The first thing she encountered in the dressing table nearby was the reflection of her face in the mirror-her head wrapped with light pink chadar and her eyes weary and droopy. She took a glimpse of herself and sauntered over to the shelf. Loosening the namaz chadar, she took if off and folded it too.

It was 11:45pm.

She had studied as much as she could today. The rest she left it for tomorrow, since there were still two more good days before the finals. Just two more days and then she was done with everything.

Then after that?

She was going to be busy with engagement preparations. Saliha already told her to do shopping and it depended on Hoorain what was the suitable time for her to go with Zoha. Hoorain lived far away and her mother didn't let her go out for shopping alone. If they planned to go after college when the day was still bright and lively, then it was better.

Zoha picked her phone from the bedside and swiped the screen. She clicked the phone calls and hit Hoorain's number. Although it was little late, she hoped that Hoorain was somehow awake to pick her call. She had to talk about shopping plan before tomorrow.

Few bells rang. Zoha impatiently waited to hear Hoorain's voice. When the call went to voicemail, she redialed the number and sticked the phone against her ear again. After the four bells this time, Hoorain picked up.

"Hello?" she sounded half asleep. "Zoha?"

Zoha felt bad that she disconcerted her in the night. "Hello. Were you sleeping?"

"I just fell asleep."

"Sorry yaar. I had to talk to you."

"About what?" Hoorain sounded less interested to hear what Zoha had to say.

"You know we were planning to go for shopping? Are you free to come with me tomorrow?"

"What time?"

Zoha padded over to the window and looked out through the grill bars. "I was thinking about after college. Baray Abu and Bari ammi have kept the engagement on coming Saturday and there aren't that many days."

"We have exams on the way too."

"I know." Zoha didn't know how to convince her. "I have already been studying."

Hoorain stayed silent for a bit as if processing her thoughts. "I don't know what ammi will say."

"Can you ask her that if you can come along? I take the responsibility of picking and dropping you off."

"Right now she is sleeping." Hoorain yawned.

"I meant like in the morning."

"I will."

"Tell her you have to come. I have no one else to go with. Bari ammi has other things to do and Manal as you know she can't come."

"I know. I willl convince ammi," Hoorain said. "I am just so tired and sleepy right now. Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

"Okay."

"I will tell you what she says. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks yaar. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"See you tomorrow then. Allah-hafiz," Hoorain dismissed.

"Allah-hafiz," Zoha said half drowned in her thoughts. She ended the call after Hoorain had hung up.

****************

During the study hall, Zoha and Hoorain sat out in the vicinity. It was better than inside where students packed the place and took over all the tables. Zoha already had the textbook she needed. She didn't have to go to the library anymore. The notes she had been making, she shared them with Hoorain who hopelessly flipped through papers, searching for the good notes from the entire semester.

"What are you looking for?" Zoha couldn't let her friend be lost in the pile of confusion.

"I can't find this." Hoorain was carefully checking every paper by headings.

"What?"

"Aray yaar, I took these notes on this topic. I don't know where they went."

"You can check mines. Maybe you will find it." Zoha passed her binder to Hoorain. "I try to keep all my notes together."

"You are way more organized than me." She took the binder. "Kuch milhi jai ga."

"You probably left it at home."

"I only put my binder in one place. All the papers and everything. I don't know where it went then."

Zoha was holding a paper in her lap, pondering. She wasn't even worried about exams anymore. The engagement preparations had occupied her mind. She wondered how she was going to get things done.

"Where did you get up to?" Hoorain asked, skimming through Zoha's notes.

"I was going over everything," Zoha blandly responded. "Right now I am on chapter sixteen."

"I really have to pass the exam, or else Ammi and Abu are going to think that they wasted their money on my education." Hoorain struggled to find the right notes. "It's a pressure on me."

"You are studying. So you will be fine."

"But I am still worried."

Zoha constructed her focus back to her studies and avoided getting into conversation.

