Once Upon A Lifetime

Chapter Thirty-two ~ Spill it, Aleena!

Taalia's POV~

I ran to the door and squeezed the living daylights out of Aleena in a hug.

"Habibti, you came sooner than expected!" I said, pulling back from her.

"Well, I got my journalism certificate sooner than expected, Alhamdulillah!" She smiled.

"MashaAllah, we're so proud of you!" Misha grinned.

"Aleena, habibti, I thought you wouldn't come until tomorrow!" My mom said as she came from the kitchen and embraced Aleena. I looked at her in surprise.

"You knew she was coming?!"

"Her mother called me the other day. They told me not to tell you two." She grinned. I chuckled and wrapped an arm around Aleena's shoulders.

"Let's go upstairs and get you settled in." I said and we picked up her bags and head to my room.

Aleena had graduated University a year earlier than the rest of us (well Misha since I am too sick to go back to school). She wanted to become a journalist and Alhamdulillah got her degree sooner than she had aimed for. Almost right away they gave her an assignment which was to write articles for a newspaper in Florida on TIFF -Toronto International Film Festival. The event would be starting in a few days InshaAllah and would end September 20th, so Aleena had a lot of time to spend with us. A few days after TIFF would be my wedding InshaAllah so Aleena would stay until then. But she still had yet to find out about my wedding.

"So, I'm only going to stay here so a couple of days then I can check into my hotel." Aleena explained.

Alhamdulillah, we had a big house with seven bedrooms, since we had so many siblings, so we were able to fit all of my sisters, brothers-in-law, and kids in. There were three rooms in the basement as well but since Aleena wouldn't be staying at my house for that long, I wanted her to share my room with me.

"Sounds good. So, tonight, we're having a girls' night, okay? Okay." Misha said as she set the bags down and made herself comfortable on my bed.

"Um, aren't you going out with Saqib tonight?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah. Tomorrow! Tomorrow we are having a girls' night, InshaAllah!" She grinned and Aleena and I chuckled.

The three of us talked and fooled around for a long time and after Maghrib, Saqib, Misha, and their parents and siblings left.

Aleena and I talked a bit more until Isha. We decided to call it a night since Aleena had a Skype meeting with one of the people she was working for. Well not 'working'. This was more like an internship.

"How long will you stay in Toronto for?" I asked after we had settled into bed.

"InshaAllah TIFF will end on the 20th. So I'll be leaving the day after." She explained.

"Mm, okay."

We'll see about that.

"So, anything new?" She asked.

"Yeah actually..." I debated for a quick second on whether I should tell her or not. She would find out soon anyway, might as well find out from me.

"Yeah?"

"I'm getting married." I blurted out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... WHAT?!" She cried.

"Yeah. I'm engaged."

"Whoa, MashaAllah, that's amazing! And who is this lucky man?"

"Do you remember Daiyan?" I waited for a reply but I got none. "Leen?"