Page 19 of First Comes Marriage
Reshma smiled at him, but before he could respond, Daadi handed her the phone. ‘Here. You talk to him while I go and get some water. Talking to him is so exhausting.’
‘She knows I can hear her, right?’ he asked Reshma, one eyebrow quirked.
‘Of course, I know that. Why do you think I said it out loud?’ Daadi scoffed.
Reshma shook her head at their banter and caught sight of Zafar as he looked her way. He put her bag on the table and then slowly rounded it before coming and sitting next to her. His thigh brushed against hers as he sat down and rested his arm behind her on the sofa. He was so close, his warmth immediately surrounded her.
She faced him and realised that his face was particularly close to hers. Close enough that as he looked her way, shesaw the lighter flecks of rich honey in the dark brown of his eyes, surrounding his pupil. The combined scent of his shower gel and aftershave went straight to her nose and reached her senses before she could move an inch and she gritted her teeth both at him and herself for reacting to his proximity.
‘Zaf! How are you?’
‘I’m all right, mate. How are things with you? Are you keeping out of mischief?’
‘It’s so boring here without you two.’
‘I heard that,’ Daadi said from across the room, where she stood as she took a sip of her drink. ‘I take it I’m not being missed then.’
Reshma tried to shift a bit to the side, but the armrest only allowed her to shift about three inches. Not enough to put a decent amount of distance between her and Zafar. ‘I’m sure you’re keeping yourself entertained at everyone else’s expense,’ Zafar said knowingly.
‘Hmm. How are you finding it, Reshma? Missing me yet?’
‘I am. There’s no one here who’s as fun as you. Though, I have to say, it’s lovely catching up with all my relatives. They’ve got lots of things planned in the coming days. It’s a shame you’re missing out. Weren’t you going away somewhere with your friends though? When is that again?’ She was finding it difficult to focus on the conversation with Harry with Zafar sitting so close to her. Why not just wait his turn to speak to Haroon? Or, better yet, call him himself later.
‘Tonight. That’s why I thought I’d call and see how you guys are doing. I’ll be away for five days. Not sure how often I’ll be able to get in touch.’
‘OK. Well, stay safe and don’t forget to send me lots of pictures of where you are.’
‘Yeah, I will. Where’s Daadi gone? I hadn’t finished filling her in on what happened when Dad was looking for his phone after I messaged him to say he’d left it behind. It was hilarious. You guys have to hear the story.’
‘How is him forgetting his phone funny?’ Zafar asked.
Harry rolled his eyes. ‘Imessagedhim to say he’s forgotten his phone. On his phone, slowcoach. He came back home and started looking for it. I was taking the pi— mickey.’ He corrected himself before foul-mouthing within earshot of their grandmother.
‘Didn’t he lose his stack with you?’ Zafar asked, his voice laced with humour.
Harry looked mortally offended. ‘Of course not. I didn’t usemyphone. I’m not an idiot. I used Ash’s.’ He looked supremely pleased with himself.
‘How do you know his passcode? And which other passcodes do you know?’ Zafar sounded alarmed and Reshma bit the inside of her cheek at Harry’s expression. He really was the sweetest.
‘Time to go. Love you all. Have fun. Byeee.’
Before anyone could say anything more, he ended the call.
‘Doughnut.’ Reshma heard the affection for his youngest brother in Zafar’s voice.
She locked the screen and shifted forward to try to get up, but as she did, she felt herself being pulled back. The momentum had her dropping back down and she turned to look at Zafar in annoyance, only to find him looking at her in confusion.
Mindful of Daadi being in the same room, Reshma widened her eyes at him and dipped her chin, trying to indicate the lack of sufficient distance between them. ‘I need to go.’ She said the words through gritted teeth and his eyebrows lowered even further.
Ignoring her whisper, he spoke at a normal volume, which was loud enough for Daadi to hear. ‘Yeah, sure. Go.’
Reshma surreptitiously looked towards Daadi, who was doing a terrible job of pretending to look at some brochure lying on the island, while Reshma knew her attention was on them.
Reshma tried to get up but felt pulled back again. She looked at the tiny gap between her and Zafar.
‘You’re sitting on my dress.’
He looked down to where the skirt of her dress was caught under him and then lifted his face to look at her, the frown on it slowly clearing. ‘Oh. Sorry.’
