TAWAKKUL

16. Turbulent Emotions

An hour had passed , and I couldn't sleep.

After covering me , Azlan switched off the lights and retired to bed .

But just before that I saw him take something out of his pocket. The tiny bit of moonlight seeping in through the window made it possible for me to see a little , but I couldn't make out what he was doing exactly.

And then he looked at me. I shut my eyes instantly. As soon as he turned his face to the other side , I opened my eyes again.
By the time I did , he was done doing what he was busy with . He gulped down some water and slept within fifteen minutes . I know the duration since I could hear his soft snores.

Whereas I couldn't sleep on the couch.
Well sleeping on the couch wasn't new to me , but the problem was something every girl could relate to. I was on my periods.
I just couldn't twist and turn properly. Every passing minute irritated me further.

And then I looked at Azlan. I felt annoyance surge through me . I got up , placed large pillows in the middle of the bed and laid down , after making sure there was no scope for Azlan to cross the barrier. My feet were towards the headboard , while my head was near the footboard.

What i did was probably due to my stupid hormones . Never in my right mind would I have done that.

Well maybe I could have. We both already had a discussion over this matter and it was no use piling up even more problems over my head when my life was throwing many at me already.

Wearing hijab and sleeping was already such a task , sleeping on a couch during periods would be a mental torture !

The next morning , I thought I'd be the one waking up first. But obviously , things never go as I plan.

As I woke up , I saw a sleepy Azlan staring at me creepily. I got up quickly and out of instinct began checking if my scarf was at the right place.

" When did you come here ?"

" I came after midnight , the couch was quite uncomfortable , so—"

" Alright."

He didn't say anything else .He didn't taunt me or laugh at me. He just nodded his head , took something from under his pillow and headed to the washroom.

I felt bad . I'd never seen this side of Azlan.
We had to stay together for six months , didn't we ?

Seeing his indifference made me feel that our relationship wouldn't even last six more days.

Towards the evening , I began getting ready for our reception.

I was wearing a lehenga. The top was black coloured with red sequins distributed over it like stars, while the skirt was black with stripes of maroon. It gave a modern as well as a traditional look at the same time.

A beautiful Banarasi dupatta , having a colour combination of both black and maroon went along with the dress. I placed it over my right shoulder.

I wore a round maang tikka. It was beautiful. There was a clear crescentic space in the middle of the whole circle , and the rest of the portion was covered with intricate designs made of gold. Red beads hung from the bottom half of it.

I chose a maroon hijab to complement my look.

For makeup , I decided to go with smokey eyes and a dark red matte lipstick.

Being a perfectionist , I'm not really convinced with anything , but well , I must say , I was quite satisfied with the end result. I did look pretty.

Memories of the other day rushed towards me , and deep inside I really hoped that nobody would degrade me by comparing my looks with Azlan again.

I wore my bangles and heels and was ready to get up when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

It was Azlan.

I got up from the chair and stood facing him. And I kept looking at him.

What was wrong with me ?

I was going through an unknown emotion. Back then , I couldn't really decipher what I wanted at that moment. But now , when I think of it , I probably wanted him to compliment me . But that didn't happen.
He looked at me for quite a good minute too. But he didn't say a word.

What was I expecting ? His reaction was such a slap on my face.

He dressed up in a black three piece suit. His shirt was maroon colored. Our clothes were picked in a manner that they complemented each other well. Mr Rishad was very particular about these things.

A while later , grandma came to inform us that the guests had started arriving and we both had to make an appearance together.

Also this was a mixed gathering. Why didn't I think of it ? Azlan's family wasn't like mine at all when it came to such matters. Males and females never mixed as such in our festivities.

This was taken care of during our marriage but now that nobody from my family would be present , it was a free pass for the Hussain family to do things as per their convenience.

I suddenly felt very very nervous.
I was a very introverted person.Large crowds and such mixed gatherings always seemed to steal my confidence.

On the other hand , there was not an inch of nervousness on Azlan's face. Whatever little uncomfortability even existed on his face was probably because of me.

His confidence made him look even more gorgeous than he already was.

We sat idle in the room for about 20 minutes when Azlan's mom came to the room. She couldn't stop gushing over how her son looked. She then scanned me from top to bottom and said that finally I'm wearing an outfit that makes me look like Azlan's bride.

She then came close to me and whispered in my ear "Don't do any drama today !"

Such hypocrisy ! Wasn't she the one who created chaos the other day.

I chose not to say anything.

She asked us to make an appearance exactly after ten minutes and left the room.

Ten minutes were over in a moment.

"Let's go ," he said.

I nodded and followed him.

We reached the top of the staircase. The lights were off the moment we reached there. My heart was beating so fast that I felt it would burst any moment.

Suddenly , there was brightness all around followed by loud cheers and hooting .

I felt I'd faint at the sight. The whole hall was filled with people. None of whom I knew.And I was the centre of attraction.

My breath fastened and I needed something to hold on to calm my nerves.

I moved closer to Azlan and held the corner of his sleeves tightly , and tried to maintain a stern face . The last thing I wanted was to let people know how nervous I was.

I saw Azlan looking at me through the corner of my eyes.

He then moved his face closed to mine and whispered,

"Stress isn't going well with that beauty. So please let go of it."

He then gave me a warm smile.

I melted right then and there.

He called me beautiful !

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