10. A not-so typical day

...

Katrina Khan's morning started with her grandmother's voice drumming against her ears.

Karrina should have been annoyed or concerned, but she just casually threw off her blanket and let out a lazy yawn. Growing up in her family had made her desensitized to such things. In fact, this was a very typical morning in the Khan household - like the sun indicated the beginning of a day across the globe, her Dadi's tantrums did it for them.

They would be worried if Zahira Khan did not raise her voice the first thing after waking up - because the only way that would happen would be if the woman finally decided to take her last breath.

As Katrina brushed her teeth, eyes still droopy, she learned the reason behind her grandmother's cries this particular morning (not that she needed any) as her mother's tone added to the chorus. Apparently, her mother, Khadija Islam, had tried to murder her grandmother. Again.

Just a typical morning in the Khan household.

"You know my heart can't take spices, you know it! You keep adding it to the food in dozens anyway!" Zahira's voice was now quavering.

"My balance of spices is perfect," Khadija's voice was calm like it always was. "I add it according to how I, my husband, and children, like it. It is not my fault your old age has ruined your taste buds."

Zahira let out a loud, dramatic gasp.

Her Dadi had never approved of her mother since she did not belong to their village. Zahira had a girl fixed for her father, Arif Khan, since he was a teenager - a girl of their village. But once he reached of age, he declined her wish and married Khadija who he had his heart set on forever - a girl who grew up in the city and was from a different social class.

It was a betrayal the old woman was yet to forgive.

So now, every chance she got, Zahira gathered her best friends from the neighborhood and sat in their rooms backbiting about Khadija, and all their daughter-in-laws. But of course, they did it in the name of praying for the welfare of the society.

Khadija, despite being calm and respectful at all times, wasn't a woman who turned down a fight. She let her mother-in-law scream and speak ill, but also secretly added too much salt to the food every time Zahira's friends came over, knowing full well it wasn't good for the old lady's heart.

"Arif, your wife is trying to poison your only mother!" Zahira has been complaining for years.

"If I did want her to die I would have fed her rat poison years ago," Khadija argued, feigning innocence.

Katrina rolled her eyes as she stepped out of her room. Her mother and grandmother were standing a couple feet away from her, staring furiously at each other. Now Katrina assessed her options. One, she could step up to them and try to calmly diffuse the situation. Two, she could sneak out of her room like a coward. On a different morning, she would have chosen the first option, but this morning she already had too much on her own plate.

So making up her mind, Katrina quickly sprinted across the room, having no desire to get caught in this crossfire.

Katrina ran into her father in the veranda, where he spent most of his days.

Under different circumstances, she would walk straight up to her father and ask, "Why don't you say anything? You could prevent Dadi from being so harsh to Mom, or provide the support Mom needs to behave with Dadi. So why don't you intervene?"

To which, Arif Khan would simply reply, from beyond the protection of his newspaper, "It is a battle I won't survive, little one."

The sun might have risen like it was supposed to, and her Dadi was singing her songs as per routine, but Katrina's heart was still broken. And by the looks of it, so was her Dad's.

Arif Khan just hung up a call, no doubt from inquiring relatives, his newspaper lay neglected on the side table, the unfolding yet to be undone. He lifted his tired gaze at his daughter. "That was your Phupi, just called to inform her that the wedding isn't happening this December, as we were planning. You know she was thinking of visiting the country this year for that purpose."

Katrina swallowed. "Will we ever cease to discuss the wedding that we all know was actually never going to take place?"

"Not anytime soon, little one," he seemed burdened with sadness as he said that, but that didn't prevent him from stating facts.

Little one, he called her. Yet, he had never treated her as one.

"Your Dadi is arranging another prayer session this evening for your marriage and the nazar she believes your mother has put on you. I heard her inviting her friends over."

Katrina's jaw hardened. "Dad," she sighed. "You know you could prevent that from happening if you tried to."

"Perhaps," Arif Khan replied. "But what's the point?" he asked "I thought the momentary distraction could be good for your grandmother, and also your mother."

She shot him a vexed look at his matter of fact statement. "Right, anything else I need to know?" she asked in a flat tone.

"Not yet, but the day is still young.".

Nodding, she headed out of the house with dread weighing her down.

Dahlia Ahmad was brutally awoken from her peaceful slumber by the harsh beeping of her alarm.

Layla was elbowing her in a half state of consciousness to turn it off. Dahlia forced herself to lift the blanket from her body and raise herself from the feather soft bed. She tip-toed across the room as she got ready for work.

Her eyes landed on the sleeping girls, and jealousy filled her heart. Layla had gone back to her slumber after the couple minutes of fidgeting. Lily, always being a heavy sleeper, lay undisturbed.

What Dahlia wouldn't give for a couple of extra minutes of sleep. She took comfort in the fact that Lily had to get up for work in a few hours and her alarm would jolt Layla's sleep again.

After getting dressed, she made her way downstairs, still yawning. It was a stupid idea to have a sleepover when she had to wake up early the next morning. Dahlia swore to herself she would never let Layla convince her to stayover at a weeknight again. If there's anything the girl had inherited from her mother - it was Yasmine Aunty's art of persuasion.

Wondering how many cups of tea she would need to ride through the high-pitched screaming of the kids, Dahlia made her way towards the dining room where she knew she would find Yasmine Fayyad.

Instead, Dahlia found Kaveh sitting on a chair across the dining table, the day's newspaper spread across his hands and a cup of tea steaming in front.

She halted in her steps at his sight. Kaveh lowered his paper, just as surprised to see her. His eyes stilled on her for a fraction of a second, after that, he didn't know where to put his gaze. The sisters had come in late at night, he was already in bed by the time. He didn't know she was staying over, her presence clearly threw him off.

