~~~~~~~~~ Goodnight! ~~~~~~~~~
It is 11 AM Saturday morning, Sharjeena looks around her new house, all clean and dusted, finally done. “Our house”, she sighs happily. This week they had finished setting up their kitchen and the last of their furniture that for now meant a sofa set for the drawing room and 2 small cupboards for their room on either side of their mattress. A carton full of her books now acted as a makeshift table, the idea being Mustafa’s of course. He had even put a tablecloth on it for her.
“Where is Mustafa?” She had sent him to get ingredients for tonight’s dinner when they would be hosting his friends after setting up their home. After all that had happened, she wants to see Mustafa relax, to see him laughing and chatting like his old self for at least some time. She hardly knows anything about his games, hardly understood when he talked about them, but loves listening to him talk animatedly as he would tell her about new things that were happening in his office, a new piece of code that he had cracked, some software and what not. She had secretly spoken to Ali asking him to bring his gaming setup when all of them came.
“Kahan ho? Itni dair hui?” she enquired as he picks up on the last ring.
“Bike pe tha yaar, neeche hi hoon, aane do”
She goes to the window, seeing him park his bike as he collected packets one by one. As if on cue, he looks up to see his beautiful wife waiting on him. “Pagal ladki” he thinks to himself. There were still days when he found it hard to believe that she loved him so much. He loved her clingy self, he loved that she exercised her right over him and bossed him around while caring for him like no one else had. As much as he hated doing any work, he couldn’t say no to her doe-like eyes.
“Raha nahi jata mere bina?” he winked as he set down the items on the kitchen slab. “Nahi. Mera mann nahi lagta. Kya kya laaye?” He looked at her amazed at her answering him so honestly without any pretense. Shaking his head, he walked out, “Arrey khud dekh lo na, mujhe Joseph ne kuch kaam diya hai, fir main nahane jaunga..Ali, Akhtar sab log 6 baje tak aa jayenge.”
Sharjeena looked through the items, counting the usual veggies and none of the greens as expected of him, and starts with her prep. The humdrum domestic life brings her so much joy, she was surprised at her own self. She had also opted for work from home for some time and her clients were mostly abroad, so she mostly had night shifts. That meant the entire day she could do as she pleased and Mustafa was more than happy to see her do so, while he worked for his clients.
She was in the middle of chopping almonds for Kheer when she hears him calling out for her.
“Sharjeena yaar, meri T-shirts nahi mil rahi, kahan rakha hai?” He came out of the bathroom wearing only his pyjamas and towel drying his hair.
“Main kahan rakhungi, baahar dekho, clothstand pe hoga.” She shouted back. “Aur aise kahan jaa rahe ho?” she came out of the kitchen to see him walking towards the balcony.
“Bahar?Tumne hi toh bola?”
“Toh ye besharmo ki tarah kahan jaa rahe ho, mohalle mein ladkiyan hai, kya kahengi?”
“Ab ye toh unki problem haina? Ismein main kya karoon ki main handsome dikhta hoon” he smirked.
“But mujhe toh problem hai? Hato!” Pushing him aside, she went outside to fetch his tshirt herself. Her phone rang as she returned, handing him white tee and took Ali’s call. “Bhabhi hum 1 ghante mein bus aa rahe, aapne jo kaha tha hum sab lekar aa rahe hain, wahan aa kar set up kar lenge. Baaki kuch aur chahiye aapko,toh bata dein?”
“Nahi bhai, bus aap fatafat se aa jayein.”
“Ye Ali tumhein kyun call kar raha?”
“Matlab? Number hai toh call kar raha hai?”
“Toh number kyun diya?”
Sharjeena fumbled. She couldn’t possibly tell him she had stolen it from his cell, but she recovered quickly. “Ab tum kabhi mera phone na utha sake, toh emergency ke liye ek din maine number le liya tha. Ab hato, mujhe kaam khatam karna hai”
Though not completely satisfied with her answer, Mustafa came after her in the kitchen, “Main kuch karoon?”
Sharjeena looked at him with her hands on her hips, “Haan, niklo yahan se.”
“Arrey?Ande acche banata hoon main, tumhe pasand aate haina, bana doon?”
“My dear husband, mujhe pasand aate hain kyunki tum mujhe acche lagte ho, ande nahi” she smiled sweetly “Aur ande khilaoge dawat mein? Waah Mustafa” He leaned on the counter sulking, watching her hands move with such measured precision and dexterity that it was definitely better to leave these things to her only.
When his friends came, Mustafa had the time of his life. After almost a month had he finally felt the old familiar rush of putting his headphones on, cutting out all noise, forgetting his environment and just focusing on that system and his controller. His friends were all praises for their Bhabhi, who had cooked them a festive spread of biryani, kebab, tikka masala and korma & raita. They had ended it with heaps of kheer and good-humored teasing and fun. Sharjeena had mingled for a bit, mostly retreating to her room to allow the boys to have their space and fun. She had joined them for dinner, beaming with happiness at the welcome and praises she had received.
It was 10 PM when Sharjeena finally retired to bed. She sees Mustafa seemingly sleeping, and on the floor beside him is his share of kheer, half eaten, half remaining in the bowl. “Mustafaaa, ye kya hai? Jhootha bartan fir se? Abhi clean kiya maine sab kuch. Aur khatam kyun nahi kiya? Accha nahi laga kya?” she suddenly asked concerned.
Without turning, he answered, “Tumhare liye hai”
“Kyun?”
“Tumne nahi khaya, ladke toh hote hi hai bhukkad, sab kha gaye”
She smiled at his back lovingly, “Tumhe kaise pata?” she asked nudging him to turn to her.
He turned his head and opened one eye, “Kha lo na, sawaal jawaab bahot karti ho”
She took his bowl and started eating,” Accha jao brush karke aao, khate khate so gaye ho”
He stared at her blushing face, only lit by the light coming from the streetlight outside. In her white kurta, hair open, she looked ethereal. As she kept the empty bowl aside, Mustafa turned fully and plays with the end of her kurta, twisting it, tugging on it, silently asking her to come closer. She lies down as he gets up leaning on his arm.
He moves her hair away from her face, thumb stroking her cheek as he adjusts his weight on his elbows settling on top of her.
"Tumne mere friends ke liye itna kuch kiya aur sabse zyada mere liye itna kuch arrange karaya...kyun?" His eyes travelled all over her face, "Tum kahaan se aayi ho meri zindagi mein?"
"Tum sawaal jawaab bahot karte ho" she revels in his touch.
“Mera itna khayal kyun rakhti ho?”
”Meri marzi” she haughtily replied.
He kisses her deeply..”Aur meri marzi kab chalegi?” She doesn’t need to answer him as she tugs on his t shirt and sighs happily at the sight of him removing it…
~~~~
“Mustafa mujhe thand lag rahi hai”, Sharjeena shivered under the sheets, as she tried to wake him up. He mumbled incoherently, his arms already around her and legs draped over hers.
“Mujhe mera kurta do udhar se” she pulled on his arm again.
“Arrey yaar” he rolled on his back, eyes still closed, he scrabbled around and handed her whatever he could grab. “Mustafa. Ye tumhara t shirt hai” She got no response. “Mustafaaa”
He shot up in bed, glaring, took his tshirt and crumpled it up to the neck, “Idhar aao”
“Hein?”
One second later, she felt herself getting engulfed in his scent as he shoved down the tshirt over her head and pulled her down with him. “Ab sone do!”
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, “Goodnight!”
Edited by NinjaInPyjamas - 1 months ago
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