Destiny - مقدر

5 - You're Getting Married - آپ کی شادی ہو رہی ہیں

"What you discover on your own is always more exciting than what someone else discovers for you - it's like the marriage between romantic love and an arranged marriage." - Terrence Rafferty 

Everyone laughed as if I should have known who they were. As if I simply forgot, but I'll remember soon. They sniggered, shaking their heads at me and cooing as if I was a feeble child. Saying 'aww' as if I was a new-born puppy and not a seventeen year old girl. Abbu Jee chuckled with them, though I could see the animosity burning inside of him. The spite in his voice was obvious, though only to Ammi Jee and me. We'd heard it many times before, the others were oblivious.

"Oh Aqsa, I thought you already knew?" He gasped, falsely. I suddenly saw, out of the corner of my eye, Ammi Jee, her face turning pale and discoloured. She shook her head with sincere regret, turning her face towards the ground. That only fed my confusion more. I lifted my eyebrows in a bewildered state.

"Um...no, I'm afraid. Who...who are you?" I looked around at the laughing entourage that Abbu Jee had brought in as they continued to cackle. I rolled my eyes, subtly. I'd never met a family so annoying in all of my life. This part of Kashmir is definitely more reserved, there aren't many people here so care-free and outgoing. They must have come from somewhere far, but why?

"This is your fiance and his family. I thought you knew they were coming?" 

I suddenly flushed pure white, my heart beating at an unhealthy rate and hurting my chest. Knew they were coming? I didn't even know I was engaged! I'm seventeen, not even a legal adult! I have my whole life to live yet. I'm still at school, I have exams. I can't be engaged! Not yet, not now. Especially not someone in this audacious, aggravating family. It was ridiculous. No, that's an understatement, it was absolutely absurd! Marriage is a commitment, one that I'm not ready to have yet. Did he just go and pick any old man off of the streets? I couldn't bare to think of when all of this had happened. Was it whilst Ammi Jee and I had left? It made no sense! I mean, he didn't even know if we'd return, at first. And an engagement is a big deal. They can't have made the engagement without meeting me first! Did I mention I'm seventeen? 

I looked around, shaking with fear whilst the family helped themselves to more tea and cake rusks. I couldn't see any man even remotely young looking. That worried me more than anything. What had my absolute monster of a father done now? Abbu Jee walked across the room, his brown sandals tapping the ground, and stood beside one of the men, "This is Habib Wattal, your fiance."

That's when I nearly fell to the ground in fits of anguish and madness. He was a dishevelled, dirty man with little to no hair and a long, rough beard. The top of his head was bald, he had a ring of brown hair that reached from ear to ear. He had crooked, yellow teeth, definitely a smoker, and had curled, crusty lips. His skin was oily and spotty enough to be classed as bubble wrap. His eyes were thin and brown, squinting at me. He was horrific too look at, a real eye-sore. I gagged, almost vomiting straight onto the floor. They couldn't seriously expect me to marry someone like that, could they? 

"Well? Go and make him some tea, then." 
Habib snarled, his crooked teeth shaking in his mouth as he waited expectedly. I stumbled, nearly falling to the floor as I walked off into the kitchen where I turned on the stove and put the kettle above it. I leant against a wall, struggling to compose my posture as I breathed heavily.  I was slowly followed by Ammi Jee, who was still shaking her head regretfully and whispering 'sorry' under her breath.  

When she finally reached me, staggering towards me with tears streaming down her face, she started to talk. "Aqsa! I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry! I didn't know he'd...he'd actually..." And then she choked on her own words, crying more and more. "Ammi Jee, what's going on?" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her so that she would stop blabbering and sharpen up. She whimpered, "We...your father and I...we, we did something awful. Something terrible, when you were born. But Aqsa, if I had a choice now I wouldn't! I'm so sorry, I wouldn't!" She broke down in my arms.