Good For You (Al-Ameen Family #3)

Favours

Finally the wedding week began. Monday was the unnecessary but still compulsory ladies' preparation day. Today all the ladies would sit together, peel ginger, garlic, sift flour, rice, all types of food prep to use in the wedding week's cuisines. Along with the food prep though was the future rishta prepping too, where half of them either bitched about their daughter-in-laws or tried to rope some innocent girl into becoming one.

I obediently sat in the corner of the main room with my plate of ginger to peel. Mannat took the spot next to me and groaned away at her own stack, her sister giving her a scolding every time an aunty looked over at her making noise.

I held in my laughter as she muttered curses under her breath. The older ladies were sitting on the couches around the perimeter of the room, controlling the shaadi.com session that was going on.

"Nazeeha," Nav's mom called and I cringed. Literally five aunties turned their heads towards me.

"Nazeeha ki shaadi ki baat sochi hai ya nahi? (Have you thought about Nazeeha's wedding yet?)" one of them asked my mom.

I internally groaned but some of it escaped as Mannat laughed at my pain. I set my plate down and scurried out of the room to Navsheen's mom.

"Ji aunty?" I asked her.

"Beta, take these to the other house please? It's zam zam for Navsheen's nani. She's had a bad cough all week, and it's not getting better," she frowned.

I nodded and fixed my dupatta around me properly before slipping out of the house and making the trip down to the groom's house. Thank God for the escape or I'd have to sit and pretend to give a crap about my relationship status.

I walked into the open house that was as noisy and chaotic as ours. All the men were settled here with some of Navsheen's aunts here doing some extra work.

I slipped into the kitchen and grabbed a glass, pouring the water into it. I made my way upstairs and looked through the rooms for her.

"Kisse dhoondh rahi ho? (Who are you looking for?)" I whipped around to see Ali, standing there seemingly in the middle of a text.

"Tumari Dadi (Your grandmother)" I said, hoping he'd point out the room and get outta here.

"Woh kamra," he pointed to a room behind him, one I'd already passed.

I looked down and tried to walk past him to pass off my blindness.

"Nazeeha," he stopped me when I was just a foot away from him. I stopped walking but didn't turn. "Ek baat poochni thi (I wanted to ask you something)," he leaned against the wall, his hands playing with his phone.

"Uss mein naya kya hai? (What's new with that?)" I muttered, turning to face his direction but not really looking at him. His face made me involuntarily scowl sometimes and I didn't want to be mean.

He snorted."Tumhara Inayah bhabhi ka kya khayal hai? (What do you think about Inayah bhabhi?)"

"Kyun?" I slightly leaned against the wall too, curious to see where he was going with this.

"Reason hai. Tum batao toh sahi (There's a reason, just tell me though)," he pressed. He had this way about him, an ease to him that made talking to his annoying face seem like the easiest thing in the world.

"Mujhe bohat ache lagte hai. Agar tum nahi hote, toh unka peecha hi nahi chorti (I really like her. And if it weren't for you, I'd never leave her alone)" I said with a straight face.