Hoorain after some time stopped skimming through papers and silently thought. Zoha glanced at her and looked back at her paper, so she (Hoorain) didn't start talking. She had last three chapters to review and memorize the key words. Already in a separate notebook she had listed out the main points, which she kept referring back to. She was studying hard, covering as many chapters as possible.

Hoorain was examining a print out that she found in her bag. She looked so focused and serious that Zoha was stunned.

"I found something related to that topic," Hoorain said, her gaze planted on the paper. "This will work out I think. I am not looking for those notes anymore."

"You didn't find them in my binder either?" Zoha said, surprised.

Hoorain shook her head.

"Which one was it?" Zoha didn't remember if she ever lost her papers.

"It was the one that had vocabularies on craftsmanship."

"Oh that one. Well I didn't take the notes either. But you can find it online. Can't you?" Zoha asked.

"This print out has it. Probably not all the vocabulary, but at least it has some." Hoorain showed her the paper. "I will study from this and then look up other words."

"Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Can you make a copy of this print out and give it to me? I don't want to leave anything out."

"I can only do that in the library. You know how much they charge when you get it done from outside? Five rupees for two pages. It should be one rupee a page."

"So do it from the library and give it to me."

"Okay."

Zoha put her binder aside and continued reviewing her notes, while Hoorain quietly did her work.

Later when Zoha remembered as she had sort of forgotten, she asked Hoorain about what mall they were going to go. Hoorain knew couple of places where her mother bought things from and even bridal dresses when her aunt got married. They had myriad variety of colors and styles.

"We should definitely go at this mall. On the fourth floor everything is for brides. Clothes, sandals, jewelries, accessories and even make up. There is one beauty salon where you can get makeup and hair done," Hoorain explained. "It's little bit expensive, but they do really good."

"That sounds really good," Zoha said. "What time should we go?"

"Do you want to go directly after college or go home and then?"

"I am thinking about going home, get fresh, read namaz, eat lunch and then. I won't take long. Just an hour."

"You are coming to pick me up right?" Hoorain confirmed.

"Yeah I will come with Sajjid baba," Zoha said. "Can you give me your home address? I forgot."

"Don't come all the way to my house. I will give you the address of the block and you stay there."

"Why not all the way? Isn't it convenient?"

"It's just that my street is narrow and people don't drive big cars in there," Hoorain said. "I am telling you. Wait at the corner of the block and I will come by."

"Okay."

Hoorain gathered her notes and stuffed them in the bag. Only thing she had out were the two print outs she was studying from.

"By the way what color do you have in mind?" she curiously asked Zoha.

"What color do you think suits me more? Off-white or light pink?"

"To be honest both of them suit you. You are very pretty Ma Shaa Allah." Hoorain smiled.

"Tell me. Which one?"

"Light pink."

"Do you think these colors are good for the engagement? That's what Manal wore at hers." Zoha avoided mentioning Faiza.

"In engagement brides usually wear light colors. They save bright colors for other events like Nikah and Walima."

Zoha gave it a thought. "I think light pink is good then."

"It's perfect," Hoorain said. "You will look so pretty that Shehryaar won't be able to take his eyes off of you."

***************

Zoha hunted for Saliha in the whole house, even going to her room and knocking at the door, but nobody opened it. Inside it was quiet-no talking nor any movement sound. She went to check in Manal's room. Saliha wasn't there either. Then where is she?

In the lawn, Zoha found Rumina watering the plants and flower pots. She asked where Saliha is.

"Zoha bibi, I saw her on the rooftop," Rumina said, shading her eyes in the striking sun.

"What is she doing up there?"

"She was talking to someone on the phone."

Zoha silently gazed at Rumina, thinking. "Okay, I will go check." She dashed upstairs.

On the rooftop, Saliha was standing by the handrail, looking out with the phone against her ear. Zoha went over to her, and stood near her. "Bari ammi?" she said in a low voice so it did not disturb her, but let her know that she was there.

