Love Means Sacrifice

Ch. 56: Mind Vs Heart

Mehwish's P.O.V.

All of Javed's family was at the birthday dinner. His paternal grandparents, his maternal grandmother, Alif Uncle, Sarooha Aunty, and Ayaan Uncle. The squad, which now includes Amal, was there. Malaika was also present.

The dinner was being held at a closed off section of a fancy Thai restaurant.

I won't lie, I was feeling awkward around Javed's relatives. Although they didn't behave as though, I was Javed's ex-fiancee after all. It's not a usual custom for ex-anythings to remain in the same friend circle, let alone appear in front of family members as if nothing had ever happened.

I was sat towards the end of the long table in between Farhan and an empty chair. I was fidgeting with my fingers when Zahid plopped down next to me and put his hand on both of mine. He blinked at me reassuringly.

My nerves calmed instantly.

Before I could react, Sarooha Aunty came by to ask Zahid to take a picture of her and the elders.

"Sure, Mami." Zahid answered as he followed her to their end of the table.

"Why do you guys call Sarooha Aunty Mami instead of Phupo? She's Ayaan Uncle's sister, right?" Amal asked Ayaara.

"She is and Alif Mama is Ami's brother... I think it's their way of giving us more of Ami, if that makes sense. If not her, then at least more from her side of the family in a way."

"Oh, I was just wondering," she grinned politely, "Also, that's so cute that both siblings on both sides married into the same families."

"It is." Ayaara reveled.

"You know what sucks about turning 22?" Javed frowned at his sister.

She raised an eyebrow in question.

"I don't have any more of Ami's videos to watch on my birthdays. I watched the last one last year." His eyes glossed over.

Ayaara reached her hand over the table and rubbed his arm sympathetically.

"What videos?" Amal asked softly.

"Before Ami passed away, she made birthday videos for Shehzad, Ayaara, and I until we each turned 21. We got to see a new one on our birthdays. She also filmed a video for when each of us gets married." Zahid responded as he made his way back to the seat next to me.

"That's so thoughtful of Aunty."

Farhan tried easing the mood, "Well, Javed. If you ask Malaika to marry you, you can watch the remaining video pretty soon."

Malaika's cheeks grew pink as she looked down at her soup while Javed's ears began burning.

"Farhan!" Amal whisper-yelled, though amused.

He shrugged playfully. He just wanted to cheer Javed up.

Ayaan Uncle stood up, "I would like to thank all of you for coming. It means a lot. As Javed's father, I just want to say that I could not be more proud of him. He's grown up to be such a great, understanding, and loving young man. I think as he gets older, his love for cars just keeps growing, and of course, for girls too."

Everyone laughed.

He continued, "But no matter how old you turn, and may Allah (SWT) bless you to live over a 100, you will always be mine and Zara's little boy, our little Shehzad that we love so dearly. Ami loves you so much, more than you could ever know," his eyes began to brim with tears, "and so do I. Ami's always with you and so am I... I will continue trying to perfect her spaghetti recipe that was your favorite until I get it right," everyone chuckled again, "Happy 22nd birthday, Shehzad jaan. I love you so much."