Growing (An Islamic Life) *COMPLETED*

Chapter 24 (You'll pay (; )

"What the hell is he doing here?" Zain says as he is about to throw a punch on Omar. Andrew and Ben hold him back. A few heads turn to see what was going on but dismissed it as just friends messing around.

Zain was still trying to break free and Omar smirking at him didn't help at all.

"Guys, please not here, not now" I plead. That seemed to have stopped Zain, for now. Ali holds my hand wearing a confusion on his face.

"What's going on here?" He asks. I almost forgot all about Ali during this chaos.

"Zain and Omar don't exactly have a smooth past" says Maya.

"But how do you guys know him?"

"We all go to the same school."

"What happened between you two?" Ali asks Omar. Omar's face dropped and Ali suddenly came across a realisation. "He was the one who fought with you the day you came home with the bruises wasn't it?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. What bruises? I look at Maya, but all of them are looking at everything but me guiltily. "Do you know anything about this?" Asks Ali. I shake my head. "This is not the place for this. Please I ask you guys not to make a scene here. Everyone is having a good time now." Everyone except Omar nods in unison. "Omar!"

"Okay" says Omar grumpily and leaves us.

I was about to ask Maya about what Ali was saying, but decide against it. I already have enough of an headache.

"Why is he here?" Asks a furious Zain.

"Because... B-because"

"Because he is my brother" Ali finishes my sentence. Maya gasps and everyone is shocked.

"Guys, can we talk later?" I ask. Everyone nods and gives me a sympathetic smile before leaving. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

The tension between me and Ali was too evident. No matter how many times he smiles back at me, they didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Dinner time" says Datha as she leads me and Ali to our private table. Almost all of my cousins, my sister and friends and some more people from Ali's side gathered around our table with their phones and camera. I know definitely what they were expecting.

I turn to see a confused Ali, looking like a lost puppy. "What's going on?"

"Family Tradition. You have to feed me" I say shyly to Ali. His tensed body now relaxed while his cheeks turned rosy.

"C'mon don't be shy now" someone said in the crowd. "It's only a handful."

Ali takes some rice into his hands and feeds me when everyone cheered for us. "You turn Amina" Ali says winking at me.

I take some rice into my hand when Alia my cousin, pokes me in the side. I try not to yelp and turn to my other side to face her. She slips something into my hand and joins the crowd. I keep my hand back to my lap and open them to find a chilli. Oh My Allah. I find her among some people, pleading her with my eyes. She just shook her head and mouthed to me 'DO IT'.

I remember I did the same thing to her on her waleema day so there was no backing out. I hid the chilli inside the rice and fed Ali. "Coming from your hands, even the rice tastes sweet" he flirted while chewing.

Oh Ali, only if you knew. It took a few seconds to sink in while he chewed. Then his face turned red while his tongue was out. I felt so guilty I looked down suppressing my laughter by biting my cheeks. Everyone burst out laughing.

He quickly took a laddu (indian sweet) that was placed there and ate both his and mines as well.

"You will pay for this" he says mischievously. I laugh and we continue eating relaxing ourselves.

*****

Soon enough all the guests had to leave after taking some pictures with us and me and Ali were back in our hotel room for the night.

"Why don't you go first?" Ali says pointing to the bathroom.

"No, its okay. You can go first. I still have to remove all these hair pins and jewellery." Carefully removing each pin, I must have already removed 1000s. My hair was frozen shut from all the hairspray.

"Let me help you." He starts removing all the pins until my hair is free flowing. Finally I can remove my jewellery over my head and my shawl. I look through the mirror to a sulking Ali.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing!"

"It doesn't look like nothing. Look at your face. You look like someone blew it up."

"Nothing!"

Growing frustrated I stood up to face him "Listen, we are MARRIED now. Whether you like it or not I am gonna be here through it all. If you want this marriage to work, then you're going to have to let me share your life with you. Not only in happiness but in hardship and struggles. I'm not forcing you to tell me anything, but sometimes its better to talk to someone and let is out." He kept looking at me with no change in his expression. Giving up, I make my way around him when he holds me by my hand. He makes me sit in the bed while he is on the floor still holding my hand.

"I didn't know Omar was going to your school. Why didn't you tell me?" My heart started racing faster.

"I didn't think it was important to mention" I answer truthfully. "Why is it such a big deal?"

"Because... One day a few weeks back, Omar came home with bloody bruises. His lips were swollen and bleeding and his eyes were black. He had even broken his wrist. Now I'm thinking that your friend Zain did this to him. Even though me and Omar are not exactly best buddies, he still is my brother. It broke Ma's heart to see him like that. Why did he do it?"

"Ali, please believe me. I don't know what happened between them two. At that time I hadn't gone to school for sometime nor did I see any of my friends. Im guessing it was during the engagement period. Zain and Omar always got along, I donna what happened."

He nods and places a kiss on my cheek before going to the bathroom. Im glad the tension in the room has gone. I go back to undressing myself and wrap a robe around me.

Datha (Amira) had packed an overnight bag for after the waleema. I gasp opening it. Inside it is a nightdress, made our of silk. It was red and it was so sexy. How can I wear this? Ya Allah. Why did I even trust my sister with the packing? I had no choice. Grabbing that I waited for Ali to come out of the bathroom.

When the doors opened, I gathered my things quickly. Ali caught me wearing just a robe and his eyes widened. I rolled my eyed and pushed past him. Finally after a relaxing hot shower I get dress. Slowly opening the door I slide out discretely making sure not to make any noise so Ali doesn't look my way. But like all times, when does it happen the way I want it to.

He turns towards me his eyes wide. He walks towards me and I take a step back for each of his step forward until I'm stuck to the wall. He takes my hand and I have butterflies exploding in my stomach. Trying to escape somehow I tell him about my mehndi. "You know, they written your letter in my hand. Bet you can't find it."

"We'll see about that" he says as his eyes roam around both my hands. He looks over every detail and finally his lips turned into a mischievous smile. "I give up" he says.

"Ha good. I knew you would never be able to fin.." He kisses my hand on the part where his letter is written.

"You were saying?" He asks smirking. I shook my head unable to form words in my head. Putting his hand on my waist and the other behind my legs, he carried me bridal style to the bed. Carefully placing me there he says "I told you I'll make you pay!"

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