6.

- Romessa -

After Shehryar had made the promise, we both were quiet, no one talked. "Api, when are we going to be there?" I heard Ayesha's voice ask, what do I tell her that we aren't going there and be honest that I don't know myself where we are going- "change of plan kiddo, we are going some where else because there is work happening" Shehryar answered for me, "right Romessa?" I was so stunned I didn't notice both Shehryar and Ayesha looking at me "ah yea".  "We are almost there now kiddo, do me a favour and wake your brother and sister", Ayesha nodded and turned to wake them up. "ah Shehryar bhai where are we going", "I know a place, where you could spend the night". I decided to stay quiet now. 

We had now arrived in front of a huge gate, the gate was made from wood and had something written in Urdu, but I didn't  know how to read Urdu. Shehryar Bhai then honked at the door and then a guard came out of the the smaller door and opened the huge gate. As we drove in and parked in front of a huge house. Observing the place, there's a huge garden and there are a bunch of flowers planted around in a border, there's a pathway that separates the garden from the parking space. The pathway leads to the front of the house. I hear Haadir telling Shehryar bhai something, I go see what it is, "bhai I'll carry theses, and you can carry that one" I hear Haadir saying, "Haadir, it's alright, we have troubled Shehryar bhai enough" I say to Haadir more like giving out to him, I turn to Shehryar bhai and take the bag from him "it's alright bhai, I'll take theses from you", but before I could turn around he took my hand with the bag and stopped me, "Romessa you aren't troubling me, and I have no problem carrying theses. Now be a good girl and let me carry theses" his voice so soft that I feel like I'm going to melt into a puddle & like a head tall becuase he's bending down to meet my face, I'm pretty sure I'm blushing, but thank goodness it's dark now, so he can't see me. He pulls on the bag handle and I let go, "let's go" and then he leaded us into the house.

As we enter the house, we enter the hallway, it's so a pretty, there is a table door exactly in front of us, which I presume leads to the sitting room, on the right side there is a staircase, on the left side is another door and judging by the noise coming from it, it sounds like the kitchen. The hallway has a simple theme going, different shades of grey and white, there are a few pictures of sceneries on the wall keeping the look minimalistic but pretty. We headed into the living room, Shehryar had told us to sit down for a bit, while he asked a maid to get us glass of water. I was looking at where the maid left from, there was a dinning room facing the living, and it looked like there was another door that connected the kitchen and the dinning room. This place is beautiful, wait does Shehryar live here? is this his house? "Shehryar bhai is this your house?" Ameerah asked taking the words out of my mouth out. Ameerah looked at Shehryar waiting for an answer and so was I. "Yes, it is. Why do you not like it" he jokingly said "It's absolutely beautiful" slipped from my mouth, and for a second I thought I saw him chuckle. A woman and a young man came into the living room, Is that his mother I wondered. "Khala I need you to sit and listen about this" Shehryar said quickly as his khala looked at him then us. The women spoke "I'm listening Shehryar", she looked mad at him, should I say something. "Aslam Aunty, actually Shehryar helped us, we were kinda stuck some where and we were trying to go to my mama's house and Shehryar was helping us get there but then the guard said that the road is closed and we can't go anywhere, so Shehryar brought us here", I don't know why I'm feeling nervous, but I don't know how Shehryar's khala will react. "Kaif, bring the kids up stairs and show them the guest room and bring their bags too" just as she said that a young girl in her teens came out nodded and brought my siblings up stairs. Once they had left, Shehryar's khala spoke "I'm Khadija, Shehryar's khala. You could call me khala too" she smiled at me, I smiled back. "But how did this happen-" "Khala, I will tell you in detail, but first can we have dinner first, I'm starving and I'm pretty sure the children are hungry too" Shehryar cut her and told her. Khadija Khala quickly nodded her head and made her way to the kitchen. It was me, Shehryar bhai and the other guy in the room, as we made eye contact, he was going to say something when his phone rang, so he excused himself and left the room. "Shehryar bhai, could I borrow you phone, I need to call Khala and let her now" "Of course" saying that he handed me his phone. I dialed my khala's phone number   *ring* *ring* *ring* "hello?" "hello khala, it's me Romessa", "Romessa is everything alright , why aren't you here yet?" "khala, Mahid bhai's friend picked us up, and because of something the roads are closed and now we're at Mahid bhai's friends house", "oh dear, are you alright?" "yes khala we are all right, we're going to try to come as soon as the roads open", "okay beta, I haven't told your mom that you're coming or else she will get more worried", "okay khala, please take care of mama, we'll try to come as soon as possible." I feel my eyes watering, I shouldn't be crying, I have to stay strong for at least my siblings, and we have to get through this. *cough* *cough* I heard Shehryar bhai cough, I quickly tapped my eyes and turned around to face him, "thank you bhai, here's your phone" Shehryar nodded, I noticed how he's much taller than me, he's like a whole head taller than me, and don't get me wrong I'm 5'5, so I'm pretty average. I noticed how Shehryar had these brown eyes, and his hair pulled back and looking perfect and even though he was wearing a shalwar and kameez, he looked so fit, his sleeves rolled back, and his hands. Romessa stop goggling him.

