15. AFNAN'S ENTRY

At first, "sheeba" and "javed," Simra's parents, came and applied haldi to her face with just their fingertips, as they didn't want to annoy their beautiful daughter by applying a lot of it. Once they were done, they gave her their blessing. All the elders come and apply a little bit of haldi on Simra's hands, legs, and face. Now it's time for the youngsters.

"At long last, it's my turn." someone said with a high voice.

Just as Simra saw aqsa with a lot of haldi on her hands, she felt terrified and said, "You better apply a little of it, aqsa."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," aqsa said, taking a step toward Simra.

Mom and Aqsa apply a lot of haldi to Simra's face before she can say anything else, and her entire face is now yellow, and everyone laughs. Simra tried to show fake anger, but seeing everyone laughing, she laughed too. She doesn't like anyone touching her face, but seeing that these are the happiest days of her life, she didn't mind much. When Aqsa saw Simra laughing, she hugged her on the side and said, "Have a very happy married life, my sister...Don't even think about forgetting to give me cute little nieces and nephews.

When Simra heard this, she felt so shy that she just wanted to hide behind Aqsa from all the elders, but everyone laughed at Aqsa's comment.

Arhan, who was standing behind everyone, came forward and said, "I bet Saad will even let her forget that." Now, Simra just wants to run away from here, as Sheeba is looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smile, and under her gaze, Simra just wants to hide behind everyone.

"You know we didn't even summon you, right?" Aqsa turned around and approached Arhan.

"I am not here for you, so excuse me." Arhan walked past her and reached for Simra, taking haldi from the bowl and lovingly applying it to Simra's face, saying, "You girl...I am so glad that you have grown up into this beautiful woman.

"I hope Saad will always make you happy because if I get to know that he is not taking good care of you, this brother of yours will give him a personal visit." Simra's, Ifra's, and Aqsa's eyes welled up as he said this, as they remembered someone special.

"Make that two." Someone said loudly that everyone hears it.

And because the three girls recognize this voice...They widened their eyes as they heard Arhan say, "SURPRISE."

"Oh my god," Simra, Ifra, and Aqsa all said at the same time.

"Afnan…." They turned their ears toward the owner of the voice, and all three ran toward him. And jump on him because the person they've all been looking for has finally arrived.

Afnan is Arhan's elder brother but more like Simra, Ifra, and Aqsa's.

Because when they were kids, Afnan always took care of them like their own elder brother, and they loved him like he was. But then Afnan and Arhan went away because of some problem no one knew about. Now they are both finally here.

Just as all three girls jump at him, Afnan laughs and hugs them tightly as well. He missed his sisters too, as much as they missed him. And then he patted Simra's head and said, "Congrats on your wedding, egghead."

"Ah, not that again, brother, you can't call the bride an egghead in front of everyone," Simra said.

"Of course I can."

Just as Afnan said this to Simra, he hugged him again and said, "I am glad you are here, brother."

"I am as well..." Now his gaze is drawn to the twins, and he says to them:

"Hmm, always the same, ah," he placed his fingers on his chin to solve the mystery of identifying both Ifra and Aqsa. As he saw the expression on both of their faces, where one's eyes couldn't hold the excitement in them and the second's eyes couldn't hold the brotherly love in them, he placed his finger on the right girl and said, "ANGRY BIRD."

And then on the left, one is saying, "Little Dove."

"Right..?"

"Absolutely," Ifra and Aqsa agreed, hugging Afnan once more.

When all four were having their little reunion, Arhan said from behind, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, this is totally unfair You didn't both give a brotherly hug like this...he means Ifra and Simra.

Arhan walked toward them while pointing his finger at all of them. But Ifra, Simra, and Afnan just looked at him and laughed, while Aqsa remarked, "I can give you a brotherly hug."

Arhan came to a halt, looked at Aqsa, and said, "Eww, Aqsa, please..." with an expression that clearly shows he despises the idea with every fiber of his being. And all of them laughed out loud as they looked at both Arhan and Aqsa.

"Oh, come on, you can join the group too," Afnan said to Arhan.

"Of course I am joining it." Arhan replied and ran toward all of them, and they shared a group hug like they used to in their childhood.

"It's been a really long time since we all hugged like this," Afnan said, and they all nodded their heads as a pleasing smile appeared on everyone's faces.

Everyone then continued the ritual, and they all applied haldi to Simra's face and gave her their blessings.

When everything is done, now is the time to play with haldi. Aqsa took a lot of haldi in her hands as her eyes were on Ifra. When Ifra saw this, she started running while saying, "Aqsa, no, no," and started laughing.

When everyone saw this, the whole banquet erupted with the voices of people who were cheering so loudly for aqsa. And when Ifra looked behind her, there was no sign of aqsa; she stopped and took a deep breath of relief. But suddenly, someone yelled from behind her, and when she turned, her whole face was now yellow with haldi as aqsa had surprisingly applied a lot of haldi to her.

"You... wait," Ifra said as she took some haldi from the bowl and began running toward Aqsa, and the entire banquet erupted in applause, but this time it was for Ifra.

"You'll never catch me," Aqsa said between laughs as she continued running.

Ifra stopped and looked at Aqsa and said, "It's not the time for my revenge."

At first, Aqsa didn't understand her, but then she felt a movement behind her, and when she turned around, she saw Arhan walking toward her with the whole haldi bowl in his hands and an evil smile on his face.

At first, Aqsa just kept looking at him in shock, and then she started running in the opposite direction like she was running for her life and kept saying, "No, no, no, please God, no."

The banquet is quiet this time because they want to see who will win between Aqsa and Arhan. Aqsa continues to run, but as she is getting tired, she stops, and suddenly Arhan grabs her hand, turns her toward him, puts all the haldi on Aqsa's face and even her hair, and says, "This is for saying that you want to hug me like a sister."

When he stops, aqsa look at him frustratingly and say, "I was just joking."

Arhan looked at her and winked, saying, "Now pay for it." Just as he was about to apply more haldi to Aqsa's face, Aqsa ran from there, and Arhan just laughed at her act.

Aqsa keeps running away from Arhan because she doesn't want to talk to him, now that he's totally ruined her beautiful look. When she saw that Arhan was not behind her, she stopped and started looking for Ifra and Afnan. When she found everyone standing where the ritual took place, she ran over there and found an empty chair in the center. She ran over and sat on it.

"Finally, after all that running, my legs were hurting."

"Aqsa.." Ifra called her, and when Aqsa looked at her, she saw everyone looking at her with shock. She looked at her own clothes but found nothing odd. After a few seconds, it hit her that this is where she is sitting.