Mehrunnisa:

A love story from Lahore

By Zeenat Mahal

[Chapter 16]

Mehru wanted to tell Jamal that yes, some of what she had told him was true. She wanted to tell him that yes, she did indeed have feelings for him. But the fears that she would end up just as discarded as her mother stopped her.

‘No.’

The answer came out as a reflex. She was surprised and just a little regretful after she’d said it.

Jamal turned. His face had lost any trace of concern. It was blank and expressionless again.

‘I came a day earlier to take advantage of your inimitable scheming powers to come up with an answer for Apa and Ajoo Baba. They’re all coming here by evevning. There won’t be any need, thank God. All we have to do is pretend to be happy. They want to spend a week here. I think they’re worried about you.’

‘I don’t see why. They haven’t been concerned for the last three months, why now?’

‘They only recently found out you’ve been here. I told them you’ve been here for two weeks. I’ve done nothing but lie to my family, ever since I married you.’

‘Be careful, my wicked ways might be rubbing off on you.’

He watched her and then said gravely, ‘You don’t even know the repercussions of a divorce do you, Mehrunissa?’

Mehru shrugged and said softly, ‘Bibi makes sure I know.’

Jamal nodded, apparently satisfied. Looking thoughtful he said, ‘We’ll be sharing a room for the next week. Try and stay out of my way.’

‘Same room?’ she squealed.

‘My family will be here. We have to pretend to be happy. What do you expect me to do?’

Good idea
‘I…no, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.’
She was thinking of her own rogue reactions to him.

Jamal misunderstood, and smiling sardonically he said, ‘Don’t flatter yourself, Mehrunissa. I’m not as susceptible to your many charms as you’d like to think.’

He walked out of the room without another glance at her.

Mehru watched him, her eyes narrowed, breath heavy and chin trembling. He shouldn’t have said that now, should he? He had no idea who he was dealing with. She smiled as she planned her role for the next week, but the flutter in her stomach and the sudden racing of her heart, she assigned to the excitement of another apt vengeance. Nothing else.

Bedroom eyes

Mallo Aunty and Unce Ajoo who had betrayed her, were coming to see her. She was just going to put an act for them like Jamal wanted. She dressed up to the nines, wearing her most flattering clothes and silver jhumkis, silver chandelier like earrings that she really liked. She lined her eyes with kohl, making them dramatic and alive. She went downstairs, where Jamal was already waiting.

Predictably, he didn’t even look at her. She felt insulted. She’d never cared whether men looked at her or not. She’d never even made any effort on her appearance ever. But he’d looked at her before with those bedroom eyes, and unspoken promises, and their velvety brown depths, going dark and stormy.

The subject of her thoughts stood aloof and distant by the door, peering out. What was the matter with her? Why was she thinking like this about him? He had been smitten with her and look at him now, pretending indifference.

‘Apa said they’d be here, around six. It’s six thirty already, so they should be here any…’

He stopped as they both saw the car turn into the gate half a mile away and came up the driveway. Mehru launched into her role with enthusiasm and shrieked with joy,

‘Mallo Chachi! Ajoo Chacha! Fahad, lovely to see you.’
‘Mehru! I’m so glad to see you,’ Mallo hugged her.

Mehru gazed back at her without any sign of disappointment or anger, but Mallo looked slightly unsure. Then she went to Ajoo Chacha but she didn’t hug him like she would’ve before. Ajoo felt it and patted her on the head looking at Jamal, sorrowfully.

Mehru took them inside chatting at the top of her voice, ‘It’s been wonderful here, especially for a newly wedded couple, who’re as happy as Jamal and I are…you know the quiet and the peace.’

She gave Jamal a slow incendiary smile. Jamal’s blood leaped, and he looked away. Circe was up to her old tricks and he was damned if he was going to take this from her again.

Warnings

‘A woman knows the face of the man she loves, like a sailor knows the open sea. Or so Balzac thought,’ and she fluttered her eyelashes at him.

Dinner that night was lively and they all laughed a great deal. Mehru made it a point to touch Jamal’s arm every few minutes until he gave her a long look with his mouth smiling and his eyes shooting warnings.

