Before The Sky & The Sea (Completed)

chapter twenty two

IAN

She looks beautiful. I can't stop staring at her. The ceremony was small. Her mother is here, and a few close relatives of hers that her mom told me was her auntie and uncle. They're really welcoming even though I had half expected them to be semi-judgmental when they saw my tattoos but they were instead congratulating me and giving me much encouragement for reverting.

The past few months have been hard. I have been learning so much more about Islam, even going to religious classes and going to the mosque as often as I can to join jama'ah prayers and to listen to religious sermons.

I only had Leo, but that was enough for me.

"Are you sure about this?" Leo had asked when I told him about the wedding. I nodded.

"I love her."

"I can tell," was all he said before he pulled me in a hug and congratulating me. I wish it was all true. The wedding, the love between us.. I wish it was real. I wish she had fallen in love with me and I wish I could tell her just how much I had fallen for her but it all feels too ridiculous to think about. I know she had said what she did out of anger but, it still rings in my ears. Those words?

"Pay attention to what people say when they're angry," my mom had told me when I was a child. It's true, she wouldn't have thought to say it if a part of her didn't already believe it. It stung because when I first met her, it felt like she was the only person apart from Leo or my mother that saw good in me. That believed I was a much better person that I thought I was but I'm a foolish man.

Though painful, those words only want to make me be the version of myself that was deserving of her. Even if the marriage isn't real, or it won't last, I'll be a good husband, a good man just for my Zahra.

The nikkah went on smoothly. I was nervous, but I didn't realise just how nervous I was until Zahra wanted to kiss my hand and my hands was shaking.

She places another hand on top of mine and brings it to her lips, when I bring her in to kiss her forehead, my lips were trembling too and I see her smile, genuinely, for the first time in awhile. "Don't be nervous, I'm here."

Her words were so simple yet my hands visibly stopped shaking and I smiled back too.

We went back to her home since I didn't want Leo to have to move out of our apartment.

I was lifting my bags to the spare room when Zahra stops me.

"What are you doing?" she asks, her voice gentle, the first time we have exchanged words since we left the mosque.

"Oh. Um, I didn't want you to be uncomfortable," I reply, "I mean, our marriage isn't real so I don't want to just invade your personal space," I continue.

Zahra is shooting daggers at me for a minute, before she heaves out an annoyed sigh and grabs my bag, before placing it into her bedroom.

"Our marriage is real in the eyes of God," she continues, "I won't let my husband sleep in a seperate room than me. For as long as we are married, I will treat you like my husband," she says, and her voice isn't raised at all but I somehow feel anger in her words but I don't understand why.

I just nod because my cheeks were starting to redden at how easily the word "husband" rolls off her tongue, I almost like it too much. I don't trust my voice not to betray me so I don't speak.

Instead, I carry the rest of my bags into our room and place them neatly in the closet. Zahra helps me, she places my necessities in the bathroom, on the dressing table and re-folds some of my clothing.

She had already cleared out a space for me in the closet. When we were almost done packing (truthfully, I only brought my clothes and some other things I viewed as necessities so there really wasn't that much to unpack in the first place), Zahra lays down on the bed.

"Are you hungry?" I finally say something.

Zahra nods. "To be honest? Very."

I laugh, "Okay, let's grab some food. Go get dressed first, and we can go."

We are both still in our wedding clothes because for some bizarre reason, both of us didn't think to get comfortable before unpacking.

Zahra pouts at my statement. She POUTS and I want to scream, because I could not grasp how adorable she looks. I look away almost instantly, not trusting my lips to not immediately break out into a giddy smile.

"You don't want to?" I ask, facing the wall, avoiding her gaze yet I feel her shaking her head.

"I'm spent, Ian. Can we just order something?"

I nod. "Yeah, just go change, okay? We can get comfortable and then eat, Im pretty hungry too."

I turned at the perfect time to see my wife's smile and I'm sure I could go the rest of my life just watching the way her lips slowly forms into such a stunning crescent smile. "Is it okay if we get Chinese food?" she asks.

I nod and she happily skips her way into the bathroom to freshen up.

I'm so happy. I shouldn't be this happy. I tried reminding myself that, but I feel like the luckies man on the planet.

Ding! My phone sounds right after I had put it down after ordering our food.

A text.

Unknown Number: Marrying her won't stop me