Mujhe Pyaar Hua Tha

Ch. 13: Chateau Alizey

Fawad's P.O.V.

"Assalamwalaikum," Alizey and I greeted Afreen Aunty.

"Walaikumsalam. Come in," she smiled warmly, ushering us in.

Her mother closed the door behind us after we stepped in. Alizey scanned the living room then turned towards Afreen Aunty, whispering, "Papa?"

"He went to the bedroom," Aunty informed quietly. She then blinked reassuringly, "It's okay. Let him be."

Alizey glanced up at me wearily.

"Welcome, beta. We're really excited to have you and get to know you," Aunty addressed me, "Thank you for letting Alizey-"

"There's no need to thank me," I told her.

She nodded with a smile, but it faltered, "Please don't mind about Jalal. It's going to take him some time. The way you two got married, it's something we're just going to have to deal with."

I nodded. While I already knew what to expect, Aunty had also briefed me through Alizey when she called to inform her mother that we would be coming.

"But I'm here. Don't worry."

"Thank you."

Her mother smiled before summoning her other daughters, "Amaira! Jia!"

Alizey's P.O.V.

A moment later, I heard my sisters' footsteps. They came down the stairs with smiles, "Alizey!"

Both of them exchanged warm hugs with me. They seemed more eager to see me than the last time we were in touch.

Jia Api held my hands, "How are you?"

"Good. Alhamdulillah. And yourself?"

"Alhamdulillah." She glanced up at Fawad then back at me, waiting for me to introduce her to him.

"Fawad, this is my second oldest sister, Jia Api. Jia Api, this Fawad, my husband."

My smile faltered when I noticed Jia Api look up at him through her eyelashes with soft eyes and a small shy smile as she reached out to shake his hand. I wasn't sure if she knows that she does it, but she only does it when she finds the guy attractive.

She's my sister. She wouldn't do anything like that.

But it's not like Fawad was truly mine.

I swallowed hard, pushing away the thoughts.

Fawad gave her a brief nod while shaking her hand, "Nice to finally meet you."

"Same here."

"And this is Amaira Api," I gestured to my oldest sibling, "You two met in Berkeley."

Amaira Api smiled and shook Fawad's hand.

"Alizey was telling me, but I'm sorry. I don't remember."

Api chuckled, "No worries. I didn't expect you to. We spoke one time at a PSA event."

Fawad's gaze lowered, as though he were remembering something.

"You went to a few of those, right? I don't know how you did it while studying engineering. My roommate freshman year was always at the library studying. She was majoring in engineering too."

Fawad cleared his throat, snapping out of it as he pushed a small formal smile to his lips, "I stopped going after freshman year. The courses became more demanding."

"I bet."

"You studied Biology?"

"Mhm," Api nodded.