Saliha turned and looked. She gestured to wait one minute. Zoha nodded and left to give her privacy. She went down to her room and rather thought to change clothes so she could leave early for shopping. It was already two in the afternoon. She had told Hoorain that she was going to come to pick her up at around two thirty. If it got late, it would probably be due to finding her address. Other than that she would to hustle to get on time.

She took a body wash, put on new clothes-grape green colored shalwar kameez with white dupatta, did her hair in ponytail, wore silver sparkly studs and silver bracelet in her left hand to match her dressing. It was after a long time she was getting ready to go out for herself. To buy her own clothes. And that of engagement. It was a special moment of her life. She was really happy.

Picking her caramel colored purse from the wardrobe, she went over to the window to draw the curtains and fluffed the pillows and pulled the bed sheet neatly from the edge. Then turned off the light and deserted the room. She went down to the kitchen to see what was cooked. Her stomach was rumbling. She didn't want to be hungry while shopping. In one pot there was daal ghosht with sprinkle of chopped coriander and white rice in the other one. It smelled scrumptious.

She took some rice and daal with little bit mixed pickle (it made the food taste extra good) and sat down at the kitchen table to eat. It was slightly awkward to be alone eating. But she couldn't help it. She had to go and it would take long time to set lunch and eat together. Also, Saliha wouldn't have minded because she knew.

When she was done, she washed her plate and drank some water. The food was really good. It was after a while she got to eat daal. Saliha often made chicken and beef curries, which bored Zoha. She was craving for something light and simple dish as daal. And it was a surprise that she made it today.

Zoha looked for Saliha on the rooftop. But she wasn't there. Then she came back down and headed to her room. Fortunately, she opened the door and Zoha told her that she was going.

"Hold up," Saliha said. "Let me give you the money."

Zoha had totally forgot about that. "Yeah." She waited, while Saliha went in and got it for her.

"This is a large amount," Saliha said, handing the envelope to Zoha. "Keep it safe and don't take out everything when you pay for something."

Zoha looked at the envelope, feeling the bundle of money under her fingers. "How much is it?"

"Fifty thousand. Use as much as you need it."

"That's too much," Zoha was stunned.

"It won't be nice if I give you less. And plus your baray Abu especially said that you use it openly. You will need it. Believe me. It's an engagement shopping."

Zoha accepted it and safely put in in her purse. "Thank you."

"No need to say it. Just shop and have fun." Saliha smiled.

Zoha was slightly overwhelmed to carry such large amount. She had never taken this much money for anything.

"I don't know about the time," she said.

"You have all afternoon and evening. And if you can't get everything today. You have tomorrow."

Zoha nodded.

"Your friend is coming also right?" she asked.

"Yeah. I am gonna pick her up on the way."

"That's good," Saliha said.

"I told her I will be coming by two thirty. So I should get going," Zoha said.

"Yeah yeah."

"Allah-hafiz."

"Allah-hafiz."

Zoha hurried down the stairs and headed straight to the driveway. She informed Sajjid about her plan and showed Hoorain's house address. He looked at it for a while and tried to figure where it was. He sat in the car and plugged the address in the GPS. Zoha was uncertain if he knew how to get there. She sat restive in the backseat, clutching the purse tight against her side, remindful of the money. It was a big responsibility to take care of on the streets of Karachi. Anytime anybody could rob them on gun point.

Zoha shook her head and looked to see if Sajjid got the address in successfully. He said, he knew where Hoorain's house was. He could easily go there by the help of GPS. Zoha sighed internally. No worries.

It was a narrow, crowded street; people had their motorbikes parked outside their small homes. Sajjid already figured that he could not drive the car in a tight space. He stopped by at the corner of the block and Zoha called Hoorain to come out. They waited for her. When she joined them, Sajjid drove to the mall that they wanted to go.

"I was dressed up for like thirty minutes," Hoorain said. "Did you go to sleep or something?"

Zoha laughed. "Yeah sure, I had so much time to sleep. I went straight home, prayed, ate, dressed up and took money from Bari ammi. It was the traffic that delayed me."

"Achi khasi deyr lag gai."

