Chapter 17 #3
Haniya smiled as she looked at him. Zafar could see the deviousness in her eyes from a mile off.
‘Truth or dare, Mr Saeed?’
He cleared his throat. Dancing on the beach or moving for anything wasn’t something he felt capable of doing just then.
Especially if it involved Reshma, which, judging by Haniya’s expression, he knew it inevitably would.
And he wasn’t about to be made to serenade Reshma on the beach either. ‘Truth.’
That seemed to please Haniya. ‘OK, then. Tell us your first memory of Reshma.’
He felt Reshma immediately tense where she sat, her back going straight. His throat went dry and he swallowed hard as he saw Shoaib give Haniya a high five and congratulate her on her choice of question.
‘Um …’ He thought back to when he’d been introduced to Reshma.
Both Haniya and Shoaib had been there, but aside from the facts, they wouldn’t know what his thoughts had been and that’s probably what Haniya was trying to get at.
And then, like an animated light bulb switching on in a character’s head, his mind went to another memory.
‘When Uncle Jawad and Zafar’s dad introduced us. Remember? You were there, right next to me,’ Reshma cut in.
Haniya merely smiled back at her sweetly, not the least bit intimidated by the scowl on Reshma’s face.
‘Actually, it was just before that.’
Reshma turned her face to look at him and he watched her frown slowly morph into a look of confusion.
‘We were at the same event, I can’t remember what it was, maybe a birthday party or something.
Anyway, I was in the foyer of this venue, pacing a small section of it while I was on the phone and there was a group of children playing on the other side of it.
I didn’t realise that while I was walking one way, a toddler had come up behind me and as I turned, he fell back on his bottom.
Of course, it was protected by his nappy, but that didn’t stop him from sticking his lower lip out and looking up at me in accusation before letting out an outraged wail. ’
Much like everyone else, Reshma’s eyes were glued to him and he saw the moment the penny dropped with her.
Her eyes didn’t widen so much as they brightened with the memory and he saw a smile tease the corners of her lips.
Her hand, which was still in his, gave a little squeeze and he felt it all the way to his bones.
He had pushed the memory to the recesses of his mind, not so much deliberately, but more as a moment he’d experienced but not thought anything much of until now.
Until Haniya had asked him what his first memory of Reshma was.
Reshma seemed to have thought it was when they’d been formally introduced to one another which meant that until now, she had perhaps forgotten about it too.
‘Oh my gosh, yes, I remember. He was so annoyed with you.’ She giggled and shook her head as she joined in with remembering that moment.
‘You can say that again. I knew he wasn’t hurt, but he bawled as though the whole venue had come crashing down around him.
’ He turned to face his rapt audience. ‘Reshma had come through the main doors and saw what had happened. She crouched down in front of the little boy and asked him if he was all right.’
Reshma laughed. ‘It was Auntie Bilqis’ great-nephew. I asked him what had happened as I helped him up and he pointed at Zafar with a ferocious frown on his face and called him a bad man.’
‘Reshma grabbed his hand and blew a raspberry on it when he showed her where he thought he’d been “hurt” and in no time the pint-sized fraudster was laughing with glee as she carried on blowing raspberries up his arm and then moving on to the other arm.
She swung him up in her arms and spun him in a circle and that’s when I saw her properly for the first time. ’
He’d felt a buzz of something at the time but had dismissed it as a random reaction. He’d attributed it to the moment he’d shared with her and ruthlessly pushed it to the back of his mind, never to be visited again. Until today.
This time when Reshma looked at him, he felt the same sense of awareness, but rather than push it away, he allowed it entry, seeing where it went and how it made him feel.
Maybe it was because of where they were, her close proximity, the past few days they’d had or numerous other reasons.
He didn’t know why and, frankly, didn’t think the why was important.
All he knew was that he was happy to stay where he was and let the feeling have free rein.
‘Then what happened?’ Shoaib’s voice broke through the moment he was having.
Reshma looked away, her beautiful face tinged pink as she looked ahead. Zafar faced the other two.
‘She pointed the toddler’s finger at me as she held his hand and pretended to tell me off, asking me to say sorry for bumping into him.
The little boy pointed at himself in case I was in any doubt as to who the apology was for as he told me to say sorry too.
I shook the little man’s hand and apologised and that was it.
He gave me a toothy smile, wriggled out of Reshma’s arms and darted off. ’
Zafar remembered standing beside her, watching the little boy run away, then she’d turned to him, a broad smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes, telling him that he owed her one.
He’d thanked her for rescuing him and she’d thrown her head back and laughed, her nose stud sparkling in the light.
He’d found her charming, he remembered that clearly now.
