Eliza Haque is just another ordinary girl. She has a loving family, and even more loving friends. Recently having just graduated out of Imperial with her Criminal Psychology degree, she finds herself unemployed. What could be more frustrating than n...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
I can feel a smirk growing on my face as I try my best to suppress it. Out in the streets of London, I was with my cousin, Mahira, shopping for her bridesmaid dresses. Little did she know that I had just spotted her future husband mindlessly mingling around on the very same streets. Although he looked as if he had been there by mere chance, there was more to this than that it looked like. Before coming out on this wild and exhausting shopping spree, I had come up with a plan. I smirk again on the inside. You see, Mahira is very shy when it comes to talking to her potential spouse, and I, being her best friend and her cousin, just had to come and aid her. It's for the best, I tell myself.
"What's up Eliza?" Mahira says, looking at me suspiciously. I let my laugh out.
"Are you seriously going to make us wear this piece of sheet?" I ask her, now bending over and laughing. I can see Hassan - her soon-to-be husband looking inside the store and realising we were inside.
"I actually like this one, it'll blend in with the theme so well," she says, dreamily sighing.
"Blend in? Are you joking? I want to stand out!" I tell her, shaking my head. "Here come on, let's go to Damini's they have waaay better clothes - if you can even call these clothes." I grab her arm and try to drag her outside. Hassan has now moved himself into Damini's - Mahira won't know what hit her.
"Okay fine," she says, pouting. "But on one condition."
"Oh God."
"If I don't like it, then I'm coming back here for this one." I roll my eyes, Mahira is so hard so persuade.
"Fine, now come on I can't stand the smell of this shop." Still clutching onto her arm, we find ourselves soon in the cold winds as we walk around laughing within Green St. It was very unusual for Mahira to be seeing so many desis in one area. She wouldn't stop commenting about it, having a culture shock. You see, my cousin came from outside of London, from a small town that barely had much ethnic diversity. And then she's in the middle of the heart of South Asia.
"This reminds me of Bangladesh," I can hear her smile. I turn to face her, with shock forming in my features.
"What?" I say, "This is so much better than Bangladesh, have you forgotten all those creeps who would stand there looking at women like they've never seen one in their mere existence?!"
"Oh yeah," she starts laughing, "that was so gross."
After a few more minutes of walking and talking, we finally arrive outside of Damini's. My plan was about to fall into place. I had spent last night trying to get to Hassan's best friend - Aleem, who helped to plot this marvalous plan. Mahira and Hassan's wedding is to take place within a month, and they both have been shying away from speaking to one another. The amount of times I've tried to encourage Mahira to text Hassan, has all failed miserably. The girl couldn't even get herself to type out hi on whatsapp without going red in the face and locking herself and her phone in the bathroom. Trust me, I've tried on many occasions to grab her phone and do it myself, but it's stuck to her hand 24/7 like superglue.
