Chapter 41

Saad's pov:

I was tired and sleepy. But it seemed like my super sweet bhai and bhabi were still not done yet. They wanted to have a movie night because 'they were only here for a day so they wanted to enjoy and make the best of it.' Their words, not mine.

So here we were, sitting in the - still decorated - drawing room as they selected a movie. More like argued over which one to watch. I just leaned back on the couch and flexed my arms as a yawn escaped my lips. Amira and Alayna were huddled together near her as she argued with bhai and bhabi over the movies.

"Animated movie bhabi!" She whined as the kids nodded their head, agreeing with her eagerly.

"No, it's romance!" Bhabi told her as she snatched the laptop from bhai.

"Noo, not romance!" She pouted, staring at bhabi.

"Why not? It's always a go-to movie you know." Bhabi asked her with furrowed eyebrows.

"I don't like romance movies! They have so much eww stuff in them." She made a face at that and a low chuckle erupted from me.

"Oh don't worry, you will get used to that 'eww' stuff soon." Bhabi winked at her, making her eyes go wide.

She shook her head vigorously, "No thanks. I'm good." This time I couldn't stop my throaty laughter. Bhai seemed to be enjoying it as well as I saw him chuckling lightly.

My laughter seemed to have brought their attention towards me. She glared at me when she saw me laughing and bhabi had an amused smile on her face. Once I calmed down, bhabi smirked at me and winked. "Let's ask Saad what we should watch."

Realising where this might go, I raised my hands up in defence and shook my head. "Oh no no, I will go with whatever you guys decide but I doubt I will be watching the full movie. I might just doze off in the middle of it." I replied with a yawn.

"There are kids here bhabi! So we definitely can't watch any romance movie." She pointed out as bhabi finally nodded in understanding.

"Okay but not animated movies either." Bhabi replied as she returned the laptop back to bhai.

"Why not just watch a comedy movie? You guys won't have any problem with that, right?" Aunty interrupted, making us aware of her presence. They both seemed to think about it before finally nodding their heads.

"Finally! You guys decided something." Bhai threw his hands up in the air and exclaimed while bhabi glared at him. Quickly composing himself, he turned to type on the laptop. "But which movie is it?" Bhai looked at them, confused.

A groan escaped my lips, not again!

._._._.

We were almost halfway through the movie when Aunty took Amira and Alayna to bed before retiring to bed herself. She was obviously exhausted and I didn't blame her for leaving so soon. She had been working since early morning I guess.

She was sitting beside me, cuddled up in a blanket with a bowl of chips on her lap. Her eyes on the screen and a smile on her lips. A chuckle escaped her lips and she grinned while picking up some chips. Her gaze met mine and I blinked before looking back towards the screen. What was happening to me? I was going crazy. No doubt.

I popped some popcorns in my mouth as I glanced towards bhai and bhabi. Bhabi's head was resting on bhai shoulder as they quietly whispered to each other. They seemed to be enjoying the movie pretty well. A yawn escaped my lips as I continued to watch the movie. I could no more hear the crunching sound of the chips.

Knitting my brows, I quietly asked her. "Are you still angry with me?" Maybe she was still angry at me about the dinner scene and when she saw me looking at her, she got upset or annoyed and that's why she wasn't eating anymore? "Sorry." I added when I didn't get any reply.

When I didn't get any reply even after that, worried, I turned to look at her just to come face to face with her sleeping figure. Sighing in relief, a smile tugged at my lips. She was snuggling with the blanket like a baby. I guess she was more tired than me?

Shaking my head, I yawned before standing up. Flexing my arms, I contemplated whether to leave her sleeping here or to take her back to her room. I didn't think it would look nice if I slept in her room and let her sleep here on the very first day of our nikkah. Nor will aunty, bhai or bhabi approve of that decision of mine. And not to forget, she might actually kill me if she didn't like that plan.

Deciding the latter would be better for myself, I turned towards bhai to inform them. Watching them lost in their own world, I quickly turned around. The latter plan would be better for her and them too. Flushed, I kept the bowl of chips from her lap at the table before picking her up.

