Aisha stood horrified in one corner of the room as her mother and aunts fussed over getting her cousin sister ready for the engagement.
Even surrounded by so many people, it was a wonder to her how Naazneen hadn't yet fainted.
Her eyes travelled above her head only to see a tin ceiling with numerous holes of different sizes. The rays of the afternoon sun poured into the room through them.
It was ridiculous how the tin made so much difference in the room temperature, and not to mention the crowd; she was on the verge of suffocation as the room was filled to capacity.
Droplets of sweat trickled down her stomach, and it upset her to realize that she hadn't even come across the one she was looking for or his family members.
She exited the room and walked towards her Naani, who sat with the other ladies in the courtyard that occupied the center of the house.
She smiled and greeted the ladies sitting alongside her Naani politely, who got startled by her gesture.
A pink tint appeared on their cheeks as they smiled and greeted her back with joy.
"Naani, if Mom asks, I'm on the terrace. Okay?"
"Why on the terrace?" Bahirah asked with surprise.
"I need some fresh air. It's boiling in there."
Bahirah nodded her head. "Come quick."
Aisha started to make her way to the terrace, her sandals making a thap-thap sound at every step she took on the rough concrete stairs.
The air calmed her down as soon as she reached up.
She felt grateful for the enormous neem tree that shot up from the neighbor's courtyard, overshadowing the terrace and making it cooler than the room she was in.
She let her eyes roam around, and what she saw startled her.
Bhokar, being a rural area, had neighboring roofs situated right next to each other with little to no gap between them.
One could easily jump from one roof to the other, but she didn't know that people actually did that.
She zeroed in on the sight in front of her: a guy with a keffiyeh covering his face jumping from one roof to the other with what looked like a cage in his hand.
If she didn't know any better, she would think he was a monkey dressed as a human.
Whatever was wrong with that guy... Was he a thief?
She instantly averted her gaze away from him, feeling uncomfortable, and focused on the layout of the branches of the neem tree in front of her.
The sound of shoes hitting the roof made her turn back.
Petrified was what she felt when she saw the guy, who was two terraces away, now standing just a few feet away from her.
The boy who had just landed on the roof looked in all directions before his eyes finally landed on Aisha's shocked figure.
She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.
He strode up to her and stood a few steps away, while the roosters in the cage he held started to make aggressive noises.
It made her take one step back and made her already big eyes even bigger.
The boy stifled a laugh.
If she didn't blink soon, she knew her eyes would pop out any second.
While she was so focused on the roosters, he turned away and left down the stairs, while she just stood there transfixed and confused.
What had just happened?
********
Many mistake a smile on a person's face for being happy, content, and untroubled.
We tend to forget that the concept of happiness lies beyond just pulling a huge smile on the face.
Very few people have the ability to differentiate between the person who acts happy and the person who is actually happy.
Not everyone is capable of reading between the lines, but Muhammad Yousuf was such a guy.
He never failed to look beyond the things that transpired in front of him because he knew things weren't always as simple as they sometimes seemed to be.
Being the modest man he was, he would always dodge the compliments thrown his way for his keen observation, but when it came to the girl he loved, he would shamelessly accept the fact that he could read her like an open book.
After all, that's what he had been doing since childhood.
She was his maternal uncle Hussain's daughter, and since his sister Saaleha and Naazneen were of the same age, they got along really well.
His sister always insisted their uncle let Naazneen spend every weekend with them, which led her to catch Yousuf's attention without even meaning to.
He had seen her grow up, he had seen her go through all the tragedies alone and still stand tall.
He had seen it all, and he had fallen for her.
He had fallen for the strength she possessed and the faith she held so close in her Rabb, even after the world tried so hard to choke her with its rope of doubts.
Everyone was being fooled by the beaming face of Naazneen as she stood beside him, but he could see the amount of effort it took for her to pull a single smile for one picture.
On the other hand, he couldn't help but thank Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for granting the heartfelt prayers he had whispered in the hours of darkness.
The first time when his mother had informed him that Naazneen had finally said yes to his proposal, his happiness knew no bounds.
But now that he scrutinized her face, his heart lurched in pain.
He hadn't even forced her; it was she who had given her consent out of nowhere after months of denying him the pleasure of getting married to her.
Was this even worth it?
"Yousuf Bhaiya, we all know that my sister is looking beautiful, but we need pictures." Aisha called out teasingly as everyone else chuckled.
Yousuf smiled at his soon-to-be sister-in-law and posed the way she instructed him to.
"Enough photos, beta! It's time to exchange the rings. Baaji, you bring the garlands!"
Yousuf's heart thudded in his chest as he heard his mother's voice.
Tanzila passed one ring to him and the other to Naazneen as they urged her to put it on him first.
He didn't know if anyone noticed it, but he easily saw the hesitation when she slid the silver ring onto his finger.
As it was now his turn, he glanced at the ring in his hand.
Taking a deep breath, he whispered Bismillah and slid it onto her slender finger.
Everyone cheered.
When he finally found enough courage to look at Naazneen, he saw nothing more than anguish written on her face.
His heart fell in his chest as he perceived the underlying message held by her eyes. He could hear it in her voice loud and clear in his mind.
'You have ruined everything.'
********
Bismillah- In the name of Allah
Baaji- Sister in Urdu
Questions-
1)Sooo any Yousuf fans here?
2) Who do you think the human monkey was? Hehe-
😂😈
3)Any questions you want to pose?
VOTE AND COMMENT!❤️
IT'LL MAKE MY DAY.
Until next time,
Assalamualaikum wa rahematullahi wa barkatahu dear readers,
Take care,
Allah hafiz. :)
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