Page 12 of First Comes Marriage
Bingo.
She was sitting on a swinging bench with her two cousins, a few others sitting around them. One of them spoke and the rest of them all laughed, though Reshma only smiled. She caught him watching and her smile faltered.
He decided to take Murad’s advice and make more of an effort with her.
Zafar walked to where she was sitting, and as soon as he got there, Haniya stood up and told him to take her place next to Reshma, who barely looked his way.
‘I’m not here to break up the party. I thought I’d pop over and say hello.’
Saleema introduced her friends to him. ‘And this is Reshma’s husband, Zafar Saeed, and you guys have to hear about how he came here to surprise her.O-h m-y G-o-d.’ She elongated the last three words.
Zafar caught Reshma’s expression and saw the samehurt reflected in her eyes as he had that morning. God, it felt like ages ago, but it had only been a few hours. There was no softness on her face, something he’d never seen before. Reshma was always ready with a smile or an open, approachable expression. This closed-off vibe was completely new and he was the cause of it and it made him feel dreadful.
‘How was your morning, ladies?’ he asked in an attempt to be engaging.
‘Sooo good. Look.’ Haniya splayed her hands for him to see an array of colours on her nails, each fingernail sporting a different colour.
‘Nice.’
Saleema showed off her pink nails.
He looked at Reshma, who stood up. ‘I’m just going to go and see if they need a hand in the kitchen.’ She moved to walk past him and he blocked her path.
‘Did you have a good time this morning?’
She looked up at him, her eyes glowing with annoyance. She glanced over her shoulder, but her cousins were busy talking a mile a minute with their friends and weren’t paying them any attention, so she looked back up at him.
‘I did, thanks. Despite hearing what I did.’
6
Reshma
Reshma tried to move past Zafar, but he was big and quick and blocked her move again. Thankfully, they weren’t in earshot of anyone where they were now standing. To any onlookers, they probably looked like a couple having a moment together.What a joke!Little would they know that she was doing her best to stay calm and not push past him.
The atmosphere in the garden was happy and party-like and she didn’t want to be the one to poop it. As it was, she’d had a hard time trying to be excited and coming across as though she was having the time of her life when she’d been out with Haniya and Saleema, whose friends had joined them afterwards too.
She wasn’t worried about Saleema, but Haniya knew her better. They’d grown up together and once she caught the scent of something, she didn’t let go until she’d investigated every single angle she could. There was little Haniya didn’t know about Reshma, except her recent discovery of the reason behind Zafar’ssurprisearrival.
She and the girls had grabbed iced coffees and then made their way to the nail salon where they’d had manicures and pedicures. Thankfully, Reshma’s technician’s station had been a bit further from the other two – who wereside by side – and she’d got away with it. She didn’t want them finding out what was going on.
‘Look, Reshma, I know I handled this morning badly, and I’m sorry for that.’
‘It’s fine, Zafar. There’s really nothing more to talk about. I get the picture.’ And she was done with this conversation. She wasn’t even sure why he was still there.
‘How can you if you won’t even give me a chance to explain myself properly? I was caught off guard by Mum and then suddenly you were there and—’ He ran his hand through his hair, something he’d done more of in the last twenty-four hours than she’d seen him do before.
‘And the truth came out. I know. I was there.’ She didn’t know where the sudden sarcasm was coming from, but she let it. It was better than allowing her true feelings of hurt to come out.
He sighed as he shook his head. ‘I don’t want to be at odds with you, Reshma.’
She laughed softly at that. ‘We can’t be at odds, Zafar. One’s got to be in sync in the first place, in agreement with a person. We’ve never been in sync.’ Reshma felt her suppressed anger from earlier start to simmer again but was mindful that this wasn’t the time or place to be having this conversation. She was feeling an array of emotions and the last thing she wanted was for any of them to spill over with everyone around her. It would cause her aunts and uncles – and Daadi for that matter – undue worry and she didn’t want to sour the atmosphere for Saleema or the others, who were together after a long time, enjoying themselves.
Besides, how was she supposed to explain the fact that it wasn’t so much about him turning up at his father’s behest as it was a build-up of … everything.
‘That’s because we’ve not had the chance to.’
She looked at him in disbelief. ‘No. That’s not true. We’ve had a year, longer if you include our engagement. In that time,Ihave made the effort. It’s you who’s never bothered, but you know what? I’m not having this conversation with you right now. It’s neither the time nor the place for it.’
