After I do's

Chapter 2

Hamzah had been an irregular prayer mainly because his work didn't allow him to squeeze a few minutes. At first, he would pray the missed prayers of the day in one go at night. But as the work load increased, he started bringing some home. By the time he finished work he would often be too exhausted to pray and retire to bed. 

This had formed a cycle and he was used to missing the prayers. Seeing Zaib-un-Nissa pray, sparked his long dead soul and he was determined to pray. 

Maybe having Zaib-un-Nissa around would benefit him more somehow after all.

He stared at her sleeping reflection while he was spritzing his perfume.

                                                _________________________________________

I woke up at 9 AM because of certain someone closing the drawers, and shutting the wall closet close loudly most probably on purpose. I squinted to see what the commotion was about and found Hamzah in a white shalwar kameez that had never seen a crinkle in life. The smell of oakmoss and amber hit my nostrils and it made me feel warm and sleepy, but all sleep was gone when my brain registered the sunlight shining directly on my face thanks to the architect who decided to place the french window adjacent to my side of the bed. 

With a groan I sat on the bed, looking into the thin air as if contemplating my entire existence. My head was groggy because of the short duration of sleep. Heaving a sigh, I stepped my feet on the soft rug and stood up. I walked towards the bathroom stumbling because of the excruciating pain in my head. 

I came back out of the bathroom because my toiletries were not there. I took out my suitcase and scuffled to search for my bag of toiletries. Once I got hand on them I went back to the bathroom to get ready for the day. I came out of the bathroom in a deep claret Maria B suit that had an Angrakha style short shirt embroidered with golden flowers paired with matching vine embroidered tulip pant and a light claret shawl. Hamzah was no longer in the room.

I moved towards the mirror to apply some makeup and wear some accessories not before drying my hair. I plugged in the hairdryer that I had brought and started to dry my hair. Meanwhile, I was drying I couldn't help but notice the missing pins from last night. After a few minutes I applied some light makeup which consisted of nude maroon lipstick, eyeliner and mascara. 

I placed my front hair into two twists and secured them with bobby pins and letting my medium length hair fall down to my shoulders. I wore matching gold earrings and a golden pendant. My hands wore a Swarovksi gold bracelet with ruby stones.  Remembering Hamzah's fragrance, I spritzed some of my favourite perfume which smelled like vanilla and musk. Satisfied with my look, I smiled at my reflection when Hamzah decided to barge in the room and ruin my self love moment. 

Hamzah looked at me more like stared at me before continuing to enter the room. He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and started to go back out when he once again turned towards me.

'Your mother is here. Everyone's waiting for you downstairs.'

Mother? I had forgotten all about the tradition where the bride's family brings breakfast morning after the wedding reception. A smiled crawled up my face on the thought of my mother. I scurried after him to meet my mother.

They were seated in the drawing room with Hamzah's family. My family was smiling despite the coldness in the air. I turned to hug my both my mother and my sister and my closest cousin at last. Both the girls had cheshire cat grins and were practically squealing after seeing me. Hamzah greeted my mother and turned to sit down next to his mother on the sofa. After meeting the girls, I sat down beside them. It brought back memories to when they had agreed to this marriage and came to officially seal the deal. Two families were visibly separated by the coffee table between the sofas. My mother-in-law had not asked to sit beside her and I took that as a sign that our relations are going to be restrained. I admired her for not being two-faced because any other woman in her place would have been affectionate towards me in front of people and do an 180 degree flip alone.