Loving a Princess

24. Here goes nothing.

"Aliyah Zakir Hamid! Get out of your bed, this instant!" I heard my mother's voice. I just groaned and snuggled deeper in my comforter, clutching my pillow closer and tighter to my chest.

"Aliyah!" Mum called, warningly. "If you don't get up right now, you'll see!"

"Ah, mum! Please lemme sleep!" I mumbled, half-asleep.

"Aliyah, it's nearly twelve noon! Up, this instant!" Mum snapped.

I knew not to push it any further, because mum was seriously getting upset. I jumped out of bed and stretched lazily.

I barely, if ever, got a chance to sleep in like this. Every day, I was up by seven in the morning. I had got a job and started working as an engineer, but I had taken today's day off.

A year and four months had passed since the Mahmoud incident, and I just couldn't believe I was going to do this again. Only, this time, I had agreed to the meeting in advance.

For the past year and four months, proposals kept coming in for me, but I wasn't ready and neither was I interested whatsoever. So I declined every single one. But this time round, I couldn't decline because both mum and dad had managed to convince me into this, getting upset because they were worried that if I decline too many proposals, then eventually no one would send me proposals and I would end up in a mess eventually. The typical parent worry. So I decided to give in and I agreed to meet with this guy's family, and mum told them to come over after I agreed.

I feared telling Umniyah about this this proposal, because of our deal of me waiting till Farshad finishes his studies. Even though I knew that he would be done within eight months, I was too scared of telling my family about him and the fact that I was willing to wait for the next eight months for him. I didn't have the courage to decline the proposal this time round, so I simply agreed to the meeting and mum told the family to come over.

It seemed so unbelievable that time seemed to fly so fast. I used to talk to Umniyah frequently and she would always remind me of our deal, and I dreaded updating her about all this, seeing as she wasn't very pleased about the Mahmoud thing a year and four months back.

"Mum, remind me again. Why do I have to do this? And this time you've not even given me a choice to say no!" I whined.

"Aliyah, try to understand. You have to meet them. And we have given you a choice to say no, but knowing the understanding and smart girl you are, you won't say no without a good reason, so I believe you will say yes. Talal is a good guy from what I've heard," mum answered.

"I don't think so, mum. Talal was my classmate during O-levels and he didn't seem like the best guy in the lot!" I replied, glumly.

"Aliyah!" Mum chided. "That was like seven to eight years back! He has changed now!"

"Mum, why don't you understand, either way, that I don't want to get married? Good guy or not, I'm not interested in this!" I said, exasperated and doing my best to keep my voice down.

"Aliyah, I've a feeling that if you decline this proposal, you won't be getting any more any time soon!" Mum answered, calmly.

Deep down, I knew she was right. And even though Umniyah had said that she'll talk Farshad into accepting to send me a proposal, I knew that there was no guarantee that he would agree because maybe he didn't like me. And besides, even if he agreed, it would only be because of Umniyah, but not because he, himself, would want me, while I, myself, was head over heels in love with him.

I guess, I just had to go with the flow here, and do as mum says because if I end up declining this proposal, and if Farshad doesn't end up to be the guy for me, then I'll just be in trouble.