Shehryar headed up stairs, while I was awkwardly standing in the living room, just then the girl Kaif came downstairs. "Kaif, could you show me where the kitchen is?" "Of course ma'am, but do you need something" "no I don't need anything, can you just lead me there" I asked again. " yes of course ma'am" we started heading towards the kitchen "and kaif, please call me baji or api, I don't like ma'am, sounds too formal" "but ma'am-" "No buts" I cut her "baji" Kaif smiled a little " okay baji".

I got the kitchen with Kaif, but Khadija khala had already done all the work and was now heading to the dinner hall. Kaif advised me to call my siblings down and start dinner too. Soon everyone was at the dinner table. It felt nice and different, having dinner with new people. "This sounds weird, but it feels so nice having the table full with people today" Khadija khala commented. I agreed with her having many people on the table and eating together was such a blessing and felt so nice. Soon we were all enjoying the food, there was biryani and karahi gosht, both were amazing. After dinner, I picked all the plates, while Ayesha and Ameerah cleared the table and brought the left over things to the kitchen, even though Khadija Khala was protesting, telling us we didn't need it, I felt bad, both Kaif and Khala worked so hard to make the food and serve the table, the most we could do is clean up. In the kitchen I started washing the dishes while Ameerah dried them off, and put them aside. Khadija Khala then go up to make tea, I could tell she was getting tried so I volunteered to make the tea, Khala refused, telling to relax since i have had a long day, but I ended up making the tea. 

Me and Khala had walked out of the kitchen towards the living room, I had a tray of tea for everyone. I placed the tray on the table, "Where's Haadir and my sisters?" I asked looking at Shehryar the girls are in the guest room, and Haadir is staying in Zaid's room, since the guest room is kind of small, Zaid said Haadir could stay in his room" I nodded and thanked him. "the tea, smells so nice" Zaid said coming into the living room. "Have a sit Zaid, today's tea is made by Romessa beta" khala told him. It was just me, khala, Shehryar and Zaid sitting. Everyone picked up a cup of tea, Shehryar noticed there was one cup missing " I think there's one less cup" "oh no, I only made 3 cups, I don't drink tea", "YOU DON'T DRINK TEA!" Zaid shouted, "ARE YOU EVEN PAKISTANI" "Zaid stop shouting" khala gave out to him. "No I don't drink tea, I was never a huge fan of it, except maybe boba tea" I chuckled, "You're one weird girl. WAIT-" we all looked at Zaid, as he carefully looked at me, "YOU'RE THE GOLGAPPA GIRL" "yea that's me" "that's where I saw you, I thought you looked like someone I knew. Anyways how old are you?" "this is so random, why do you want to know my age?" "I don't know, maybe cuz you look 18 or something" "oh, I'm actually 20" "No way, same!" "really, what month is your birthdate" "June 28th, you?" "June 1st" "You're only older than me by 27 days, I can call you by your name right" "Sure, as long as I can call you Zaid too" "deal". Once we had paused our conversation, I saw khala smiling and enjoying our bickering and Shehryar was deeply looking at me, but once I made eye contact with him, he looked away.

"Dear is alright, if get to know you" "Of course khala, you don't have to ask me" "Is it alright we know why you ended up in this situation?" "khala I told you I'd tell you later" I hear Shehryar saying to his khala "no its okay, its actually, we came to Pakistan 2 weeks ago. I was staying at my dad's side with my siblings, mama is at her house, baba had sent her there, maybe because he had the plan to marry me off to my cousin, but I didn't want to marry him because I had overheard his conversation, that he is using me for money. And I promise I wasn't trying to run off, I'm just trying to get to mama's place, I'm scared she's going to get ill if she takes up too much stress, and she's stressing about us lately, so I need to get there" I had started crying and i didn't notice until khala came and hugged. "it's okay beta, you're staying with us while road is closed, but I'm telling you, when the road opens, I'm going to bring you and your siblings to your mama safe and sound" it felt so nice and warm hugging, it reminded me of mam and I miss her so much now. "now beta go to sleep, it's late now. Shehryar beta, Zaid beta you guys too"