someone commented that they wanted to see more about mustafa and how he treats amna. i think that is deffinitely worth writing. so here i am, years after i wrapped up AFAAF, writing a few bonus chapters for you.
i am not ashamed of my wife.
while the invitations to dinner parties and potlucks have stopped coming to his parents, while neighbourhood friends who taught me how to smoke my first cigarette avoid me when i pass them, while people he once knew dearly murmur incoherently and forcefully avoid conservation, i refuse to be ashamed of my wife.
however, i wasn't always like this.
mama often boasted about the gold set of jewellery she had saved for my future wife. baba had a separate account for his savings that would cover the cost of a three-week-long reception in Pakistan, including money to fly in close relatives from our home in Bradford and enough for a dazzling honeymoon to the tropics.
all this anticipation for the future down the drain.
i brought home amna into my home two days after our engagement. there were no reception, no decorations, no roses on the bed, no black and gold sherwani that baba had planned or the red lehenga that mama had her eyes set on. i wore a plain white shalwar kameez and amna a lilac suit, tight around her growing abdomen.
after the wedding ceremoney which featured the molvi and both our parents, we settled into my--our room. amna didn't speak to me as she crawled under the covers, over her side her back to me. i doubt she slept a wink that night but she didn't move an inch. i yearned to know what she was thinking or feeling, if she was alright, if the baby inside her womb was giving her any trouble. but i found myself staring at the ceiling all night, unspoken thoughts at the tip of my tongue.
why did my parents cash me in to even the favour they owed to amna's father?
it was unfair.
i didn't hate amna, i pitied her. however that did not justify my parents forcing my hand in marriage to a woman I could never love as a husband loves his wife.
YOU ARE READING
afaaf
Short Story•Completed• "i'm sorry. it's not pity that i'm showing you, it's a goodbye to someone very special to me." Amna's life has been turned upside down and she is writing it all out as she buries the anguish burning inside her.