‘There is no remedy for love but to love more,’ she said lifting her eyes and giving him a soulful look. Then she added brightly, ‘Thoreau is your favourite isn’t he, Jamal?’ Jamal tried to smile with clenched teeth.

Mallo had been having a great time observing all of Mehru’s antics. Jamal, as always, thought he could fool her with his silence and his ability to hide his hurt. But she’d found out soon enough that there was something terribly wrong, and putting two and two together wasn’t that difficult.

Jamal was angry with Mehru, and she was in love with him. There was trouble here but why and what was still a mystery. She decided to wait and watch for a couple of days more before she talked with Jamal about it.

Jamal sat in bed reading, when Mehru came out of the bathroom humming. He continued to read without looking up. Lying down on the bed she rested her elbow on the pillow, and her head on her hand. Then she turned towards him and asked, ‘So, how was I today?’

‘Brilliantly deceptive as always.’

He didn’t bother looking up, even as he replied but he could see her now out of the corner of his eyes. She smelled of jasmine and roses.

‘Yes, I was brilliant even if I say so myself,’ she said happily.

Jamal’s mouth went dry, and his blood was roaring in his ears. Slowly, he closed his book. Methodically he turned, put the light out, and turning his back to her fully, lay down in the dark. His heart was thudding so loud, he was sure she could hear it.

‘Well, good night to you too.’
Temper

His temper snapped. He put the light on and he turned towards her, looming over her as he half leaned on his elbow and he growled, ‘You really like playing games don’t you?’

‘Yes, sure I do, especially mentally challenging ones.’

He snorted. ‘You have a tendency to flatter yourself, Mehrunissa. I don’t think you can think beyond the obvious, the material, and the physical.’

She stretched like a cat and purred, giving him an equally feline smile, ‘And are you thinking on the same lines, darling?’

‘You wish,’ his teeth seemed to be stuck together.

She wiggled and stretched, ‘Maybe I do and maybe I don’t. Marriage is an adventure, like going to war, G.K. Chesterton warns us. You’re afraid to admit what is so glaringly obvious.’

His gaze swept over her insultingly, ‘Is that so?’

‘Reading law doesn’t make you an expert on integrity and ethics.’

Stumped, Jamal looked at her, his eyes shooting fire, and he retorted, ‘Stop playing games with me, Mehrunissa. I’ll brook no trespass from you…not ever again.’

Secret

He turned, put out the lamp and went to sleep. Or at least he pretended to.
‘Why’s this door locked?’
Mallo asked when she found the study locked.
Mehru answered, ‘Oh…I lost the key long ago.’
‘Tell Karim to get a locksmith and open it, or change the lock.’
‘I’ll do that next week.’

Mehru didn’t want anyone to go in and discover her secret writing. So she was rather unpleasantly surprised at dinner.

Fahad said, ‘Ami, you know that writer you’re always raving about? I think she’s getting a new novel out soon.’

‘Really? How do you know?’ Mallo sounded excited.
Smiling Fahad said, ‘I read it somewhere, in a magazine or something.’

‘Oh, I’m so excited. Mehru there’s this new writer and she’s become really famous all of a sudden, quite a literary star and guess what her name is…Mehrunissa!’

Mehru nearly choked on her food. Spluttering she managed to say, ‘Oh…oh, how nice. So you…you’ve read her work?’

‘Yes. I love it. I’ve read everything she’s written so far. I would love to read the novel.’

For a second Mehru had the urge to tell her to not read the novel, just in case Mallo saw the similarities between the grandmother in the novel and her own, but then she thought, who’s going to associate that book with me? They don’t know me at all. She let it go and taking a deep breath changed the subject.

Jamal, however, was watching her curiously. She’d gone pale when his sister said the writer’s name. Now, why would such a small coincidence bother her? Something nagged at the back of his mind but he couldn’t quite catch it. But he had the feeling that Mehru was hiding something.

Glossary of terms:
Chachi: paternal uncle’s wife
Chacha: paternal uncle
Jhumkis: chandelier earrings
Kohl: black eye-liner

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