Chapter Twenty-Five: Do we really know each other?

4K 314 59
                                    

REMINDER: GO PRAY IF YOU HAVEN'T YET. 

Yadirah 

We were getting a lot of 'congratulations' from practically everyone in the room. Some time later, our Aunt Sarah came with her daughter. 

"I'm so sorry I had to miss the whole ceremony. The weather is terrible!" She said. Both my mom and Aunt Aakifah laughed and hugged her. 

"Aww Sarah, it is so like you to blame the weather for your problems!" My mom said. Auntie Sarah frowned. "Well, it's not like you had to catch a flight to Canada from America, so you wouldn't know." My mom rolled her eyes. 

"Well, who told you to marry Zafeer and move to America?" Aakifah asked. Auntie Sarah frowned even more and turned away in disgust. Zafeer was actually their cousin that was four years older than Aunt Sarah. 

"I'm here for my nieces and nephews. Not so I can quarrel about moving far away from the two people I despise the most!" I was seated next to Saifullah who was just sitting there waiting for this day to be over. I could tell he was bored just by the way he was sitting. Or maybe he was tired? After congratulating both couples, Auntie Sarah gave us all  presents. To both Laiba and me, she wrapped two silver bracelets around our wrists, and to both Saifullah and Binyamin, she wrapped a watch around each of their wrists. 

"You didn't have to." Auntie Aakifah said. Auntie Sarah just glared at her. 

"I'm their aunt. Of course I had to. Did you guys finish taking the pictures?" She asked, grinning. All of the sisters stared at each other smiling. It was nice knowing that my mom and I suffered the same fate: siblings. Well, actually I don't think my mother suffered as much as I did. I stared at Suwaydah who was fighting with Binyamin over the watch he refused to give her (because obviously nothing stays in one piece after it's been in Suwaydah's hands).  And then to Muhammad who was only three months old, sleeping on my dad's shoulder (and occasionally barfing up some of his milk). 

Okay, who am I kidding? Although there was much, much  suffering, growing up with them was probably the best phase of my life. Thank you Allah for keeping me with them for another couple of years! 

I didn't have to think about leaving Suwaydah, Binyamin, or Muhammad yet. Why stress now, when I have the whole future to stress about it? Tonight, I just had to focus on surviving the day.  

Binyamin 

As soon as we reached home, Laiba sat next to me awkwardly. It didn't actually feel like we were married. Yadirah didn't come home with us because she went to Saifullah's house instead. So it was even more awkward because in most situations, Yadirah is the buffer. A lot of time passed before we decided to go to my room. Right after we entered, and I closed the door behind me, Laiba spoke. 

"You take the floor, and I'll take the bed." She said quickly. I stared at her fully expecting something like this from her. 

"You're not serious, are you?" I asked her. She turned to look at me, frowning. 

"I'm always serious." She replied. I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't comfortable  being inside the room itself. She's barely ever been here except when we were kids. And that was when Yadirah and I both shared a room. I could only imagine how she felt about it. I nodded, scratching my head. 

"Okay, do what you want." I said. It was around Isha time, so I took off for prayer, and she went to go wash up. The whole family was stuffed from the wedding already, so none of us thought about dinner that night. After I got home with my dad, I found Laiba sitting on the bed with her curly brown hair open, and her make up wiped off. She had already changed into her blue silky pajamas, and was on her phone. Once she saw me walk in, she wasn't sure whether to reach for a hijab or to leave it. I sat down. 

The Not-So Perfect Muslim Twins [COMPLETED]Where stories live. Discover now