It felt so different and weird picking up a girl or touching a girl when our whole life we were told to stay away from them and suddenly, after nikkah we were expected to forget about it. Anyways, clearing up my head, I left the room and headed upstairs. She wasn't actually quite light weight. But not heavy either. She had a balanced weight according to her height I guess.

We almost reached the top when she jerked awake before yelping and flailing her arms around, making me stagger backwards. Balancing my footing, I continued heading upstairs while shaking my head.

"Help! Someone is kidnapping me! Help! Leave me alone you monkey!" She started yelling while punching my arms. Could this girl get any crazier? I had thought. I knew it was dark but that didn't mean a kidnapper was going to come at her home just to kidnap her like this.

Rolling my eyes, I dropped her legs while still holding her waist. She yelped before punching me again. "Who even drops a girl like that?" Owww, who even taught her how to punch?! "What if I would have fallen down?" She pointed her fingers towards me as she questioned. Before I could even answer her, she continued. "How dare you even touch me? Who are you? Just wait, let me call-"

I covered her mouth before she could wake up the whole house with her questions. One of my hands was still on her waist as she struggled in my grip to get free. Nearing her, I whispered sweetly, "It's me begum, Saad. Saad Ibrahim. Stop yelling and waking up the whole house."

She seemed to relax as she stopped struggling before breathing out. Now that I was sure that she wouldn't yell again, I removed my hand from her mouth and realised how close we were. Since it was dark, I couldn't figure out where we were standing before. Removing my hand from her waist, I took a step back only to realise there were stairs behind me and I might have fallen down if not for the railing which I quickly grabbed a hold of.

Straightening myself, I looked at her as she switched on a dim light in the corridor before turning to look at me. "Don't you even dare do that again! You scared me." Pointing a finger at me, she said annoyedly.

"And you injured my arm." I muttered under my breath.

"What did you just say?" Narrowing her eyes, she asked me.

Shaking my head, I replied. "Nothing. Let's go inside."

Huffing, she turned around before opening the door and storming inside. Remembering I still had to give her the gift which I bought for her. And which was maybe given on the first day of nikkah, I rushed behind her. "Wait a minute!" I stopped her before she could reach her bed and snuggle up to sleep again.

Turning around, she folded her arms while looking at me sceptically. "Yeah?"

"Uhh... I got a gift for you?" Scratching the back of my neck, I replied, which came out more like a question. Flustered and not knowing what else to say or do, I went to the couch and grabbed my bag before taking out the small jewellery box. It was the ring which I bought for her.

Returning back, I extended the box to her. A dim white light was illuminating the room, making it look like the room was illuminated by the moonlight. She hesitated before taking the box from my hand. Opening it, her lips slightly tilted upwards and her eyes gleamed. That small smile made her face glow.

I didn't realise I was smiling as well while looking at her. "May I?" I heard myself asking her while extending my hand, shocking both of us. Her gaze flickered towards me and she nodded her head slowly while extending the box back to me as she kept her hand on mine.

Holding her hands again made me think about the time when I held her hand while cutting the cake. They were cold like ice under my warm ones, which kind of comforted me knowing that I wasn't the only one who was nervous. At that time also, holding a girl's hand for the first time in my life made me feel weird. This time, holding it again didn't make it any different.

Taking out the ring from the box, I slid it in her finger and thankfully, it fitted her perfectly. It actually looked even more elegant on her hand. Realising I was still holding her hand, I left it before glancing at her. Even under this dim light I could make out her flushed face. "Jazak Allahu Khairan. It's beautiful." She said while admiring the ring.

"Wa Antum Fa Jazak Allahu Khairan. It actually looks even more beautiful on your hand." Smiling, I replied. Realising I actually told that out aloud, before she could reply or make a comment on it, I rushed to the washroom.

When I returned back, I saw her snuggled up in the blanket and sleeping peacefully. Smiling slightly, I climbed the other side of the bed before turning off the table lamp.

._._._.