Reasons Not To Die

Chapter 4: The meeting

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This chapter is dedicated to claudia-143 for your comments and supports. 😘🤗

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The moment everyone has been waiting for is finally here.

Rashid sat upright in his seat, eager to put a face to Jazarah whom he has heard very little about. His eyes set on the procession that has began. Women dressed in plain royal blue dresses came out in a single file, some throwing white petals on the floor and some throwing it in the air. Behind the flower women were women and little girls, dressed in normal clothes, who sang a song meant for brides who meet their husbands for the first time, Rashid liked the song and he found his fingers drumming along with the beats of the drums on the wooden table before him while anxiousness caused him to arch his spine as he waited for what seemed to be more than minutes before she finally showed herself.

The women formed an isle as they threw flowers on Jazhara's veiled hair. Rashid watched the golden woman now dressed in a matching shade of royal blue as the flower women dresses, but hers held style to it showing the length of her abdomen and arms. As she drew closer, Rashid caught the sight of her face. No one informed him the impact seeing those brown doe eyes would do to him again but immediately she locked eyes with his, she looked away smiling at the women who began singing praises about her beauty and demanding that a heavy price be paid for her.

As she drew closer, taking her time to dance around the women in her big skirt as the women threw flowers over her, Rashid saw her features weren't the sharp angular features he was used to. She looked more like a child with a round face that looked almost chubby, lips shaped in form of a pout that when spread to smile revealed teeth white as sea salt, and a straight small nose that held a hoop earring. She didn't have the angular jaw, sharp slant eyes and full lips common with amongst women he was used to. He had considered their features to be the benchmark of beauty but now staring at Jazarah that had none of those features he began to wonder if he had seen all the beauty there is to see.

Jazarah's gaze finally met his before she stood before her father.

Eyes assessing eyes for a brief moment before contact is broken. That was all Jazarah needed to imprint his image in her head.

Handsome. Jazarah thought he was handsome. His hair wasn't the same as she remembered. It was formerly in thick fat dreadlocks but now it was a smooth low cut, fitting his face running down to his side burns and filling his trimmed beards. His face wasn't the same as she remembered. Above his left brow he had a scar running down to his eye lids, disappearing behind it. His lips, plump and brown with a pink tint close to the inside of his mouth. If she hadn't dreamt about him countless times, she wouldn't have remembered his face but she was accurate that he was the one.

It is custom for the father to present his daughter before her husband. If Rashid's father had been alive Jazarah would be presented to him before she makes her father would take her to Rashid as customs demands.

Eyes watched Jazarah lower herself humbly before her father, kneeling to his feet as a sign of respect.

Horse tail staff gently tapped each of her shoulders, before big hands rest on the breath of her shoulders. The drums echoed in Jazarah's chest and the voices if the women singing seemed distant to her. Gradually her father stood up and raised her up by her shoulder giving them a firm squeeze, warning her not to disappoint him. With her head bowed only reaching his chest, Jazarah was lead by her father with three small steps to her future husband. 

Rashid didn't notice his table has been taken away until the Oni stood before him with his daughter by his side. Rashid knew what was expected of him but it took a moment and a nudge from his mother to remind him. He rose to his feet, his full high embedded in velvet robe, a head taller than the Oni looked upon his bride who now stood with eyes on him.