CHAPTER 7..

After a few seconds, I felt the cold breeze making me shiver, so I moved toward the entrance of the banquet as I saw Aqsa standing there, looking at me like she just saw a ghost.

"What happened, Aqsa?"I asked as I looked behind her to see what happened...

"Who are you?" she asked with a tone full of accusation.

"What?" I found her question totally weird.

"Who are you and what have you done to my Ira, my sister who can't laugh?"

Ahh, what is she saying? I have no idea. I expected her to ask, "What are you talking about?" but she instead said, "She saw my lips move to talk."

"Listen, whatever you did to her is awesome." She said as she raised her hands and gave me thumps ups with both her hands, "Wherever you take her is fine." "I like you better now; don't try to bring her back.

"What are you saying?" "Aqsa, are you okay?"I asked her because I was annoyed...I can't understand a word she is saying.

"I am alright, but I can't say the same about you." , I never saw you laughing like that," she said as she moved her hand toward the place I was standing before. "And when I saw you laughing there like that, like you're going insane is awesome, I feel like I last saw you laughing like that ages ago, and you never laugh like that now."She said it with the most bewildered expression on her face.

That's when I realised she was telling the truth; I only laugh now and probably never again.

"And what's that Kaif doing here? I saw him leave, even though he was smiling like he'd never smile again.""Didn't you tell me to stay away from him?" she demanded, but I didn't have an answer, so I just said."Aqsa, forget about it. Let's go inside." I take her inside the banquet with me.

"Tell me, Ifra"...Aqsa demands an answer from me, but I refuse to give it to her, not because I don't care, but because I don't know the answers to her questions.It's true that I don't laugh that much now, and even I am shocked to realise this...

"There is nothing to tell; just don't talk. It's nothing." and tell me what's going with Arhan" to change the topic. I demand a question too, and I know she will never answer that because she needed time to adjust to the fact that now he is back.

"What's going with him? Nothing," she said with a shrug.

"Okay".. I didn't ask her again because I don't want to push her limits... I know she is confused about Arhan, just as I am confused about Zayn... I love him but I can't be with him because my situation won't allow it, and Aqsa can be with Arhan but her heart won't allow it...

"Heyy mom," Aqsa says, and she comes to a halt.When we approached her, I asked her, "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I am doing?" She replies as she signs; I can see that now she is getting tired so much. "I am greeting all the guests."

Ahh, of course she is doing this... it's an unspoken and unknown ritual we all have to complete to greet the guests, but I can see she is tired and could use a good laugh and a bit of relaxation, so I told her, "Mom, go sit down with your friend and gossip."

"You sure?"  She confirmed, because I know she thinks we can't do this; actually, she is asking both of us, Aqsa and me, because of Arhan and Zayn; she knows we both have someone certain here, and we would like to avoid it without even a doubt. but because of my fear, I can't make her responsibilities double, so Aqsa and I looked at each other and said, "Absolutely."

"OK, but make sure to meet everyone and tell them to have fun," she said as she tried to locate and approach her friend.

We nodded at her side and started to walk toward the dining area.

"What we have to do... "Do you want ifra to greet them?" aqsa inquired.

"Nothing, just walk over to their table, smile, and politely tell them to enjoy the function fully," I replied.

"Got it.."

We did the same; we walked toward many tables, and after some time even Madiha joined us. We were talking together when Madiha's eyes fell on someone, and she blushed. When we looked in that table's direction,... I roll my eyes because on that table, Kaif is sitting there winking at Madiha. He looked at a girl standing beside him, smiled and winked at her, and I looked at him in utter disbelief because just a few moments ago he flirted with me, then he flirted with her too through his eyes, and now just as she moved away, he is flirting with some other girl.. oh my god, there is no way his shamelessness knows any end.. and suddenly I felt the urge inside of me to go and scratch the smile off.

"Hey, let's go there," Aqsa said to me.

"No, noo, we should go that side first," I said, not wanting to stand even in front of him; he grosses me out. I've never liked womanizers; they think of girls as objects they want as long as she pleases them, but then when they find something new, they leave the previous one.

"No, just come with me," Aqsa insisted.

"I don't want to," I said again as I started walking in the opposite direction. But I stopped when I heard her next words.

"Listen, I know something happened between both of you, but if you are not going with me now, you have to tell that to me. So now your options are either to come with me or tell me what really happened."

Now I really don't have any choice but to go with her. She really means her words, and I can sense it in her tone. She wants to know something from me, and she will not calm down until she knows it, so I have to go with her.

"All right, let's go."I said, and she smiled at me and dragged me toward that table, much to my dismay.

"Hey!" I heard him say to Madiha when she walked toward his table.

"Hey, I didn't have the chance to talk to you... "How are you?" She replied to him as she sat down beside him. Aqsa sits down beside Madiha, and I sit after her.

"Now that I've finally talked to you, I feel much better," Kaif replied, and she giggled as she watched all of this with a disgusted expression on my face; it appears that he noticed my expression because he looked at both Aqsa and me before asking Madiha.

"Do you know them?" he asked, moving his head to our side.

"Yes, they are my best friends," she replied as she looked at us with a smile. Aqsa and I returned that smile too. Just then, I heard the screeching of a chair beside me and found Arhan sitting beside me. I smile as I look at him, and Aqsa tries her best to ignore him.

"Heyy girls,"  he said while looking at Aqsa, me, and Madiha, and then said "heyy" while looking at Kaif.

Madiha and I said in unison while Kaif raised his hand and nodded toward us, and Arhan did the same. I can never understand these boys' greetings; they always say nothing but just raise their hands and nod their heads.

Just as Kaif heard my thoughts, he said, "Hey, I am Kaif, Saad's best friend."

When he looked toward us to introduce ourselves, an idea hit me, and I suddenly said, "Hey, I am Aqsa, and she is Ifraa; we are both Simraa's sisters." And just as I said it, I can feel three pairs of eyes staring at me... Arhan, Aqsa, and Madiha...When Aqsa tried to say something, I hit my foot on her foot to signal her to shut up, but my foot accidentally hit Arhan's leg...look at and just as our eyes met, he understood what I was trying to say, so he lightly hit Aqsa's elbow.and she understands too. I suddenly recall our childhood days when we all communicated solely through our eyes...

"And he is...?" Kaif inquired of Arhan.

"He is," Madiiha interrupted her and said, "just as Aqsa was going to say."

"He is Aqsa's boyfriend. "

Now all four pairs of eyes look at Madiha, and she giggles and winks at Arhan. "He is not…" aqsa said and I knew what she was going to say, so I hit her again, and this time she threw a dagger at me with her eyes but changed her statement and said, "He is not aqsa's boyfriend." But this time she said these words more pressingly as she looked at Arhan, who was looking at her with a smug smile and his eyes were full of amusement.

"We should ask Aqsa about it, shouldn't we?" Arhan said and winked at me. I know why he did that because he knew I was not going to say no because I knew this statement was going to get changed soon, and I couldn't even say yes because then Aqsa would surely kill me. So I stood up, turned to face Aqsa, and said,

"Ifraa, I think we should go meet the other guests."Aqsa gets up and walks away without even looking at me.I know she is feeling irritated.

"Is she shy?" Kaif asked, puzzled, and exactly as his left words suggested.

Arhan chuckle… I signalled Madiha to some with me to speak loudly and follow Aqsaa.