"Mimi kaisi hai?" She asked something she wanted to ask ever since she saw him. 
"Acchi hai. Khush hai. She's expecting" he replied, revealing something that no one except their own family knew.
"What? Really?" Her head snapped sideways to look at him with eyes widened with surprise and a smile on her face, this time a wide one as Farjaad nodded eagerly, smiling from ear to ear himself.
"Haya didn't tell me anything" Umeed pondered, frowning. Haya was the only person she was in constant contact with and she had strictly told her not to tell anyone about her shifting and her current plans. But she kept updates on her family members, specially Aghu Jaan's health.
"Actually no one except us know about it yet" he shrugged.
"Jo bhi hai, I'm so happy for her, MashaAllah"
Umeed was genuinely happy hearing such a great news. Mimi, her best friend, was going to be a mother. She could barely hold her smile and the warmth that spread through her. All she wanted to do was give her best friend a tight bear hug.
"I know! I just couldn't control myself when I heard it the first time. I couldn't belive my baby sister was going to be a mother herself" Farjaad expressed his emotions, "Asad is going crazy over everything. He nitpicks everything she is about to eat or wear, har cheez ko le ke itna particular ho jata hai, I've never seen him like this before"
He kept narrating her how overprotective Asad had become over Mimi and Umeed kept listening to him with a smile on her face.
"I never thought Asad was right for Mimi but I'm glad to be proven wrong. You were right about them." 
He looked at her, his voice toning down at the last statement, his smile fading along with hers as they looked away together, a plethora of memories hitting them.
"You know we used to fight over what Mimi is going to eat and once Maa had enough of it and kicked both of us out" he broke the awkward silence, sharing an incident to lighten the atmosphere, which made her chuckle.
"I'm sure you guys would keep fighting over random things aur Mimi bechari phass jaati hogi" she commented, looking at him once again as they laughed together.
Watching her laugh made his heart jump in joy and he wanted the moment to last forever. Her laughing and him just staring at her. Her laugh was his solace, the tinkle of her giggle made him forget everything else in the world. 
Both of them were dancing around their differences, stealing moments of normalcy before they were hit by the reality of the situation.
"I miss her" She sighed in melancholy once her laughter subsided.
"She misses you too" He reassured her, knowing behind all this hard facade, she must be missing her best friend terribly. He used to secretly adore how Umeed loved his sister and how his sister defended her best friend against anything.
"She still has the same number. You can call her" 
He cleverly slipped this information in an even tone, not meeting her eyes to which she didn't say anything but he knew she had heard it.
"When did you move to Islamabad?" He asked her.
"Last year" she replied.
"Haya told me you were still in Lahore" he frowned. He was in touch with Sameer and Haya and kept pestering Haya with information about Umeed.
"I made her promise not to tell anyone. All of them are still under the impression that I'm still at my Khala's" she shrugged and he chuckled.
"Why did you move out from your Khala's place?"