The house was a bustle of activity. Everyone was preparing for the mango party; as was khala, khalu's trend, they had sent out the invitations to all their friends via the servant and today every one was going to be at their place for dinner in the evening and later for some delicious ice creams and mangoes. Khala was busy getting the whole house sparkling clean and as she usually liked to entertain her guests out in the grounds. The table and some of the furniture was being moved out side. Huge buckets of mangoes were being chilled in ice and the servants were busy cranking the ice cream machine with the delicious mixture of mangoes, cream, sugar and ice.
The day passed by quickly in the steady rhythm of activity. Khala had decorated the house beautifully with some lanterns hung decoratively over the huge lawns. Music was playing from the stereo system and dusk was falling. Soon the guests started to arrive and Khala got busy mingling with the guests.
Reham was busy getting ready, she wore a beautiful green chiffon kurti with her fitted jeans and pumps. She loved glass bangles so she wore the ones ami had gotten for her this last eid and tied her long beautiful hair into a french braid. She hardly wore makeup but on this occasion she made an exception and wore some kajal and lipgloss, she looked in the mirror and smiled, she liked what she saw she really was super cute. She laughed out loud at this thought and skipped out side.
As she came out khala called her over and started to introduce her to the guests. Reham meet her this is Mrs Safdar, this is Mrs Amir and this here is Mrs Sarfraz Shah, she embraced Aunty Sarfraz and right at that moment from across the ground her eyes locked with those familiar beautiful eyes that had been haunting her dreams the last few nights. Her heart skipped a beat and she lowered her own eyes in response.
She excused herself and was going inside when she heard his soft voice behind her." Reham, can i talk to you for a minute." She turned around and said, " Yes, Hisham...." you remember my name he said laughing, "yes of course.... I mean you remember my name too", she giggled. She felt so self conscious what had come over her. "I was wondering if we could maybe get to know each other better", Hisham said" here is my cell number if you like you can call or watsapp". He paused for a while and went on, " you see since i have seen you, I have been unable to stop myself from thinking about you, infact the moment I saw you I felt as if someone had squeezed my heart out of my chest, I know all this may sound very cheesy to you and I usually do not approach girls like this but in your case I can't stop my self"."You are gorgeous, your innocence and beauty has had me mesmerized."
She looked at him stunned no one had ever said anything like this to her. He gave her his number written on a paper and said," I will wait for your call"," I hope I don't wait in vain", and walked away.
The rest of the party passed away in a daze.... she still could not believe what had happened. She felt very excited and scared at the same time. No guy had ever approached her this way before, she had quite a few guy friends from school and all her boy cousins were very frank with her but no one ever paid her a compliment like this, in fact every one usually made fun of her in some manner or the other. Some times it was her nose, other times her style of walking..... was this for real. Was he really being honest or just toying with her. She was curious though and she had always been quite the adventurer and this was one adventure she could not stop from embarking on, after all she really liked him herself.
The food was delicious, the cook had outdone himself with the chicken biryani. The tandoori chicken, kebabs and mutton chops were being Bar B qued over the hot coals and hot spicy pieces were being served by the servants on the trays with chutneys, raita and salad. After every one had had their fill the ice cream was served with the mangoes.
She had seen Hisham eyeing her a few times but every time she met his gaze he would turn away smiling, as if she had caught him in an act of theft... she would smile to herself at such times. Soon every one left and all the grounds were cleared up by the servants under the watchful eye of Khala and Khalu. She went inside and changed into her night clothes and said her Isha prayers. She thought about calling Hisham she hesitated and wished her sister was there with her so she could have asked her advice pertaining to her conundrum. She finally got enough courage and dialed his number on her cell, luckily bua was outside still helping out with the cleaning up, so she had locked her room. He picked up on the second ring but instead of saying anything she hung up; her heart was racing and her mouth fell dry, uff what is wrong with me, she plucked up her courage again and with sweaty palms called again, this time he picked up on the first ring. "Hello Reham is this you", he said. "Yes", she replied shakily. "You cannot imagine how happy I am feeling right now, thank you for calling" "I really enjoyed the party it was very well organized," He said while thinking to himself what a dumb thing to say, out of everything on earth I could talk about I am making small talk talking about the party, but he so wanted her to stay on the line and keep hearing her voice. "You know Reham your voice is like the sound of clinking bangles," he ventured. Reham laughed hesistantly and said "well you are good at this complimenting stuff I find it hard to believe this is the first time you are talking to a girl". He laughed heartily at that but said no honest it is perhaps that is why I have no tact. They both laughed at that, they talked for a while and he said his parents were planning a trip to their farm house to Bahawalpur and he will try and get them to invite you and your family too. She felt very excited at the prospect of seeing him again so soon. Bua knocked on the door so she finished her conversation and got ready for bed.
