Chapter 33

Saad's pov:

Realisation dawned on me as I nodded my face. But with that realisation, my nervousness returned with full force, making me restless. I felt like running away from here. My hands felt clammy and my heartbeat quickened. Looking around, I tried to find bhai, but at that moment it seemed like everything was jumbled up. I couldn't exactly pinpoint who was where.

When I turned to look beside me, I realised Emaan's brother was looking at me, concerned. Was my expression that visible or fathomable? I tried to give him a reassuring smile but couldn't conjure it up. "Are you alright bro?" He asked me gently, and I could just nod my head. I didn't trust my voice enough to give him an answer without stuttering. "Watching you like this, now I'm scared of getting married." He commented with a shudder, bringing a smile on my face. "Finally, you smiled! At least now you look better." He added in a dramatic tone, making me chuckle.

We made our way to the back of the room where I was supposed to sit. Feeling a little better, my gaze once again roamed around, trying to find bhai. I spotted the kids smiling widely while looking at me, their hands occupied with small flower baskets. My heart warmed at their small gesture and I passed them a smile. I saw one of her cousins making a video as he turned the camera to me. Looking away, I finally found bhai. Just as our gazes met, he excused himself before making his way to me. I was now standing at my place, waiting for him to join me to sit.

Emaan's brother excused himself apologetically and this time, I managed to give him a small smile, telling him it was okay. As soon as he left, bhai joined me and we sat down. I could see Emaan's brother - the one who was sitting with me - dragging his brother out of the room from the corner of my eye. Before I could think much about it, bhai brought me out of my thoughts. "What happened?"

"You are asking me what happened now when the nikkah is going to take place?" I whispered incredulously. Anxiety was eating me up from inside. Bhai stared at me for a while before cracking a grin, making me sigh and cover my face. "Don't start again please! I'm already nervous enough." Muttering and uncovering my face, I looked at him pleadingly.

"When did I even start anything?" He retorted, making me shake my head.

Before I could reply, my gaze landed on a figure standing at the door as she played with the flower bouquet held in her hands. Her face wasn't visible as she tried to conceal herself in the faint darkness outside this room. The cream dress - of what I could see - flowed perfectly and half of her heels seemed to be covered by her long gown.

"Stop looking at her, you guys aren't married yet." Bhai whispered teasingly as he nudged me.

"Astagfirullah!" I muttered while averting my gaze and glaring at bhai. "I wasn't looking at her." I tried to protest but who was I kidding? He caught me red handed and no way was he now going to stop.

Embarrassed, I looked away from his smirking face and started playing with my watch. "Oh, are you really blushing? Am I seeing things now or is this true? Your ears have turned pink." Bhai teased further, making maybe my already pink ears to change their shade.

"You are watching things and no one is blushing here. Also, I will complain about you to bhabi if you don't stop." I muttered slowly while glancing around to find bhabi.

Immediately his expression changed to one of scowl. "No, you won't do any such thing." He told me, more like he tried to assure himself that I wouldn't do it.

"Want to try?" I challenged him as my gaze once again roamed around and settled on her on it's own. I quickly looked away as soon as I realised what I was doing.

"No, thank you." His scowl deepened and thankfully, this time he didn't notice my lingering gaze. "Anyways chote, stay calm and everything will be alright In Sha Allah. Say what you really want to say. If you really want to marry her then go ahead. But if you don't want to, then don't do it. Once again, remember, we will support your decision, whatever it will be. Okay?" Bhai inquired while staring at me, waiting for my response.

"Okay bhai, I will remember that." Taking a deep breath, I replied while giving him a small assuring smile as he patted my back.

"We trust you and your decision." Smiling one last time, he stood up and made his way towards bhabi.

Suddenly, the room went silent and still and I looked around confused. Everyone was staring at the entrance of the room. My gaze flickered there but remained only for a moment in that direction as I realised that she was coming in and so, everyone was staring at her.

I wasn't able to notice her much because I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable, nor were we married yet for me to be staring at her so openly. Suddenly, I felt like it would have been better if she would have remained in her room. At least none of the boys sitting here would be gazing at her. And although the net was separating us, the boys from the girls, I still felt annoyed at all of those boys who were staring at the girls side.

Didn't they know how to lower their gaze and that she was a niqabi and covered herself. I was sure if it were up to her, she would have preferred to stay in her room. Only when Emaan's brother kept his hand on my fist did I realise that I had fisted my hands and was glaring daggers at them. I didn't even notice him making his way here, to sit next to me or the fact that everyone had resumed their talks.

Exhaling my breath slowly, which I didn't even realise I was holding, I opened my fists and plastering a smile on my face, I turned to look at him. His concerned look was replaced by a smile when he saw my face and relaxed. "I thought something happened." He said while pocketed his hands and leaning back on the couch.

Although once again I was confused by his statement, I smiled and shook my head. "All's good." I replied, suddenly becoming much more aware of the fact that she was sitting in front of me. Just a thin net curtain separating us.

Trying to distract myself, I turned to check who all were sitting at this side of the room. And it turned out that all the boys were sitting here. But what caught my attention was his brother's gaze which was still following her. Even though she was sitting behind the curtain, her blurry figure was still visible and he seemed to be staring at her. I clenched my jaw and tried to keep my hands open. The urge to punch him and give him a piece of my mind was strong.

It was actually confusing, my own emotions and feelings were confusing me. We weren't even married yet and I could feel this strong emotion already. I didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. I was not even sure if I was about to marry her, if it was the right decision or not. Actually, since the answer for the Istikhara was positive, I would marry her, In Sha Allah. I hoped things would go well for us.

Realising I would not like to keep looking at that guy and let my anger get the best of me, and wanting to distract myself again, I decided it was better to talk to Emaan's brother, the one sitting beside me. "Hey, I still don't know your name." I told him in a low voice.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot to introduce myself! I'm Zeeshan. Emaan's oldest brother." He chuckled before replying, extending his hand to me.

Smiling, I shook it. "And I'm Saad Ibrahim."

"Who doesn't know about you Mr. Groom?" Zeeshan winked before grinning, making my ears turn pink. Again. I hoped no one noticed it this time.

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▪ What do you think about the new characters?

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