4| Ahad

Mom and dad had fixed the date for my wedding on my engagement dinner. They were in a hurry because 'I was already old enough' and 'we couldn't wait any longer'. The dinner was at the start of the month and they planned the wedding to be done by the end. Mama had sat me down and made a list of all the things that had to be done before the wedding. Nawal's dress for the baraat was from our side and so was my own sherwani for the baraat. Nawal's family took responsibility for both of our dresses for our reception. Mama had sent me out today with Zoha and Rumi to buy our dresses and she had asked one of them to send the pictures of the dresses to Nawal so she can decide on what she wants to wear but Zoha suggested that we bring her along instead of going through the hassle of deciding clothes over phone.

Now, I had the car parked in front of the Arshad house with both my sisters in the back seat of the car because Nawal was going to sit in the front. That's what they had said.

"Rumi, please go and check what's taking her so long to come out. I don't have all day." I groaned in frustration.

"Bhai, we've been waiting for three minutes only and you are free the entire day. Shopping doesn't take two hours only. Be patient." Zoha lectured me as if she was older than me instead of it being the other way around.

"Yes, okay, my little sister." I just know she rolled her eyes now and I internally laughed.

I was drumming my fingers on the steering wheel in impatience when Nawal finally came out of the house in a dark pink maxi dress with black tights underneath and a matching scarf around her neck, a small bag hanging down from her shoulder.

"I'm sorry you had to wait." She apologized as she got into the passenger seat next to me.

"It's okay, bhabhi. Men have no patience anyway." All the females laughed together on that as I scowled and drove off.

"Zoha Appi, you should've sat in the front. It would be more comfortable here." Nawal advised as she turned around to look at Zoha.

"No, no. You're his fiancee, you should sit in the front and I'm fine here, don't worry." Zoha vigorously shook her head.

***

It didn't take long until we were at the market, looking for Nawal's dress. Rumi and Nawal were checking out dresses while Zoha sat on a chair nearby because she was tired and I was standing, scrolling through my socials since I had absolutely no interest in shopping. After resting for a few moments, Zoha got up again and joined the other two girls.

I noticed that the male workers of the boutique were running perverted gazes over my sisters and fiancee. Nawal seemed to notice it too because she looked uncomfortable but my sisters were fully immersed in their shopping frenzy.

"Come on, we're going somewhere else." In blind rage, I grabbed whoever's hand I caught first and walked out of the store. Once we were out, I realized I had grabbed Rumi's hand and walked out and she looked worried, Zoha had a similar expression and Nawal looked relieved.

"What happened, bhai?" Rumi questioned curiously and Nawal replied, "Let's just go, yeah?" Zoha seemed to understand what was going on but Rumi, being the naïve girl she was, still seemed confused but silently tagged along.

Nawal guided us into another boutique where all the girls searched opposite corners for dresses and I stood in between, watching over them. My fiancee seemed to be eyeing one dress in particular which was an all-red lehenga with red and golden embroidery all over it. It was really pretty.

"Aap ko yeh dress pasand hai?" I gently asked when I reached to her and stood beside her, holding out the dress to view it.

*Do you like this dress?

"It is pretty..." She trailed off in thought as she bit her lip.

"Then let's get this one," I said as I removed the lehenga from the rack and took it over to the counter.

"Are you sure, though? It might be expensive."

"That doesn't matter if you like it." I shrugged.

The cashier packed the dress and showed us sherwanis that would go along with the bride's dress. In the end, we settled on a black sherwani with a sewn-in red handkerchief.

"Are you all done now?" I huffed out in exasperation.

"Of course not, bhai. We still have to get dresses for Zoha Appi and me and jewelry for all of us. I told you it's going to take the entire day." All the girls enthusiastically went into another store and I tagged along unwillingly with their shopping bags in my hands.

"Bhabhi, are you done with the shopping for the Walima?" Rumi asked as they looked through racks and racks of dresses.

"Yeah, we got the last things yesterday. How about you all come over when you drop me back and see the things I've got?" She suggested and both my sisters nodded their agreement.

Oh, great!

My sisters dragged me into a jeweler's shop where they tried on different jewelry sets and insisted that I add my input too. Nawal was holding up a gold necklace to her neck that they wanted me to approve of so I smiled and gave her a thumb's up to show that I liked it.

The girls were done with their shopping at around 6:30 in the evening and I shot mom a text saying that we'll be going over to Nawal's place for a while before returning home and she happily allowed it. Her parents had gone out to dinner so only her brother was at home. Rumi decided we all order pizza for dinner while they display their dresses and accessories.

Rauf and I had been lost in our conversation when I heard Rumi nearly yell, "Bhabhi, you write?!" The excitement was so apparent in her voice but it piqued my interest.

"Yeah... I do." Nawal shyly replied which was kind of cute.

"What do you write? I would love to read it someday!"

"Well, I mostly write romance amongst other genres." She looked down as she blushed and fiddled with her fingers, they seemed to be very interesting to her right now.

"Take care of her, Ahad," Rauf said with a serious tone.

"What?" I had been lost in thoughts so I didn't quite catch that.

"Nawal, take care of her. She's very precious to me and I swear I won't leave you if she cries even once because of you."

"I understand, I've got two sisters too. You've got nothing to worry about." I wasn't really sure about my own words but I do know I would never devalue her.

–

(A.N): Hmm, a few Nawal and Ahad scenes? Wait for their wedding to get actual romance ;)

Do you have a ship name for them? Drop your suggestions in the comments! <33