Ayesha At Last(63)

Amir reached into his desk drawer and held out a granola bar to Khalid. When Khalid reached for it, Amir pulled it back slightly. “Not until you tell me what’s going on. Have you decided to break bad and join the dark side? Why do you keep looking at your phone? Are you expecting a special lady to call? Or maybe ladies? You dawg!”

Khalid snatched the granola bar from Amir and unwrapped it.

“You didn’t come to my engagement,” he said, his mouth full of chewy oats and chocolate chips.

Amir settled down in his chair. “I was a little tied up, bro. There was this girl and she was into handcuffs.”

Khalid put out his hand to stop Amir. “Something happened at the engagement. Hafsa Shamsi isn’t who I thought she was. The girl from Bella’s is someone else. Her name is Ayesha.”

“Wait, so who are you engaged to?”

“I told you, Ayesha’s younger cousin Hafsa.”

“Is she hot?” Amir turned to his laptop and opened his Facebook account, fingers flying. After a moment, he gave a low whistle. “She’s smoking. Maybe I should give this arranged marriage thing a chance. So what’s the problem?”

Khalid shook his head. “No problem. Ammi’s happy, and this is what I said I wanted.”

Amir started typing again. “Ayesha doesn’t even have a profile. Only serial killers aren’t on social media. You dodged a bullet, bro.”

Khalid slumped in his seat. “I didn’t even talk to Hafsa at our engagement. How can I marry someone I don’t know?”

“Who cares. She’s hot!”

“Whenever I talk to Ayesha, she makes me laugh, and she gives me a hard time, and . . .” Khalid trailed off. “And now I’m engaged to her cousin.”

Amir started laughing. “K-Man! You gots girl troubles! I never thought I’d see the day. Maybe you should take a look at that matrimonial service I showed you the other day. Or better yet, come out with us tonight.”

“How is that going to help me? All you do is drink and pick up women, and I’m already engaged.”

“We need a designated driver. Also, you have no experience with women. But me and my boys, we could counsel the UN on the ladies, you know what I’m saying?”

Khalid looked at his phone again. Zareena still hadn’t responded, and he didn’t have anyone else he could ask for advice. “Okay,” he said. “I guess.”

“Wise Men’s Council, baby!” Amir said. “We’ll sort you out pronto.” He paused. “So, does Hafsa have a younger sister?”





Chapter Twenty-Seven

As a show of support, Ayesha agreed to accompany Hafsa to the next mosque planning meeting. Maybe she would have a chance to explain herself to Khalid, or at least to apologize.

Khalid was the only person in the seminar room when they arrived, and he stood up when they walked in. “Assalamu Alaikum,” he said, looking at Ayesha in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

Hafsa stepped forward, commanding his attention. “Hi, sweetie. Remember me?”

“Of course, meri dil,” he said, using the Urdu word for heart. “I’m happy to see you. There is a lot of work that needs to be done for the conference and we can use the extra help.”

“I’m sure Ayesha tried her best, but she has zero event planning experience. I’m the interesting one in the family,” Hafsa said, giggling. “But at least she’s reliable. You know what they say: Those who can’t, teach.”

Ayesha flinched and contemplated the door. She had accompanied her cousin as a goodwill gesture. Now she wondered why she had even bothered. This was not going to end well, she knew it. She wanted to leave right now, except Hafsa had driven them both here.

Hafsa took a seat beside Khalid and leaned forward. “I thought we could use this time to get to know each other. What do you do for fun?”

Ayesha selected a seat on the other side of the conference room, far away from the happy couple. She couldn’t bear to watch Hafsa fawn. All thoughts of apologizing to Khalid vanished. She wanted to disappear.

Khalid frowned at Hafsa. “I’m not sure what you mean. I enjoy reading the Quran and attending daily prayers at the mosque. I also spend a lot of time helping the imam.”

Hafsa wrinkled her nose. “No, I mean for fun,” she insisted. “Like, do you watch movies? TV shows?”

Ayesha glanced over. Khalid was leaning away from Hafsa. The look on his face was so funny that Ayesha smiled. Khalid looked over and frowned at her. “What are you doing here?” he asked again.

“Hafsa wanted me to come. We’re family now, so I thought . . .” she trailed off. Khalid was staring at her. He had called her beautiful yesterday, and he’d given her a present—an engagement gift, she supposed. She thought about the poem she had written on the first page. “Thank you for the notebook,” she said.

Khalid’s eyes were still on her, as if searching for an answer to a question. “Why didn’t you—” he said, but Ayesha cut him off.

“I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am.”

Hafsa glanced from Ayesha to Khalid and back. She tried to recapture Khalid’s attention. “I bet you’re more of a sports guy. I can tell you work out.”

“I play basketball,” he offered, looking at his fiancée. Hafsa brightened, until he added, “. . . At the mosque on Friday nights.”