He even remembered that she’d said that it wasn’t every day she had the pleasure of rescuing six-foot-somethings from someone who wasn’t even three feet tall yet.
She’d smiled and then walked into the main hall, leaving him standing there watching after her before his silent phone had sprung back to life and pulled him out of that moment.
‘Oh my God, I had no idea that you two had met before. I thought your first time was that awkward moment in front of the whole family and I thought it’d be funny to hear you recount that.
That’s actually a really sweet story. One to tell the grandkids,’ Haniya said, her chin resting on her clasped hands.
The tip of Reshma’s ear which he could glimpse through the loose strands of her hair went bright red and he felt his cheeks heat at Haniya’s words, which was absurd really. They were married, for God’s sake, remarks like that were normal, nothing to blush about.
‘Right, folks. As wonderful as this interlude has been, we definitely need to head back now. Time to pack up.’ Shoaib looked at his watch and then slapped his thighs.
With the late-afternoon sun shining down on the beach, they packed everything up and made their way back to the villas, everyone sporting a smile.
Zafar felt pretty relaxed and he didn’t need to question much as to why that was.
Being with Reshma without any other obligations, responsibilities or strings attached was giving him a chance to allow their relationship the space to naturally develop, one day at a time.
Sure, they weren’t in a perfect place with each other and he still didn’t have a clear sign from Reshma that she had forgiven him for what had happened, but they weren’t in a terrible place either and he’d take that because it gave him hope.
Hope that they could definitely have something more than they’d had up until now.
They went to their respective villas to clean up before everyone was due to meet at the garden entrance where the henna ceremony was to take place. Zafar opened the door to the villa and stepped back to allow Reshma to go in first. She placed her bag on the island and turned to face him.
‘I had forgotten about that day. Neither of us brought it up after that.’ Reshma smiled at him, a happy, open smile, and he felt a sense of satisfaction settle over him to have that honest smile directed his way. One he’d earned and wasn’t for show or an audience.
‘To be honest, I only remembered it when Niya asked me that question. But it’s a good memory.’ He moved closer towards her. ‘I enjoyed today, even though your cousins like getting up to mischief. Although, it’s nothing less than my brothers would do, but I had fun.’
Reshma scoffed. ‘Calling it mischief is putting it mildly. But I agree, the past couple of days have been … they’ve been good.
And while we’re on the subject’ – she walked around the island and pulled two glasses out of the cupboard and went to the fridge – ‘I wanted to thank you, for making the effort with everyone and being a good sport, even when my cousins are being mischievous .’
She came back towards him and held out a glass of juice. He nodded in acknowledgement as he took it, guzzling it down in almost one go.
‘You don’t have to thank me, Reshma. I’m doing what I should have done all along. And, to be fair, your family make it easy to get along and join in.’
She smiled as she finished her own drink. ‘I’m going to go and wash the sand and salt off me and get ready.’ Her smile didn’t falter and it filled Zafar with a keener sense of pleasure than he’d ever thought such a thing could as Reshma went upstairs.
He needed to clean up too, so it made sense to follow her up, but he stayed where he was, savouring the feeling of success at being in a happier place than he and Reshma had been before.
There was a brightness about her that he’d not seen since the early days of their wedding and whereas back then he hadn’t paid it any attention, he now felt like he wanted to see what more he could do to keep that brightness intact.
He longed to see more of the joyful, playful side of her nature and if that led to more intimacy between them, then he was more than happy to pave the way for it.
The flickering of desire he’d felt today had been unexpected and perhaps unnerving in its intensity but not unwelcome.
Sure, before he would have considered it to be something to push to the back of his mind and focus on other things, but that wasn’t how he felt today.
Today, he felt like going in the opposite direction, to see if the flickering could be fanned into something more that satisfied both of them.
It went against what his grandfather had advocated, but he’d spent the past four years following the path his grandfather had chosen for him, and for twenty-six years before that, and while he still believed in some of his grandfather’s teachings, he wasn’t so sure that they worked in every aspect of his life.
He’d just been hardwired to believe that.
Maybe if he had allowed his own instincts to guide him, he and Reshma might have been in a different place.
Maybe when it came to his marriage, following his grandfather’s edicts hadn’t done him any favours.
The moments he’d shared with Reshma proved that, as did his own feelings of contentment and satisfaction.
Of course, he’d always battle the inevitable guilt he carried when it came to his grandfather, just as he had for those three years he’d spent away from him.
Sure, he’d believed in his reasons for turning away, still did, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel guilty for standing up to his hero.
The man who, up until then, he’d always wanted to be exactly like.
Zafar had the feeling that even with his grandfather gone, there was a side that wanted to honour his grandfather’s ideals and another that wanted to stand for his own beliefs and principles. And the thing about such a war was that either way, he would lose.