Dahlia wasn't expecting to run into him this early in the morning either. But she should have, he lived here after all.

He opened his mouth to greet her, Dahlia jumped in before he could and said, "Assalamu 'Alaikum,"

Kaveh's eyes widened. He cleared his throat, his dreaded 'hello' dying with it. "Walaikum 'Assalam," he said, inquiring eyes still on her.

"I came in last night," Dahlia clarified, answering his unasked question. "Could you direct me towards Yasmine Aunty? I want to say goodbye to her before leaving."

"Of course." He nodded and then pointed towards the kitchen. "I could go get her if you want?"

"It's fine, I know where your kitchen is. Ha ha ha,"

Dahlia internally cursed herself as she walked past him, even though Kaveh humored her by smiling politely at her joke. Why on earth did all their conversations turn like this?

As soon as she exited his presence, her mind was flooded by the conversation she had with Lily last night. When Layla went to the bathroom during their movie break, Dahlia confronted her sister about how she knew Faizan's secret criminal past. As snide as Lily was all the time, that comment she made about Dahlia's poor taste in men seemed like a personal attack; that too saying something like that in front of Layla since Faizan's secret involved a Fayyad cousin.

"Ibi told me," Lily replied.

That didn't make sense to Dahlia. Yes, Ibrahim was an idiot and Lily could fool him to do her bidding like no other, but her brother was also very careful about other people's information. He had, over the years, taught himself how to step around Lily's traps skillfully.

"It's no longer a secret," that's when her sister informed her. "Kaveh brought it out in the open."

That was news too. "He did, why?"

Lily narrowed her eyes, as if scrutinizing Dahlia. The hesitance in her gaze made her uncomfortable. "A lot of this will be a shock to you," she finally started speaking after a moment of pondering. "So buckle up. Last month, the Iqbals asked for your hand in marriage for their youngest son, Faizan." Her mouth twisted in resentment. "Dad was actually considering the proposal of course, Faizan seems amazing on paper. But then Ibi learned of it and immediately decided he had to inform Dad about Faizan's past to put an end to it. Before that, he reached out to Kaveh as a courtesy. That's when things got... interesting." Lily paused again. "Kaveh took matters in his own hands and came to talk to Dad himself. Told our parents every dirty secret about Faizan. Our parents didn't waste time to reject the proposal of course, and they did not hesitate to condemn the Iqbals in the process for trying to hide their son's problems. It was kind of a mess, and like with every drama, everyone found out."

Her sister was right, a lot of it came as a shock to Dahlia. It was too much, too many things to digest at once. The fact that Kaveh had placed her well-being over his family's name and reputation - something which couldn't have been an easy thing to do for man like Kaveh - who took so much pride in his family's reputation, was the most surprising of all.

She sat in silence for a moment, overwhelmed. She knew she would be spending the entire night contemplating and dissecting each piece of the news, and perhaps the next day, and the entire week. For the time being, she flitted her gaze back to her sister.

"Why am I just learning all of this?" she asked with disbelief.

Lily raised her shoulders and dropped them. "You know how Mom and Dad are, you're the baby of the family so they shelter you from everything."

Of course.

"You could have told me," Dahlia stated accusingly.

"I was out of the city, remember?" Lily said. "I just found out from Mom myself."

Ibrahim might have learned how to protect his secrets from Lily, but it was an art their mother still had to pick up.

"Be smart about the decisions you make from here, Dels," Lily said after that, affectionately patting her cheek.

Dahlia nodded meekly, the weight of the words weighing down her shoulders as it was meant to.

There was a new development in the process of bidding goodbye to Yasmine Fayyad. Dahlia expected the woman to put up a fight about not letting her leave without eating breakfast - she even had all the arguments prepared for that. But now she was insisting that Dahlia let Kaveh drop her to work.

"He's heading to Little Stars with Azar anyway!" Yasmine Fayyad told her.

"But Aunty-"

"Della, sweetie, isn't it safer to travel with Kaveh than with an Uber driver?"

Dahlia clamped her mouth shut at that. What was she supposed to say? That the Uber driver didn't send her customized roses and spill family secrets to save her integrity?

Of course, she couldn't. So she followed Yasmine out of the kitchen, quietly vexed, as she lead her to Kaveh.

He was reading his newspaper again as the ladies stood in front of him, as his mother placed the request. Adding to Dahlia's astonishment, Kaveh looked just as reluctant at the prospect.

In fact, he went ahead and said, "I don't think she wants me to,"

Yasmine Fayyad's eyebrows reached her hair, "Is this anyway to treat a guest?"

The woman left no further room for arguments, and Kaveh was ushered out of his seat to go and get dressed.

Dahlia waited as he got ready and made his way down the stairs, Azar excitedly trudging behind him with her matching Moana backpack and water flask bouncing with each step. They walked towards the Fayyad's driveway. "Della, I can't believe you're going to school with me. Will you do it everyday?" Azar started squeaking.

"I'm sorry for putting you in this position," Dahlia said to Kaveh instead, ignoring the kid's incessant cries. "I didn't want to bother you."

"I know," he said, giving her a look over his shoulder as he walked ahead of her. "It's no bother at all."

"You didn't even get to finish your breakfast."

"I will have plenty of time to grab something to eat after we reach your destination and before I have to leave for work."

They reached his car and Kaveh opened the passenger seat for her. Dahlia hesitated, he looked at her expectantly. With a sigh, Dahlia got in.

...

Why is the man in the picture above so white?