doesn't sound absurd?" He faced her again, "a haldi ceremony at noon. With all the sunlight making it bright and beautiful. Why don't you ask them to reschedule, hmm?" He suggested.

Humaira couldn't figure out if he was mocking or was genuine with his suggestion because his face didn't reflect a single ounce of displeasure, but his voice had urgency.

"I would have," she mumbled, "I would surely have if I felt I had more right to pursue them than my fiancé..."

A warm coy smile found its way on Furqan's lips hearing her reply, "So..." He tried to find her eyes that were fixed on the bouquet, "You feel that you've rights over me?" He questioned.

"Don't I?" She asked innocently.

Furqan didn't reply with words. He shook his head with his slightly curved lips, picked out his mobile. Humaira eyed him curiously as he made the call.

"Kurt?"

....

"I need you to call the event planner and inform her that the engagement will be happening during the day. Change the venue from the banquet to the lawn. Decor accordingly. My Sweetheart wants a daylight engagement and that is what she'll be getting." He instructed his assistant over the phone, but his eyes never left Humaira, who was now smiling wholeheartedly. The call was disconnected after he had shared all his impromptu ideas.

"Happy now?" He asked.

"Very!" Humaira chirped, "You're so nice. I-"

"Ssshhh... It's the least I can do for you."

"But... Wasn't bringing flowers the least?" She reminded him of the words he had said to her an hour ago.

"Huma," he smiled taking her hand in his, "If you ask for anything that's well under my control, it'd never be too much for me."

Humaira blushed again. She was not habituated to someone treating her this way. She wasn't very sure about Furqan the day she met him, nor the day after; but as he was opening up to her, she found him to be calm and warm. Something that she always felt was missing in her life. The age gap did scare her at times, or to be fair, the generation gap. Humaira belonged to an era that had a different idea of love, where everything was either said as it was or there was a communication issue. She was the former kind and luckily, Furqan got her well. He didn't mind her asking for space. He gave her time to accept their relationship. He respected her decisions, and her requests. She couldn't ask for a more understanding partner she thought.

Furqan dropped her off at her home and informed Humaira's aunt about the change in the program. He left from there after saying his goodbye.

Humaira didn't even get a chance to freshen up when her phone beeped flashing a text from Furqan. It was her to-do list for tomorrow: her pre-party skin treatment, her mehendi appointment, hair spa. etc.,. She chuckled seeing how particular and organised he was for everything. She could literally switch off her brain when around him, and he'd just take care of everything without her knowing that he was doing all that.

What's that?

Humaira's eyes squint, seeing her college group having several messages. The serious group. This generally happens when exams are near, or going on, or something related to assignments. She clicked her tongue as if she cared enough for her academics. It was related to her present semester; if anything goes wrong, she'd have two other attempts to rectify it. Tossing her phone in bed she completed her night ritual and dreamt about all the pampering she was to experience tomorrow.

|~★~|

The engagement is rescheduled!

Humaira found a way to attend her friend's wedding event after all the ruthna manana.

You thoughts on Furqan changing everything in short notice? Loving or....

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