Page 27 of First Comes Marriage
They followed after him and Reshma saw Saleema, her fiancé, Nomaan, and Zafar make their way towards them.
Saleema immediately put her hands on her hips. ‘I’m not playing this. I can’t afford to fall flat on my face and end up with a black eye.’
Saleema decided to play referee as the rest of them got stuck in, Shoaib and Khalil being their annoying selves and sticking their foot in Haniya’s or Reshma’s face every chance they got. Haniya flopped out thanks to Shoaib pushing her out of the way and at the next round, as Reshma placed her hand on the red dot at the same time as Zafar, their foreheads touched and, in her panic, she lost her balance and fell.
He smiled playfully while her cousins laughed raucously. Khalil – being a cheat of the highest order – won the game, while Zafar complained about needing to see a physio for his knees, making everyone laugh.
They moved around other games, each of them emerging a victor in one or another before they all decided that they needed a break to refuel.
They sat at a table together, and had finished eating when Khalil said he had an idea. ‘Let’s see how well Saleema and Nomaan know each other. We’ll ask you questions about your other half and see if you can guess the correctanswer.’ He rubbed his hands gleefully as the rest of them shouted their agreement.
It was so cute to see them sneak glances at each other as they spoke about favourite colours, foods and various other questions everyone asked them off the cuff. Unsurprisingly, they both knew each other pretty well and only fluffed up a few questions.
‘It’s Reshma and Zafar’s turn now,’ Saleema said enthusiastically and Reshma felt her stomach hollow out.
‘Uh, no. It’s not our wedding, it’s yours. You two get to do all the couple stuff.’
‘Reshma’s right. This is your time to shine and soak up the limelight,’ Zafar agreed with her, and the others probably couldn’t tell, but she could see from the set of his jaw that he didn’t want to be put on the spot.
Unfortunately, her cousins decided to band together against them and she and Zafar found themselves sitting opposite each other at the table after a reshuffle and her cousins started shouting out questions for them.
‘Me first.’ Saleema started things off. ‘I’ll begin with an easy question. Reshma, when is Zaf’s birthday?’
‘Third of December.’
Zafar nodded, and before Saleema could ask him the same question, he spoke.
‘Reshma’s is the fifteenth of May.’
‘What’s Reshma’s favourite drink?’ Nomaan asked Zafar.
‘A hot chocolate with all the extras.’
Reshma nodded. ‘Zafar likes coffee best.’
‘These are easy questions. I’ve got one.’ Haniya leaned forward and Reshma held her breath, unsure about what her cousin might ask. ‘What’s Zaf’s pet peeve?’
She exhaled her held breath. The question wasn’t as difficult as she’d thought it might be. ‘When someone callshis name but doesn’t follow it up with anything, or they call after him once he’s left the room. Daadi and Harry do it deliberately for giggles.’
Zafar looked her way and he gave her a small smile as he nodded. All eyes were then on him. He shifted his weight left and right before resting his arms on the table between them. ‘Umm, Reshma’s pet peeve …’ His eyebrows knit together as he considered the question. ‘I don’t think she has one. I’ve never seen her get annoyed by something.’
‘Uh-uh.’ Haniya made a buzzer noise to tell Zafar his answer was incorrect. ‘Wrong-o. Reshma?’
‘When some sniffles excessively but won’t blow their nose.’
‘It drives her nuts.’ Haniya laughed as Zafar looked at her pensively.
‘My turn. Zaf, what’s Reshma’s favourite type of cuisine?’ Shoaib asked.
Reshma watched Zafar as he swallowed, his cheeks tinged with colour as he looked at her. ‘Turkish?’ She wondered if he was saying that because it was the closest restaurant to where they lived and they often grabbed a last-minute takeaway from there.
‘Uh, that’s not what I remember, unless her preference has changed after marriage. Reshma?’
‘My favourite food is Italian. Pizza is king.’ She smiled but Zafar didn’t. His jaw was firm and there was a tension in him that hadn’t been there till now. This game wasn’t helping, it was making things worse, highlighting the fact that there were simple things about her that he didn’t know. And while she might not be the happiest with him, she didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable like this, especially just for her cousins’ entertainment.
‘Reshma, what’s Zaf’s favourite?’ She knew he liked Mexican food best and he knew that she knew that. Ifshe gave the wrong answer, he’d guess that she’d done it deliberately.
She was saved from saying anything though, because suddenly, the music switched off and with a short sharp buzz, the lights went out too.
