When Two Become One

35- Honour

//Aisha

I felt Aneel's grip tighten on my waist. My graduation was yesterday and it was the best day ever. I spent the whole day smiling that it hurt at the end. Me and mum spent the day together and it felt amazing because I never had that moment with her before.

My dad would be the main reason why because she blamed me for breaking up the family. She pushed me away and so did the rest of my family except for my sister because she knew the real person behind my father. Don't get me wrong, she still took care of me and treated me right but at the same time, it was as though I was a stranger to her. It's like one of those times where you would take care of a guest and didn't like them but you had to anyways.

I watched as my family stepped out their cars and made their way to the front door. I stepped out of Aneel's arms and felt the loss of safety. I sadly smiled at him and he leaned over and kissed the top of my head.

"Remember, the moment they say something offensive, I will take your hand and drag you out the house," he reminded me. I nodded by head and went over to the kitchen. I heard Aneel's footsteps behind me, not too far away. Before I could make it to the counter, he spun me around and hugged me, gently pushing my head to his chest. "Love, relax," he whispered. I felt myself relax as I exhaled. "You're shaking, Aisha." He kissed the top of my head once again. "I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered. I pulled away from him and he turned the tap on, filling up a glass. He handed it over to me and I smiled. By the time we walked back into the sitting room, my family was all sitting their with smug looks on their faces.

"Hmm," my aunty said. "Your husband could have done a lot better than degrade down to you." I heard Aneel inhale sharply and I looked over at him, pleading with my eyes. He couldn't make us leave now.

I forced a smile her way. "Hello, Khala. It's a shame you couldn't come to the wedding." She scoffed and looked over at her daughter who was looking down at her shoes.

"Yeah well my dear Hasna wasn't feeling well, wasn't it?" Hasna immediately nodded her head. I always liked Hasna because she didn't do anything wrong. Not once did she say anything mean to me or do something like her mother has done in the past. Khala had three children, Khalid- which was the oldest and engaged, then Hansa followed by the youngest one, Mohammad. Not one of the children were bad. They respected everyone like they were meant to but as for my Khala...

We all sat down for about an hour and all she did was throw insults at our family. I heard Aneel groan everytime she did and I feared that everytime he did so he would pull my hand and drag me out the house.

"Can't believe you actually started to take care of this shameless girl," she said to my mother. My mum looked over at me with tears in her eyes. If it was a few years ago, she would have agreed but we have been getting along well so this time she actually took in what Khala said. I felt Aneel start to get up and I quickly put a hand on his knee, stopping him. "Really? Do you not have any shame? Touching men in front of your family? In front of your guests? Always were one to touch other people and then you blame them for touching you back. You brought it on yourself," she sneered at me.

"That's it!" Aneel screamed as he got up. Saif stood up next to him, leaving the seat beside Affa empty. I saw her biting her lip as she put a hand on her bump. It was a small one but it was big enough to see. I looked back at Aneel who was fuming. "I want you to leave."

"You have no right-"

"We do!" Saif screamed. "Get up and leave with the little amount of dignity you have left."

"Or else what? Asia, are these the men you married your dirty daughters off to?" I watched my mum stand up, her hands shaking.

"He's right." She looked between the both of us and sighed. "Affa, you have to leave. I can't have you disrespecting my daughters like that. Not in front of me at the very least." Khala smirked as she slowly stood up.