Chapter 29

Atifa's pov:

"Oh, can you smell something?" She asked me with a frown as she sniffed and looked around. Furrowing my brows, I sniffed. Just as I was about to ask her what, she added with a smirk. "Something burning."

Narrowing my eyes at her, I replied in annoyance. "No I can't smell anything and nothing is burning." She was trying to play that trick with me again and I was falling for it!

She laughed, "Yeah and I'm the Queen of England."

"Oh wow, I didn't know that! How come you are here, your highness?" I replied sarcastically.

She continued laughing as she raised her hands up in a defensive manner and told me with a wink. "It's not my fault that your soon to be husband is hot."

I was busy glaring at her when her phone pinged with notifications. Smirking, she opened the chat and started downloading the pictures. When she looked up at me, she was taken off guard. "Okay okay, I was kidding. Geez woman! I asked his pictures to send them to you. Wouldn't you like to see how he is looking? I mean... How nice he is looking." She added the last part, stuttering.

Before I could reply, a knock resounded in the room, followed by ammi coming in. She was looking beautiful in the light pink dress which she donned. It was more of a gown. And even she had her hair open with light makeup, just enough to make her look younger than her age. The theme of the nikkah was light pink and grey. The girls were wearing light pink dresses while the men wore grey suits, except for him of course. Just the colour and dresses of the Bride and Groom differ from the others. It was one of my dreams as a kid to keep this pink and grey theme. And surprisingly, ammi remembered it and bought only those coloured outfits yesterday.

Smiling at us, ammi came to stand in front of us. We stood up. "You are looking gorgeous aunty!" Emaan complimented her with a smile.

"Yeah ammi, you are looking beautiful." I added before breathing out, 'As always' as I gave her a small nervous smile.

"Jazak Allahu Khairan, you are looking amazing yourself." Ammi replied to Emaan as she passed her a smile before turning to look at me. Maybe it was time. Maybe she came here to take me down. Suddenly, I was feeling much more nervous. Her eyes were glossy as she examined me from head to toe.

"Waiyyakum." Saying this, Emaan wore her matching hijab before making her way towards the door. "I'm going downstairs." She announced, turning to look at me from behind ammi. Gesturing something about sending me the pictures, she left, closing the door behind her.

I turned my attention back to ammi. She held my face in her hands gently as she kissed my forehead. "You are looking beautiful. Truly just like a princess ready to start her life with her prince charming." She smiled mischievously as she added, "I'm sure Saad won't be able to take his eyes off of you."

I could feel my cheeks heating up as I whined. "Ammi, not you too!"

She laughed, "So Emaan did her part of the job. I should be thanking her for that, shouldn't I?" She asked me, a mischievous look on her face.

My already heated cheeks might have been burning by then. "No, you should be scolding her, not thanking her!" I replied with a pout while folding my arms.

"And why should I do that?" She asked me, amusement twinkling in her eyes and heard in her voice.

"Because... because she was teasing me." I replied, turning away from her to hide my burning face. I was sure this light makeup wouldn't have been able to hide this much redness.

"Oh! Isn't that her work as your best friend? To tease you and enjoy with you. To be there for you in good and bad. To make memories with you and stuff?" She inquired, coming in front of me as she raised a brow.

"Ya Allah ammi, I know that! I was just kidding." I replied as I let my hands fall by my side.

"I know that too, princess. Even I was teasing you." Smiling at me, she suddenly became emotional, as if remembering a precious memory. Wiping a tear from under her eye, she said, "Your abbu would have been so happy to see you like this today. Believe me, he would have been so proud of you."

I heaved a long sigh remembering abbu and watching ammi finally talk about him. It was getting emotional for me too. I could feel the tears brimming my eyes too. "Ammi." I hugged her tightly in hopes of calming her down. A few tear drops leaked from my eyes as I hastily wiped them away. I didn't have any words to comfort her. I didn't know what to say when I knew that her grief was far greater than mine. I just resorted to murmuring sweet nothings in her ears as I rubbed her back. I could feel her taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself down and gather herself.

She gently pulled back from the hug, dabbing under her eyes. Her face had turned pale. "I'm okay. I just... got a bit emotional." She gave me a weak smile. "Okay it's getting late, let's pray before heading downstairs. Everyone is waiting for us." She told me happily, her face gaining back the faded colours.

"Yeah, let's pray." Smiling at her, I replied.

._._._.

I was admiring the simple and elegant decoration which was done in our home to make it memorable. I couldn't take my eyes off the staircase railing as I walked down the steps, towards the drawing-room, which was where the nikkah would be held. Light pink and grey balloons covered the railing, making it a perfect place for having a photoshoot.

Ammi and Emaan were by my side. Emaan seemed more nervous than me because she kept squeezing my hands. "I'm okay, don't worry so much girl! You seem more nervous than me." Passing her a warm smile, I whispered to her quietly, making her release a breathy laugh.

"No, I'm not! I'm just..." She tried to protest but her voice trailed off, not being able to find the right word. She shook her head in annoyance and sighed.

I chuckled slowly. As we neared the drawing-room, I could feel my heart beat rising and nervousness creeping up as I started scratching the flower bouquet in my hand. Glancing at ammi, I saw her smiling as she left my side to go in the room before us. Sighing, I looked at Emaan. Surprisingly, she looked calm, unlike the nervous mess which she was a few moments ago. I raised a brow at her, silently asking her what happened. She just gave me a cheeky smile before adding, "I just realised you should be the nervous one, not me. After all, you are getting married and you will have to live with him."

"Thank you Emaan, this is helping me a lot in calming me down!" I muttered sarcastically, to which she just gave me a teasing smile.

"I know Atifa, after all what am I even here for?" She looked at me innocently and added with a smirk, "Now let's go inside, everyone must be wondering where we are." Putting an arm around my shoulder, she guided me in the room. I immediately looked down and tightened my grip on the flower bouquet. My heels actually looked so interesting. Like, I didn't even notice how beautiful they really were. I heard the room getting silent and I could feel everyone's gaze on me.

I hated attention. It was one of the reasons for me to always want a small wedding with only family and close friends. I never liked how people gawked at others like they had never seen them before or something. Don't get me wrong, I know many people liked attention and I mean no offence to them, but I personally never preferred attention, it just made me uncomfortable knowing that my each and every move would be watched.

Emaan made me sit on the love seat and after a while, sat beside me. I still had my head down so I couldn't see the decoration of this room. And that was the only thing which could distract me from the current situation. I peeked from under my lashes, hoping no one catches me looking around. I quickly surveyed my surroundings and thankfully, no one was looking at me anymore. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I relaxed a bit. Everyone was busy talking to each other and the kids seemed to be busy in their own world.

Once again, I peeked up and this time, I took in my surroundings. The first thing which caught my attention was the grey sparking net wall separating us. It was set in front of me, which meant that he was sitting right in front of me, but I couldn't see his face, which was a good thing.

My eyes roamed around as I saw balloons scattered on the floor. A few of them were framing the door frame. The window curtains were changed to pink colour. The grey sofa and couches kept around had pink coloured cushions, which meant that even the cushion covers were changed. I wondered when did this all happen, since yesterday night none of this was there. My only guess was that mamu's family helped a lot. Or maybe, ammi had it all planned actually and she just... I didn't know. I wouldn't be surprised if that would be the case. She did look really excited for this wedding.

I was brought out of my thoughts as someone stood in front of me and kept their hand on my head. Abbu? Was it abbu? Was he here? Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I looked up.

._._._.

▪ What theme would you like to keep for your wedding?

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