"I know. But I hope we don't get late even more."

"On shopping streets there is always traffic. It's crazy to be in a car."

"Really?"

"Aur nahi to kiya."

Zoha looked out the window. They were out on the main road. Cars, rickshaws, taxis, bikes rode by, making traffic noise. It wasn't crowded. Sajjid was driving smoothly.

"How many days you have left to shop?" Hoorain asked.

"Bari ammi was saying that if I can't get everything today then I can do it tomorrow. I have around two days including today."

"And what about the makeup?"

"I don't know." Zoha was blank.

"Why don't you ask your cousin Manal? Didn't you tell me she is good with makeup stuff?" Hoorain looked at Zoha.

"She wanted to come along with me for shopping and help me out. But Bari ammi said that she should recover first."

"You can ask her which parlor she would recommend. Then we can go," Hoorain said.

"Yeah I will ask her."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

They took off in front of a busy, bustling chain of shops. Sajjid couldn't find parking in the street filled with multitude vehicles. There was enough space to get through one street and stop to let them off, while cars honked and lined up behind him. He said that he would go home and come back to pick them up later. Or in that case Zoha could inform on the phone.

Hoorain decided to go with the dress first-the main thing. She took Zoha to the mall, on the bridal dedicated floor and looked through the stores that had good style clothes. Most of them were really fancy from the neck to the bottom. Some were really elegant; they had beautiful designing that didn't look too heavy, but just perfect for the engagement.

"Do you want to check that one out?" Hoorain said.

Zoha looked at the storefront. She liked the color contrast of the dresses, wrapped on mannequin's body. "Yeah sure."

As they opened the door, a cool air welcomed them before the salesperson. It was a spacious store with two girls, skimming through collection of plastic wrapped hanging clothes. The rest of the place was to them. Zoha was amazed by so many beautiful, stylish clothes. Her heart was leaping with excitement. She felt like buying everything.

"Where do we start from?" she said.

"Let's check out the ones on the hanger," Hoorain said.

"Why don't you look here and I look on the display?"

"Beta, it's your engagement. Not mine."

Zoha laughed. "I know. But I don't want to miss anything. If you find something like I told you, tell me."

Hoorain smirked. "I will."

Zoha went over to the display and looked at the pictures of the dresses that were packed and tucked in the showcases.

"May I help you?" the saleslady said with an inviting smile.

Zoha looked at the lady. "I am looking for an engagement dress."

"How exactly do you want?"

"Um-" Zoha wasn't sure. She called Hoorain to get her idea on the latest trends.

"You should get a long dress. Or like a maxi," Hoorain suggested.

"Like this one?" Zoha pointed at the picture on the table.

Hoorain looked at it closely since it was small. "Yeah kind of like that." But it seemed like it wasn't what she was looking for.

"We also have a catalogue if you want some idea," the saleslady said, looking at both of them.

"You do? That's great," Hoorain said.

The saleslady passed it to them, flipping to the engagement style dresses. "You might like these. They have the latest trend from last month." She pointed at some of them.

"This is what I was talking about," Hoorain instantly got engrossed in the pictures. "Look at this one." She showed it to Zoha. "It's a maxi style."

Zoha looked at the variety of maxis with fancy silver design in the front and up to forearm-long, plain sleeves.

"This is really nice," she said. "But aren't these colors little bright?"

"We have more colors," the saleslady said.

"We are looking for light pink shade," Hoorain said.

In the store there was another saleslady, folding the dresses and neatly putting them in the transparent packing. She looked over occasionally whenever Hoorain talked to the first saleslady.

"I would have to look for light pink," the saleslady said, checking the shelves in the showcase. "There were one of two that someone bought earlier. But we have off-white and maroon."

"You have no more?" Hoorain said.

"I am looking. Let me check."

Zoha flipped through the catalogue to see other styles. The dominant trend was one with front open and big palazzo pants. She liked them but they were little too fancy.

"We are out of pink color," the saleslady said.

"Oh."