Zara Khan is a dreamer with a heart full of kindness and a smile that lights up any room. Adopted into a loving family, she's spent her life proving she belongs, despite the whispers of relatives who see her as an outsider. Zara has always believed...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It's been a few days since Zain's family had come over to my house and they had already called my parents about their decision. It's a yes from them.
I was so surprised when I found out that I questioned if Zain was being forced into this marriage. He seemed so brooding and uninterested in the meeting that I thought he had no plans of getting married.
Alex, with his insider intel from Zain's cousin, assured me the decision came from Zain himself. Alex and Zain's cousin, Rehan, had been close friends since university and had stayed in touch over the years.
I shouldn't have been surprised—Alex was a social butterfly, the kind of guy who seemed to know everyone in every room he walked into. But even then, hearing that Zain had made the decision himself left me reeling.
Not that it really changed anything for me.
Truth be told, I'd made up my mind almost immediately after meeting his family. Despite being a hopeless romantic who devoured sappy love stories like candy, I wasn't delusional. I knew better than to base my future on dreams of fairy-tale romances and love-at-first-sight scenarios.
No, my criteria for a marriage weren't based on finding my one true love or someone who made my heart flutter like in those novels. I wasn't that naive. True love was a privilege—not everyone got to have that in real life, especially in desi communities. The real-world standards were different.
You married a decent man, someone who wouldn't mistreat you, someone who could offer you stability, and then you spent the rest of your life making it work. Compromise. Adjust. And if you're lucky, maybe—just maybe—you'd find contentment in the familiarity and routine.
But there was one thing that mattered to me just as much as love—a strong, supportive family. It wasn't that I lacked one; my parents were wonderful, loving, and had always made me feel cherished, despite the occasional disagreements with Mama. They'd fought to adopt me, and I knew how lucky I was to be chosen by them.
But having been in a family that valued bonds and genuine care above all else, I knew the importance of marrying into a family that shared those values. Because it wasn't just about finding a good husband—it was about finding a good family to join as well. And when Zain's family came over, I couldn't help but notice how effortlessly they seemed to embody that ideal.
Maybe it wasn't the grand love story I'd secretly dreamed of, but it was enough. They were good people, and that mattered more to me than Zain's apparent indifference. After all, good families were rare. This was a solid opportunity—one I might never get again. What if the next proposal was from someone with a tyrant for a mother-in-law who didn't even want me to work?
No, this was enough. This would have to do.
But deep down, a small voice whispered that I wanted more. That I should want more. Was it wrong to want a relationship that went beyond a mutual agreement to coexist? To wish for a bond where my partner and I actually liked each other, respected each other, and—if the stars aligned—maybe even grew to love each other?
