Chapter 6

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Here are two mood boards for

Nawal & Ahad

6| Nawal

The ride home was silent except for light music playing from the radio. I had gotten a hold of my tears and finally stopped crying, considering Sarah's advice– to enter my new life with a smile on my face instead of tears in my eyes.

Ahad parked the car in the driveway of our house where the rest of his family was standing in front of the doorway for our welcome. Ahad got out and opened my door, helped me out of the car and led me to the house where aunty gave our sadqah before we entered the house.

"Masha Allah! Welcome home, beta." Aunty kissed the top of mine and Ahad's heads and uncle ran a hand over my head and hugged Ahad.

Ahad handed me over to Zoha Appi and Rumaisa then sat down in the living room with his parents and Sameer bhai.

My two sisters-in-law carefully took me upstairs and into Ahad's room where I sat on the bed. The room had been decorated with rose petals and candles were lit up in spontaneous spots around the room– the typical wedding night room.

"Bhabhi, do you want us to help you with your hair?" Thank God, they offered.

"Yes, please!" The two got to work with the pins in my hair that held my dupatta on my head and then put my hair down from the bun they were in. We brushed my hair as well as we could and I removed my heels before sitting up on the bed. Zoha Appi draped my dupatta over my head and left the room.

I noticed my suitcase sitting in the corner of the room, in front of the closet but it was the least of my worries right now. My hands were sweating because of how nervous I was and I couldn't stop rubbing them on my thighs and biting my lips. I had no idea what was going to happen tonight and I was going to be alone in a room with a man, my husband.

The sound of the door opening brought me out of my reverie and it could be none other than Ahad. The sound of the lock clicking in place confirmed my theory. My dupatta was draped over my head and covered my face for another rasm moun dikhai. The portion of the bed in front of me dipped as Ahad sat down and I suddenly felt like a school girl who was talking to her crush for the first time. He lifted my veil and gently placed it over my head and smiled down at me before giving me a box, the length of his hand and got off from the bed. I was confused as to why he got off.

"In the box is a necklace, wear it tomorrow in the morning, yeah? I'm going to change now and sleep. You can have the bed and I'll take the couch. It won't be like that once we move to our house." Without waiting for my response, he went into the bathroom leaving me lost.

Was this how tonight was supposed to go?

I couldn't decide if I was disappointed or relieved. I definitely wasn't ready to take things further when I didn't know almost anything about Ahad, despite him being my husband.

About 10 minutes later, I was still sitting on the bed, staring at nothing on the bed sheet when Ahad came out of the bathroom in a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants, his hair wet and ruffled. Without a word, he opened the closet, took out a blanket, grabbed an extra pillow from the bed and made his own bed on the sofa in the corner of the room, and slept, just like that. Deciding that I should just go and sleep now too, I quietly unzipped my suitcase and pulled out a four-piece, maroon, silk night suit. It was a set of a camisole and shorts and the second set of a long-sleeved button-up top and full-length trousers. I grabbed the second set and went into the washroom. I managed a 15-minute shower and took out a blanket from the closet and curled up on the bed under it.

***

I had always been an early riser, no matter how late I slept the previous night. When I first opened my eyes and looked around, a wave of panic washed over me at the unfamiliar surroundings before I remembered that I got married last night and was in my new bedroom now. I got out of bed and freshened up. Ahad was still asleep on the sofa, facing away from me and towards the back rest of the sofa, half his blanket falling down from his body. I pulled out a deep purple shalwar kameez suit from my suitcase and changed into it. The shirt had light gold, pink and lilac embroidery all over it and a mesh dupatta that had the same print. I paired it with gold flats, purple bangles and earrings. I walked over to the nightstand and picked up the box Ahad gave me last night. I opened it for the first time right now since I didn't have the heart to see it after what happened last night. It was a simple gold chain with a gold heart pendant and diamonds encrusted on the surface of the pendant. Minimal and beautiful. My make up was as light and natural as I could keep it and my hair were left open in their natural state. I checked the time– 9:40 am, and went downstairs.

Aunty and Rumaisa were in the kitchen, preparing light breakfast as most of the breakfast was to be brought by my family today as another tradition. I greeted them and aunty hugged me and kissed the top of my head.

"Is bhai still sleeping?" Rumaisa questioned.

"Allah! Is larke ka kuch nahi hosakta. Agar aaj kaam pe jaana hota to kisi ko pata lagne ne se pehle uthke chala jata aur aaj shaadi ke baad pehli subha hai aur abhi tak so raha hai! Rumi, jao, apne bhai ko utha ke aao. Yeh koi tareeka hai?" Aunty sighed and shook her head. Rumaisa seemed to be stifling a laugh at aunty's words and I just watched, amused.

*Allah! Nothing can be done about this boy. If he has to go to work then he would've woken up and left before anyone even got to know! It's the first morning after his marriage and he's still sleeping! Rumi, go, wake your brother up. Is this some way?

Not wanting to face the embarrassment when she sees her brother sleeping on the couch, I quickly jumped in. "How about I wake him up, yeah?" Rumaisa shot me a teasing smile before I walked back up the stairs and into our room.

Ahad was still sleeping, except he was now on his back with his arms folded up on his chest and his blanket completely discarded on the floor below. He looked so peaceful and, dare I say, cute when sleeping that I almost didn't want to wake him up. Just admire him for the rest of the day, but it had to be done. I bent down and leaned over him and softly called out his name which got no reaction at all so I called out a little louder but he just stirred in his sleep and faced away.

I lightly shook his shoulder. "Ahad, wake up." This time, he opened his eyes and looked up at me like a baby does when they wake up from their sleep.

"Nawal?" I smiled.

"Yeah, aunty asked me to wake you up. My family will be here soon with the breakfast so she wants you to be awake."

He quickly jumped out of the sofa, shocking me. "Oh, shoot. I forgot." He ran into the bathroom and locked it. Deciding my work here was done, I went back downstairs and helped aunty set the table though she strictly ordered me not to but I had nothing else to do and this was better than awkwardly standing around. Soon enough, the rest of the family members came downstairs and sat in the living room, waiting for my family to get there. Mama had called and informed me that they'd be here in ten minutes but that was six minutes ago.

Everyone, including me, noticed that Ahad still hadn't come downstairs so aunty silently gestured for me to go and check. I ran up the stairs and into our room where I nearly crashed into Ahad and his strong chest.

"Are you okay?" He looked concerned.

"Yeah, I just came to check what was taking you so long," I told him.

"Well, now that you're here, let's go downstairs together?" He offered his arm and I hooked my arm through his.

This was the first time I was seeing Ahad in proper shalwar kameez. His suit was white and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing his forearms. On his right hand sat his engagement ring and on the same wrist was a watch that looked quite expensive.

We both went downstairs and sat together on a sofa where everyone engaged in light conversation before my family arrived. All three members of my family hugged Ahad and me, along with the rest of my in-laws too.

"You both look beautiful together, Masha Allah," Mama said as she placed her hands on each of our shoulders.

Bhai dragged in a small bag and told me that it had our clothes for the Walima tonight. Rumaisa took the bag from him and placed it upstairs in our room, with my permission. Aunty had strictly prohibited my sisters-in-law from going into our room without permission from either me or Ahad.

Mama said they should get going now but Iftikhar uncle and Ahad convinced them into at least having breakfast with us since they were already here. She told me that she had gotten my room thoroughly cleaned and made it look presentable since my husband and I were going to stay the night at my parents' place after the Walima, as per tradition. Only then I remembered that my room did not have a couch and my heart started racing.

(A.N): I'm not going to say anything...
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