A Human after all

Pure is attractive (6)

                       Zunaira's POV

Sara was nice. She lived alone as well, just like me. She was 24, an year older than me. But it didn't feel like there was a difference in our ages.

We got along pretty well. I couldn't help but ask her about Aariz. She told me he turned 22 this year, he's a straightforward man, who doesn't like delays and hates excuses, he accepts apologies but doesn't like lies. And that he is a practicing Muslim, he doesn't like woman who don't cover up.

I thought why does covering up matter. Doesn't he like beautiful girls?
Who doesn't like beauty?. If they are beautiful why would they cover up? People hide things they are insecure about. I'm not insecure of my beauty. I'm aware that many boys dream to have a girl like me, and I'm sure Aariz was going to be one of them, I thought. As I saw Aafiya approaching, she always had a big smile. She wore a beige coloured hijab and today, her abaya was black, though it keeps switching between beige, brown and gray.

She was a fair-skinned beautiful girl, I barely ever saw her hair, probably because the office was monitored by cameras 24/7, I wondered why she wore it over her head and asked her about it a few times, her answers were very philosophical but they didn't impress me.

I just didn't like how whenever Aariz would come to the female floor, he'd not listen to anyone else with the same attention as he did to her, he listened to everything she said, but barely looking at her face, he would just look at the computers in her cabin, the floor or the plants.

And although she barely talked to any other guy in the office, she would answer him, she didn't seem to look at him, but she still seemed confident in front of him.

Almost all of the girls were jealous of her because of this. I didn't notice any other girl wearing the hijab or abaya, there were a few old ladies who would take dupatta over their heads, but none of the girls our age would do that, except Aafiya. She was getting on my nerves by acting all nice.

"Assalamualaikum ladies, do you guys have a minute or two?" She asked smiling to us. "Hey, Yeah we're free" Sara replied.

"that's good, I had an invitation for you guys, my elder sister Sidra is getting married in 2 days, can you guys come to the Nikkah and Valimah?" She said handing us 2 beautiful cards. They screamed elegance.

"Yeah, sure, Saturdays are awesome for events like this." Sara tried to sound genuine.

"I will try, I do have some stuff to do. But I won't turn this invitation down, thanks". I said, as she smiled and said Salam before leaving as well.

The invitation card said
"The best marriage is one that is easiest."
Mr & Mrs. Jamshed malik invite you to the Nikkah and Valima of their beloved son, Othman malik with the daughter of Mr and Mrs. Junaid Siddiqui.
Bless us with the honour of your presence on this special day of their life. May Allah bless this marriage and keep the couple on the Sirat e mustaqeem.

It had the name and map of the Masjid and the valimah venue on the back of the card. It also had the timings and dates of both the functions, but my interest was mostly on how it had all of this written in Urdu as well at the end. It looked like they did not forget their own language and also cared about the ease of the readers. It sure was simple and minimal but I couldn't stop looking at it. That was the first time I thought

I want my marriage card to be like this, too. Simple yet elegant.

Never did I ever find simple things, this beautiful.

                           Aariz's POV

Office has been pretty stressful lately. My head hurting has become a routine now. I visited my home today, I haven't been home for like 3 days, all of my time was being spent at the office. Time has been passing so quickly these past days.